Woodhouse, Thomas Frank (Oral history)

British NCO served with 3rd Indian Corps Signals in Malaya, 1941-1942: POW in Changi POW Camp, Singapore, Malaya. 2/1942-10/1942, on Burma-Thailand Railway, 10/1942-5/1944, aboard SS Teia Maru on voyage from Singapore Malaya to Moji, Japan, 6/1944 and Omuta 17 POW Camp, Japan, 6/1944-8/1945

REEL 1 Aspects of period as NCO with Royal Corps in Signals in GB, 1939-1941: joining 2nd London Div,Territorial Army, 1939; training in GB, 1940-1941; reasons for volunteering for service in Far East. Recollections of operations as NCO with 3rd Indian Corps Signals in Malaya, 1941-1942: routine and atmosphere in Kuala Lumpar; line construction work; degree of belief in threat of Japanese invasion; reaction to Japanese invasion, 12/1941; sight of first dead Japanese soldier; withdrawal to Singapore; maintaining communications; reaction to surrender, 15/2/1942. Recollections of period as POW in Changi POW Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-10/1942: rumours of relief; question of feasibility of escape from Singapore; accommodation; rations; duties pumping water for British officers’ mess; maintenance of discipline; work parties; accommodation of work party in Great World Amusement Park; Australian POWs; trading goods at Chinese canteen. REEL 2 Continues: bartering stolen goods for food; amusing incident of Japanese lecturing POWs about stealing food from docks; severity of beatings as punishments; smuggling techniques; attitude towards black market; selling condensed milk to Japanese as cure for venereal disease; POW health; work parties; black market earnings; relations with Sikh guards of the Indian National Army; Japanese attitude towards surrender; lecture from British officer on potential length of imprisonment; degree of contact with home; receiving war news from secret radios. Recollections of period as POW on Burma-Thailand Railway, 10/1942-6/1944: nature of train journey from Singapore to Thailand; conditions in Ban Pong Camp; technique for laying rails; speed of railway work. REEL 3 Continues: duties as engine fireman; relations with Japanese engineer; trading with Thais; supplementing diet; clothing worn including ‘Jap-Happy’ loin cloth; obtaining permission to grow beard; dangers of brakeman’s job and death of friend ‘Chalky’ White; deterioration in POW health; his bout of cholera at Tonchan Camp; disposal of diseased bodies; cholera isolation camp; POW illnesses; move to Nong Pladuk No 2 Camp; self discipline amongst POWs at Nong Pladuk No 2 Camp; relations with Australian and Dutch POWs; forging camp currency to deceive Dutch POWs running camp canteen; treatment for ulcers; sleeping arrangements; earning income from killing flies. REEL 4 Continues: food at Nong Pladuk No 2 Camp; amusing story of Japanese camp commandant sinking in drainage ditch; fly swatting in Japanese hut. Aspects of voyage aboard SS Teia Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Moji, Japan, 6/1944: conditions and rations on board ship from Singapore; belief in ultimate Allied victory; arrival in Moji, Japan; description of Japanese Navy officers’ uniform; POW clothing. Recollections of period as POW in Omuta 17 Camp, Japan, 6/1944-8/1945: accommodation; rations; work in zinc foundry; relations with Japanese workforce; daily routine; lice; Japanese guards’ behaviour to POW who retaliated against treatment; opinion of role of British officers; relations with American POWs; American collaborator; attitude towards Dutch from Dutch East Indies; use of trenches during American air raids; Japanese plans for POWs in event of invasion. REEL 5 Continues: lighting cigarettes in air raid trenches; payment in food and cigarettes; Japanese and POW attitude towards bombing; contact with Japanese women; reduction in rations; POW illnesses and lack of treatment; possible sighting of Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Boxscar’ which dropped atomic bomb on Nagasaki and cloud, 8/1945; Red Cross parcels; American food supply drops on camp, 8/1945; American liberation of camp, 8/1945; Aspects of return to GB, 9/1945-12/1945: embarkation aboard USS Mobile; US hospitality; Chinese POW attitude towards Japanese; sight of devastation in Nagasaki, Japan; journey to GB. Lack of physical effects of imprisonment. Attitude towards Japanese, 1982.