Smith was born 15 January 1935 , at the Louise Margaret Military Hospital in Aldershot , Hampshire . His father , George Frederick Smith , was a corporal in the 2nd Infantry Division Signals regiment . In 1937 , he posted to India in the 9th Infantry Division ( India ) Signals Regiment on the Afghan border in Quetta , Baluchistan . The 1935 Quetta earthquake devastated the area , and the family lived in a tent . At the outbreak of war in 1939 , his father was commissioned and posted to Malaya , where , in 1941 , he took part in the fighting near Kota Baru . Eventually he was captured at Singapore , and was one of the 60,000 Allied POWs who built the Burma-Siam railway
1935 Quetta earthquake
1935 Quetta earthquake
Digby Smith