Description
Object description
British British sapper served with 36th Fortress Coy, Royal Engineers, Fortress Penang, Malaya Command in Malaya, 1941-1942; prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-8/1942, aboard SS Fukkai Maru on voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Pusan, Korea, 8/1942-9/1942, Jinsen Camp, Inchon and Konan Camp, Keijo-Fu, Korea, 9/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Engineers in GB, 1935-1938: reasons for enlistment in Royal Engineers, Scotland, 1935; training; posting to Malaya, 1938. Recollections of operations as sapper served with 36th Fortress Coy, Royal Engineers, Fortress Penang, Malaya Command in Malaya, 1941-1942: fortification work in Penang 1939; evacuation to Singapore, 1/1942-2/1942; unloading aircraft; witnessing Japanese atrocities after surrender; duties during Battle of Singapore; action at Alexandra Hospital and hearing screams from within; surrender and first encounter with Imperial Japanese Army troops; witnessing carnage in Alexandra Hospital; Japanese account of massacre; scene inside Alexandra Hospital; how British forces were unaware of massacre happening.
REEL 2 Continues: opinion of inadequacy of British equipment; civilian evacuation on Singapore; reasons for capitulation; Japanese 'atrocities' and looting; reaction to surrender, 15/2/1942; opinion of inadequate defence of Singapore; officer/other ranks relations. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-8/1942: march to camp, 2/1942; plumbing work for officer prisoners of war; opinion of attitude of officer prisoners of war; clearing up work in Singapore; rice ration and pilfering food on work parties.
REEL 3 Continues: visit by Imperial Japanese Army general. Aspects of period as prisoner of war aboard SS Fukkai Maru on voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Pusan, Korea, 8/1942-9/1942: embarkation; accommodation; Japanese parading of naked prisoners of war for public humiliation on arrival at Pusan. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Jinsen Camp, Inchon and Konan Camp, Keijo-Fu, Korea, 9/1942-8/1945: experiences in Jinsen Camp 1943; volunteering to tranfer to Konan Camp; work; prisoner of war sabotage; Japanese surrender and release 1945; experiencing atomic fallout; desertion of Konan Camp by Japanese guards; treatment by British authorities after release; invaliding out of British Army, 1946. Reflections of period as prisoner of war in Singapore, Malaya and Korea, 1942-1945: amount of contact with home and with local population in Changi Camp, Singapore, 2/1942-8/1942.
REEL 4 Continues: escape attempt and recapture at Changi Camp, 1942; question of impossibility of escape; concealing crew of shot-down United States Army Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Konan Camp, Korea, 1945; behaviour of guards in Changi Camp, Singapore, behaviour of Japanese camp commandant at Jinsen Camp, Korea, 1943; question of false promises of Allied help during battle for Singapore; expectations of length of imprisonment; description of 'doghouse' punishment; prisoner of war clothing; attitude towards nuclear weapons. Aspects of operations as sapper with 36th Fortress Coy, Royal Engineers, Fortress Penang, Malaya Command in Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942: attitude towards Alexandra Hospital Massacre; Japanese pre-war infiltration of Singapore.
REEL 5 Continues: presence of Japanese Fifth Column in Singapore; Allied underestimation of Japanese forces; food and jewellery hidden by prisoners of war in Singapore, 2/1942-8/1942.