User:Hmsusauk/Nathaniel Silverstone

'Nathaniel Silverstone' was a British war hero and businessman, (born December 13, 1916 in Bow, London- died August 9, 2001 in Hendon, London. He spent over 3 years in various Japanese prisoner-of-war camps and had been captured during the Fall of Singapore in February 1942.

Nathaniel Silverstone was born into a relatively poor family. His mother, Rebecca (nee Rosenberg) was born in Russia in 1893 (died in London, June 29, 1980) and had come to England in a laundry basket when she was only 2 years old. His father, Hyman Silverstone, also born in 1893 (died 1935) was born in England, but his family had fled Russia during the Pogroms

Nathaniel (popularly known as "Nat") was forced to leave school at the age of 13, due to his father's declining health from the ravages of cancer. Nat and his twin sister, Ann, had no choice but to help their mother during this difficult time. Their father passed away in 1935, when they were 18, and Nat eventually learned the trade of retail sales at the Houndsditch Warehouse in Houndsditch, East London, where he eventually worked his way up to shoe department manager.

In the mid to late-1930's with the Spanish Civil War and the blackshirts of Oswald Mosley marching through the Jewish getto of the east end of London, Nat and many of his contemporaries chose to join the British Army. Nat joined right at the outset of World War II and was assigned to the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), where he learned to drive a 3-ton Thorneycroft lorry.

The early years of the war were relatively stable for Nat and his contemporaries in the RASC, until they were shipped to Singapore, just days before the capitulation to the Japanese. February 15, 1942 was one of the darkest days for the British army, but also for Silverstone - his battalion and many others were captured by the Japanese in the battle. He was immediately taken to Changi Prison and spent several months there, until he was dispatched with many others to various labour camps and eventually was forced to work on the Burma Railway.

Silverstone spent the best part of the next three years being moved from one labor camp to the next - all the while seeing many of his contemporaries die from the rigours of the camps. Silverstone himself was over 6 feet tall and a man of 15 stone, who would find himself at the end of the war almost down to 5 or 6 stone.

Unlike many of his fallen colleagues, Silverstone's story would have a happy ending. He was freed after the Surrender of Japan and with the aid of American warships was eventually reunited with his family in England at the end of 1945.

Silverstone would eventually meet and marry Jacoba Jacobs (born September 1, 1924) and with the aid of family members became a successful businessman, first with a grocery business in Stoke Newington, London and then with the establishment of Jacoba Gowns, a dress-manufacturing business based in Hackney, London.

It wasn't until the 1970's that Silverstone received his war medals, most notably the Burma Star and several others - his family's home in Bow had been destroyed by the German bombs and his family was evacuated to St. Albans and so it wasn't until some 30 years later he was able to receive the medals he deserved.

Nathaniel Silverstone passed away on August 9, 2001 at home in Hendon, London. He left behind his wife, two sons, together with their wives and Nat's four grandchildren.