Hodge, Christopher Gwynne (Oral history)

British seaman served aboard HMS Exeter in Indian Ocean and Java Sea including sinking in Sunda Straits, 1/3/1942; prisoner of war in Makassar Camp, Celebes Island, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-8/1945

REEL 1 Aspects of operations as seaman aboard HMS Exeter in Indian Ocean and Java Sea, 5/1941-3/1942 including sinking in Sunda Straits, 1/3/1942: call-up for Royal Navy, 7/1940; duties on board; participation in First Battle of Java Sea, 27/1/1942; repairs to ship in Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies, 1/1942; sinking of and abandoning ship in Sunda Straits during Second Battle of the Java Sea, 1/3/1942; Japanese machine gunning of survivors in water; attitude towards abandoning ship; period in water and rescue by Japanese destroyer; treatment by Japanese on destroyer; period in hold of cargo ship and aboard captured Royal Netherlands Navy hospital ship SS Op Ten Noort. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Makassar Camp, Celebes Island, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-8/1945: parading of prisoners of war through Makassar; accommodation in barracks; rations; beatings; trading with civilians. REEL 2 Continues: quarry work; lack of clothing; washing facilities; utensils made by workshops; Allied air raids; prisoners of war trading goods; jobs and supplementing rations; prisoner of war illnesses and degree of treatment available; prisoner of war deaths; Japanese execution of attempted escapees; behaviour of Japanese guards; prisoners of war broadcasting messages home; degree of contact with home; hearing of end of Second World War, 8/1945; reads poem entitled 'Dreaming' written as prisoner of war; degree of war news received; relations with Dutch and American prisoners of war; execution of Dutch prisoner of war; return to new camp in Makassar after road building work; degree of resistance to Japanese. REEL 3 Continues: prisoner of war striking of Japanese guard; need for prisoners of war to bow to Japanese guards; period in camp prior to liberation by Royal Australian Navy. Reflections on period as prisoner of war, 1942-1945: long-term physical and psychological effects of captivity; attitude towards Japanese; weight on release from captivity; story of collecting coconuts from trees on Celebes Island; incidents of kindness shown by guards.