Description
Object description
British civilian served as British Resident of Labuan Island, British North Borneo, 12/1940-1/1942; internee in Batu Lintang Camp, Sarawak, British North Borneo, 9/1942-9/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1913-1940: family; education including obtaining scholarship to Merton College, University of Oxford; reason for joining Malayan Civil Service. Recollections of period as British Resident of Labuan Island, British North Borneo, 12/1940-1/1942: appointment as British Resident of Labuan Island, 12/1940; location of Labuan Island; duties and staff; attitude to possible Japanese invasion; increase of food reserves in case of invasion; duplication of cable station equipment; visit by Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, 12/1941; reaction to Japanese attack on Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941; decision to ban all motor vehicles; early warning signalling system; distribution of remaining food supplies to local population; destruction of stocks of aviation spirit and all codes and ciphers; evacuation of island population and staff; reason for remaining in Labuan Island; preparations to sabotage cable station. Aspects of period as British Resident in Labuan Island, British North Borneo, 1/1942: arrival of Japanese forces at cable station; issuing order not to open fire on Japanese.
REEL 2 Continues: sending final messages to Singapore, Malaya; destruction of cable equipment; capture by Japanese troops; drive in own car to court house; being hit with rifle butt by Japanese soldier; overnight detention in dock of court house; story of having to urinate in street; opinion of Japanese treatment; detention in police cell; attitude of Japanese to Chinese and Malay civilians. Recollections of period as internee in Batu Lintang Camp, Kuching, Sarawak, British North Borneo, 9/1942-9/1945: description of camp and inmates; accommodation in huts; latrines; camp regime and organisation; cookhouse; communal space; contact between military and civilian internees; background and nationalities of internees; treatment of internees by Japanese; interrogations; security; personal possessions; playing bridge; opinion of rations.
REEL 3 Continues: use of working parties outside camp; question of showing respect towards Imperial Japanese Army troops; attitude of Japanese to funerals of iternees; opinion of Korean guards; discipline of Imperial Japanese Army troops; searches; opinion of Japanese commandant Lieutenant-Colonel Tatsuji Suga; incident of Japanese guard assaulting internee; examples of humiliating treatment by Japanese guards; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army officers; role of camp committee and duties as secretary; opinion of Dutch internees; influence of camp committee; use of illicit wireless set; attitude to escape attempts; memories of camp committee members; opinion of running of camp; relations with Dutch internees; question of working for Japanese.
REEL 4 Continues: problem of communications between Japanese and internees; story of Imperial Japanese Army soldier and rifle; interrogation about cable station on Labuan Island; daily routine in camp; breakfast; working parties; emptying latrine buckets; evening meal; hygiene; outbreaks of dysentery; working hours; recreational activities; reason for keeping diary; growing food to supplement diet; compulsory working parties; problem of supplies; organisation of work by internees; cleaning huts; preparation and cooking of food; selection for workers in cookhouse; preventable diseases caused by inadequate diet; opinion of sago; attempts to vary diet; sources of food; eating food in hut.
REEL 5 Continues: health problems including malaria, dysentery, leg ulcers, edema and beri beri; medical treatment and hospital facilities; mortality rate; description of cure for dysentery; factors affecting morale in camp; comparison of British and Dutch internees; formation of groups; number and nationalities of internees; level of contact between civilian and military internees; compulsory celebrations for Emperor's Hirohito's birthday.
REEL 6 Continues: further details on communication between civilian and military internees; bribery of guards; conditions for military prisoners of war; bartering; recreational activities; story of library provided by Japanese; educational classes and lectures; theatrical productions; money and personal possessions in camp; role of camp committee in spending money; selling personal services and skills; opinion of trading tobacco for food.
REEL 7 Continues: use of tapioca leaves for tobacco; religious services; issue of Japanese newspapers; communication with family in GB; censorship; Red Cross parcels; clandestine wireless set; Japanese searches for forbidden items; punishments; attitude to escape attempts; reaction to first sight of United States Army Air Force aircraft flying over camp, 3/1945; leaflets dropped announcing Japanese surrender, 8/1945; Japanese abandoning control of camp to internees, 9/1945; question of Japanese reprisals against internees; story of liberation by Australian troops, 11/9/1945.
REEL 8 Continues: food canisters dropped into camp; liberation and return to Labuan Island, 9/1945; reaction of Australian troops to conditions in camp; problem with eating; hospital treatment in Singapore, Malaya; description of journey back to GB and reunion with parents at Southampton, 11/1945; reflections on period as internee.