Description
Object description
Australian NCO served with 2/4th Machine Gun Bn in Singapore, 1942; POW in Singapore and on Burma-Thailand Railway, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Australia, 1918-1941: family life in West Perth; education; daily life in Perth; activities with Boy Scouts; reason for joining Citizens Militia Force; attitude to First World War; effects of Depression; employment; reaction to outbreak of war, 9/1939; reason for volunteering; attitude to Britain and Empire; internment of Italian friends; story of enlistment in Perth, 1940; issued with uniform and kit; basic training at Northam Camp; opinion of equipment; attitude to overseas service; drafted as reinforcements for 2/4th Machine Gun Bn; embarked aboard Aquitania in Fremantle; opinion of conditions aboard ship.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of voyage aboard Aquitania to Singapore, 12/1941: sleeping arrangements; daily routine aboard ship; attitude to Japanese. Aspects of operations with 2/4th Machine Gun Bn in Singapore, 1-2/1942: first impressions of Singapore; opinion of Japanese; story of Japanese spotter plane; question of not being allowed to fire on Japanese; location of Japanese forces; air raids on Singapore; reaction to landing of Japanese forces; position in trenches; daily routine and duties; first experience of seeing wounded; story of surrender and laying down arms, 15/Feb/1942; marched to Selerang Barracks, Changi; personal possessions; conditions on march. Aspects of period as POW in Selerang Barracks, Changi, 2/1942-1943: question of escape; organisation; attitude to being POW; living conditions; morale.
REEL 3 Continues: daily routine and work; recreational activities including Buffalo Lodge; black market activities with local civilians; problem of vitamin deficiency; cooked rice in sea water; methods of supplementing diet; made own cigarettes and grew own vegetables; attitude to escape; working party in Adam Park building shrine on golf course; story of tank; punishments; story of steamroller; working hours; opinion of Dr Millard; story of seeing amputation; medical facilities; discipline; communication with family; story of Red Cross parcels; awareness of progress of war; concert parties.
REEL 4 Continues: story of building memorial; attitude of guards to POWs; religious activities; living conditions and personal hygiene; books; various stories about guards; assigned to D Force; description of train journey into Thailand; conditions on train. Aspects of period as POW on Burma-Thailand Railway, 1943-1945: living conditions in camp Konyu 2; description of work at Hell Fire Pass; work quotas; question of sick POWs working; treatment by guards; punishments; importance of comradeship; diseases including malaria and dysentery.
REEL 5 Continues: tropical ulcers; cholera; reaction to loss of friends; attitude to survival; rice ration; story of explosives in bamboo; moved camps as railway progressed; attitude to completion of railway; construction of bridge over River Kwai; work duties after completion of railway; various memories of food and supplementing diet; use of charcoal as medicine; duties on railway; story of pigs; reaction to air raids on railway; story of Tommy Green; reaction to end of war and celebrations, 8/1945; description of making drink for local civilians.
REEL 6 Continues: problem with ears and medical treatment; story of return to Australia. Aspects of period in Australia, 1945: reception for POWs; reunion with family; opinion of medical treatment; adjustment to civilian life. Post-war life and employment in Australia: effects of period as POW on civilian life; story of trip to Singapore, 2002; reflections on period as POW and comradeship; nightmares; attitude to reconciliation with Japanese; reflections on Second World