Following on - Holy Grail items

[slick_mick]

Given the recent holy grail threads, I thought I'd post mine.

My grandfather (AJ Savitsky) was a Russian member of the HK Police Reserve and was interned in Stanley Camp during WW2. He was also a commercial artist and was able to do around 200 drawings/paintings in Stanley Camp for other internees there.

The Japanese commandant found out he was an artist (and wanted his portrait drawn) and thus he dispatched a squad of soldiers to retrieve his art suppliers - hence why he was able to do these drawings.

I was lucky enough late last year to buy 3 of them.

One of Graham 'Tootie' Begg of the HKVDC. He was a 50 year old member of the HKVDC whose wife was one of the nurses killed in the St Stephens College massacre. For some reason he ended up in Stanley Camp rather than with the other POWs at Sham Shui Po POW camp.

The other 2 were of Joan Robinson. She was 20 years younger than Tootie and his girlfriend in Stanley Camp. They later married after the war. There was also some social awkwardness around here and Tootie. When they landed in the UK after being repatriated, waiting for them after they disembarked the ship was the family of his first wife! An awkward moment to say the least.

Anyway, I got them all framed and this week surprised my brother and cousin by presenting them these special gifts (one for each of us).

Mick

[JerryBB]

Well done on reuniting these historic pictures back into your familly

[slick_mick]

Originally Posted by JerryBB

Well done on reuniting these historic pictures back into your familly

Thanks Jerry! We are all very please to have these back in the family. His WW2 drawings are hen's teeth rare and most are with the families of the people he drew/painted.

Mick

[Mike B]

Great art, great research, great story ...