Description
Object description
British gunner served with 315th Bty, 5th Searchlight Regt, Royal Artillery, Malaya Command in Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942; prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-9/1942, Saigon Camp, French Indochina, 9/1942-6/1943, on Burma-Thailand Railway, 6/1943-8/1944, River Valley Road Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 8/1944-9/1944, aboard SS Kachidoki Maru in South China Sea including sinking, 12/9/1944 and Sendai No 9-B Camp, Sakata, Japan, 9/1944-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as gunner with 315 Battery, 5th Searchlight Regt, Royal Artillery, Malaya Command in Singapore, Malaya, 1941-1942: voyage aboard HMS Otranto and HMT Orion from GB to Singapore, 8/1941-11/1941; attitude of civilians to presence of troops; impact of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, 7/12/1941; Chinese attitude towards troops at time of surrender; duties with searchlight battery on Pulau Belakang Mati Island; move to Singapore, 2/1942; attitude of volunteer forces; demoralisation amongst troops; capture by Japanese. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-9/1942: march to Changi.
REEL 2 Continues: treatment by Indian National Army guards; separation of officers and men; Japanese firing on Malay sampan; accommodation and rations; morale; failure of NCOs to maintain leadership; fate of escapers during captivity in French Indochina; description of Selarang Square Incident, 9/1942. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Saigon Camp, French Indochina, 9/1942-6/1943: voyage from Singapore to Saigon, 9/1942.
REEL 3 Continues: punishment of prisoners of war caught stealing from docks; Japanese treatment of prisoners of war and punishments experienced; nature of work on docks; trading arms for food with Vietnamese stealing from docks; question of sabotage; contact with French civilians; aid given by Vietnamese and how Japanese punished them for doing so; restricted movement of shipping into docks.
REEL 4 Continues: selection for prisoners of war for train journey to Thailand, 6/1943. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 6/1943-8/1944: work on railway including prisoners of war being killed by explosion at Kinsaiyok; dangers of collecting bamboo; treatment of tropical ulcers; his ear complaint and other sickness; Japanese supervision of work; prior recollection of Japanese experiments on monkeys in Saigon, Indochina; sabotage of railway; Japanese forcing sick prisoners of war to work on railway; character of various Japanese guards.
REEL 5 Continues: attitude towards officers; Japanese attitude towards prisoners of war; prisoner of war suicides; prisoner of war rackets; rice coffee; need to bow to Japanese; prisoner of war collaborator; belief in survival. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in River Valley Road Camp in Singapore, Malaya, 8/1944-9/1944: move to camp; tension between Australian and British prisoners of war. Aspects of voyage aboard SS Kachidoki Maru in South China Sea, 9/1944 including sinking 12/9/1944: embarkation and overcrowding, 6/9/1944; description of United States Navy submarine USS Pampanito's (SS-383) attack on convoy, 12/9/1944; torpedoing of ship and preparations to abandon ship.
REEL 6 Continues: abandoning ship; two days adrift in water; rescue by Imperial Japanese Navy; reluctance of Japanese captain to transport prisoners of war on tanker; transfer to Japanese whaler and further American attacks on route; arrival in Moji, Japan; temporary accommodation at Moji, Japan. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Sendai No 9-B Camp, Sakata, Japan, 9/1944-8/1945: journey to camp; dysentery tests; work in foundry; issue of straw coats winter 1944; living conditions for Japanese civilians; United States Army Air Force air raids, 1945; Japanese treatment of prisoners of war; Japanese work ethic; his punishment for slacking at his work; safety standards; liberation, 8/1945; visit to Sakata cinema; learning news of Japanese surrender.
REEL 7 Continues: supply drops; prisoner of war attitude towards revenge. Reflections on period as prisoner of war, 1942-1945: bravery of prisoners of war; opinion of Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop's medical work in camps in Thailand; comparison of treatment of former prisoners of war by American and British authorities. Attitude towards Japanese, 1986.