Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 1 August 1950, page 3

"Happy Harry" is coming back

HAPPY HARRY" will be at the annual meeting of the Ex-Prisoners of War and Relatives' Association tomorrow night. The former P.O.W's are picking him up tomorrow when the Ormonde berths in Adelaide from England, and will fly him over.

Every man who was on the Burma-Siam railway knew "Happy Harry."

When he joined the 2/29 Battalion as a private in the early days of the war he was Harry Thorpe, then a theological student.

He served well as a fighting soldier, and when he was taken prisoner by the Japanese he volunteered for padre duties to help his fellow sufferers.

Up and down the "death railway," from Kamburi camp to points north, he travelled, earning his nickname of "Happy Harry" by always having a smile and a word of cheer, no matter how grim things were.

After his release he continued his studies and was ordained, and now he is the Rev. H. Thorpe, of the Church of England.

Recently he visited Britain to meet again the hundreds of friends he had made in the prison camps of Burma and Siam.

He took wreaths with him from New South Wales and Victorian ex-P.O.W. organisations, and preached the occasional sermon at a memorial service in London's parish church, St. Martin's in the Fields, Trafalgar Square.

More than 1,000 ex-prisoners attended that service.

He has brought back to Australia a letter of thanks from British ex-P.O.W.'s to Australian comrades for gifts of food.

This letter, inscribed on parchment, will be presented in Kelvin Hall tomorrow night to Mr. E. E. ("Weary") Dunlop, president of the Victorian Association.

"Happy Harry" is coming back (1950, August 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 3. Retrieved June 19, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22901195