Captain William Irving O'Flynn
Manchester Regiment/POW

My late (paternal) Grandfather was a member of the fourteenth army and was held captive by the Japanese in Changi prison after Singapore fell in Feb '42. Bizarrely upon his death (in the mid 1960s) my Grandmother disposed of all his army belongings including his medals. As such my Father - who was sixteen at the time - knows very little of my Grandfather's army career. To that end I have recently managed to obtain replicas of my Grandfather's medals for my father. I won't bore you with the details, but this was a long process as initially I had no idea which medals he was decorated with or indeed any information at all. Fortunately I have managed to establish sufficient details to obtain the replicas. Having spent time on this 'project' I have become more interested in his time in the army and would like to find out more; particularly any memories other servicemen may have of him or any stories people may have. To that end I would be grateful if you were to be able to 'point me in the right direction' and suggest how I may go about finding this information. As I said, I only know sparing details but hopefully these will be of some use:

His name was William Irving O'Flynn and he was born in about August 1908. He joined the army in the mid 1920's when he was 16/17 years old. He rose to the rank of Captain in the Manchester Regiment and on his Captain's badge was the 'Fleurs des Lyses' (I hope that is spelt correctly!). I believe he was posted to the Far East before the war and like I say he fell in Singapore in Feb '42 and spent the rest of the war as a Japanese PoW, certainly spending time in Changi prison. He left the army at the end of the
war.

Forgive my ignorance of your organisation and please accept my apologies if what I'm asking for is not viable but if you could offer me any advice or pass on my request to people you think may be able to help I should be extremely grateful.

Yours in eager anticipation,

David O'Flynn

Please contact me on 07713 157 437 or through katie.j.woods@btinternet.com