Harrison, Edgar Howard (Oral history)

British private served with 2nd Bn Loyal Regt, 1st Malaya Infantry Bde in Malaya, 11/1941-1/1942; POW in Pudu Jail, Kuala Lumpar, Malaya, 1/1942-10/1942, Changi Jail Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 10/1942-5/1943, aboard SS Maki Maru on voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Japan, 5/1943-6/1943 and Hakodate Main Camp and Hakodate No 1 Dispatched Camp, Kamiso, Hokkaido, Japan, 6/1943-8/1945

REEL 1 Aspects of operations as private with 2nd Bn Loyal Regt, 1st Malaya Infantry Bde in Malaya, 1941-1942: attempt to obtain officer commission; background to joining battalion in Singapore, 11/1941; lack of training; retreat through Malaya, 1/1942; effect of conditions on morale; mobility of Japanese; skirmish with Japanese; period living in jungle; betrayal by Tamil and capture by Japanese; ideas of escaping captivity; how Japanese left door of police station jail unguarded in order to shoot escaping POWs. Aspects of period as POW in Pudu Jail in Kuala Lumpar, Malaya, 1/1942-10/1942: accommodation; rations. REEL 2 Continues: Japanese guard’s gift of yeast for Harrison’s beri beri; execution of escapers. Aspects of period as POW in Changi Jail Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 10/1942-5/1943: treatment by Sikh Indian National Army guards; timber cutting work parties; his participation in Japanese propaganda film, 10/1942; reaction of different sections of civilian population in Singapore. Aspects of voyage aboard SS Maki Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Japan, 5/1943-6/1943: US torpedo attack; living conditions on board. Recollections of period as POW in Hakodate Main Camp and Hakodate No 1 Dispatched Camp, Kamiso, Hokkaido, Japan, 6/1943-8/1945: hostility of civilians; work in Asano Cement factory; POW attitude towards work; contrast between Hakodate Main Camp and Changi Jail Camp. REEL 3 Continues: lack of British officer control; accommodation; move to Hakodate No 1 Dispatched Camp, Kamiso; Kempeitai searches; relations amongst POWs; coal ming work party; state of Chinese prisoners; anti-Japanese Korean labour force; reaction of Japanese to capitulation, 8/1945; supply drop by US Army Air Force; liberation by Americans; his treatment by Japanese guards; journey to GB; fate of his family at hands of Japanese in Malaya; his attitude towards atomic bombing of Japan.