Description
Object description
Australian officer served with Royal Air Force in Malaya and Dutch East Indies, 1937-1942; prisoner of war in Bicycle, Makasura and Bandoeng Camps, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Lindfield and Sydney, Australia, 1910-1930: family; education. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Air Force in Australia and GB, 1930-1937: period as cadet at No 1 Flying Training School, Royal Australian Air Force at RAAF Point Cook, Australia, 1930-1931; joining Royal Air Force in GB; pattern of service with Royal Air Force, 1931-1937. Recollections of period as officer with Royal Air Force in Singapore, Malaya, 1937-1942: initial duties as armaments officer at RAF Seletar, 1937; reasons for lack of defence preparations in Malaya, 1939-1941; proposed role of Norgroup; Japanese strategy, tactics and mobility; Royal Air Force aircraft strength; role commanding RAF Tengah and evacuation of station; Royal Air Force losses and unsuitability of aircraft; lack of Royal Air Force awareness of Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter and Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty' bomber; Allied underestimation of Japanese forces. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Air Force in Dutch East Indies, 2/1942-3/1942: evacuation by air to Palembang, Sumatra; subsequent move to Bandoeng, Java.
REEL 2 Continues: voluntary return to Oosthaven, Sumatra to obtain supplies; attempts to escape with party from southern Java; starting to build boat; receiving war news from improvised wireless set. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Bicycle, Makasura and Bandoeng Camps, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-8/1945: capture by Japanese; initial imprisonment in Garoet Jail; interrogation by drunken Impeiral Japanese Army officer; move to Makasura Camp; pattern of prisoner of war movements on Java; prior recollection of Japanese bombing of Singapore, Malaya, 1941-1942; wartime activities of wife and parents-in-law; Peter Gibb's successful escape from Singapore, Malaya.
REEL 3 Continues: amusing story of American Colonel T P Searle's last message to President Franklin D Roosevelt prior to capture; importance of saving 'face' for Japanese' belief in personal survival; problems communicating with Japanese; Japanese camp commandant's attempts at English language at Makasura Camp; prisoner of war interpreters; relations between prisoner of war ranks; prisoner of war manufacturers; inability of young prisoners of war to cope; prisoner of war survival instinct; climatic conditions on Java; living conditions in camps; improvised prisoner of war clothing; concealing illicit wireless set; problems of disseminating news; Japanese searches and punishments; treatment of Japanese by own officers and NCOs; opinion of Korean guards.
REEL 4 Continues: description of physical character of different prisoner of war camps; variations of Japanese camp commandants; Japanese commandant at Makasura Camp; how camp was controlled; prisoner of war comradeship; Japanese attitude towards prisoners of war; Red Cross parcel situation; communication with home; belief in survival; Japanese non-observance of Geneva Convention; question of why Japanese denial of supplies and books to prisoners of war; attitude of Japanese towards prisoners of war; rations; improvised cigarettes; prisoners of war loss of weight; obtaining eggs at Bicycle Camp and attempts to incubate them.
REEL 5 Continues: growing mushrooms at Makasura Camp; Japanese treatment of pigs; types of meat he ate in camps; prisoners of war sickness; question of deliberate Japanese policy of keeping prisoners of war on low rations; work of padres; story of Japanese use of prisoners of war for propaganda purposes; expectations of length of imprisonment and war's progress; conditions witnessed in civilian internment camps at end of war, 1945; degree of knowledge of war's progress; question of Japanese plans to massacre prisoners of war, 1945; Japanese surrender and liberation, 8/1945; prisoner of war hygiene; prisoner of war inventiveness and manufacture.
REEL 6 Continues: shaving; production of soap and other commodities; story of prisoners of war making mock sulphanilamide tablets from chalk and selling them to Japanese; necessity of salt; nature of tropical ulcers; treatment of sick prisoners of war; Japanese attitude towards sick and officers' working; his objection to Japanese about officers' labouring work; type of work and pay; work clothing and conditions; prisoner of war sabotage of work; importance of humour in maintaining morale.
REEL 7 Continues: his Royal Air Force pay during imprisonment; wife's wartime allowance and post-war adjustments; how wife coped during his imprisonment; paying of prisoners of war in valueless Japanese wartime currency; bartering in camp; presence of racketeers; nature of camp administrators and guards; Japanese policy on moving prisoners of war; question of power of Kempeitai; prisoner of war names for Japanese; character of Japanese camp commandants including 'Sonnie' at Bicycle Camp; prisoner of war reaction to punishment beatings; relations between prisoners of war and Japanese guards.
REEL 8 Continues: attitude towards Japanese; Japanese attitude towards prisoner of war possessions; different nationalities present in camp; bowing to Japanese; prisoner of war co-operation and survival; duties as prisoner of war camp commandant at Makasura Camp; relations with Japanese; question of futility of Japanese war aims; prisoner of war rank and personal discipline; personal relations between prisoners of war; long-term effects of imprisonment and role of Far East Prisoners of War Association; how Dutch prisoners of war fared in captivity.
REEL 9 Continues: famous prisoners of war; sporting activities; recreational activities; a concert party; concealing camp radios; disseminating news; cases of Javanese villagers betraying Allied troops, 3/1942; contact with local civilians; prisoner of war morale; aiding young prisoners of war to cope with captivity; question of elements needed for survival; reasons for separation from other ranks and move to Bandoeng Camp, 1945; Japanese attitude towards their capitulation and change in behaviour, 8/1945.
REEL 10 Continues: conditions in Bandoeng Camp; hearing news on radio of atomic bomb being dropped, 8/1945. Aspects of period as officer with Royal Air Force in Java, Dutch East Indies, 8/1945-12/1945: organisation of prisoner of war evacuation from Java; gradual return to normal diet; lack of contact with Red Cross during captivity; released prisoners of war attitude towards Japanese; role of Relief of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees Organisation; return to GB, 12/1945. Reflections on period as prisoner of war on Java, Dutch East Indies, 1942-1945: reaction to conditions on return to GB; civilian attitude towards former Far Eastern Prisoner of War; resuming Royal Air Force career; re-adjusting to normal life; effect of prisoner of war experience on attitude towards life.