Description
Object description
British private served with 16th (Plymouth) Bn, Devonshire Home Guard in Plymouth, GB, 1940-1941; gunner served with 3rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, Anti-Aircraft Defences (Malaya) in Malaya, 1941-1942; prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-10/1942, aboard SS Nagara Maru on voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, 10/1942-11/1942 and Kokopo, Death Valley and Watom Island Camps, Papua New Guinea, 11/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Plymouth, GB, 1921-1939: family; education; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of period as private with 16th Devonshire (Plymouth) Bn, Home Guard in Plymouth, GB, 1940-1941: German Air Force raids, 3/1941-4/1941; occasion when he guarded unexploded bomb; temporary blindness caused by incendiary bomb; presumed objectives of German Air Force bombing; attitude of local population towards Germans; public morale; attitude towards broadcasts of William Joyce, 'Lord Haw Haw', opinion of work of emergency services; attitude to those who evacuated city during bombing; duties with Home Guard; amusing story of unit getting lost. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Artillery in GB, 1941: joining light anti-aircraft regiment; training on radar. Recollections of operations as gunner with 3rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, Anti-Aircraft Defences (Malaya) in Malaya, 1941-1942: transfer to unit on arrival in Singapore; opinion of lack of Allied equipment especially aircraft; question of Allied leadership in Singapore; chaos during Japanese attack on Singapore, 2/1942.
REEL 2 Continues: attitude towards work of NCOs; question of attitude of Chinese and Malays. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-11/1942: defection of Sikhs to Indian National Army; incident of being beaten by Sikh guards with rifle butts and rescue by Imperial Japanese Army troops; memories of Selarang Square Incident, 9/1942; types of individuals who were first to break during Selarang Square Incident, 9/1942; prior recollection of spiking anti-aircraft guns before surrendering in Singapore; move to Changi, 15/2/1942; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army troops; question of impossibility of defending Singapore Island; Japanese attitude towards Chinese and British. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Kokopo, Death Valley and Watom Island Camps, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, 11/1942-8/1945: nature of voyage aboard SS Nagara Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, 18/10/1942-5/11/1942; impressions on arrival in Rabaul; move to Kokopo Camp, 11/1942; separation of sick from those fit to work on Bulgari Island; fate of POWs sent to Bulgari Island; move to Tobira Plantation, known as Death Valley Camp; aid received from Imperial Japanese Army officer; present of horse's head for Christmas, 25/12/1943; death rate amongst prisoners of war by 12/1943.
REEL 3 Continues: move to Watom Island Camp, 2/1944; tunnel digging work at Watom-Bo, beatings and torture he received from Japanese guards; how he joined group of four prisoners of war; how Japanese guard nicknamed 'The Jockey' beat a prisoner of war to death; beating to death of prisoner of war with dysentery; story of severe beating received due to mischief of Japanese military prisoners; aid received from local people; last time he saw helpful Japanese officer on liberation, 9/1945; threat of execution prior to liberation, 7/9/1945; reasons why so few prisoners of war survived experiences on Watom Island; Japanese belief that they would win the war; Japanese attitude towards death and surrender.
REEL 4 Continues: fears of Japanese guards 'Blackshirt' and 'Yano' at end of war; question of revenge on Japanese on liberation; question of inaccuracies in fellow prisoner of war's recording; lack of organisation amongst prisoners of war; news of wars progress from Japanese; suffering from severe leg ulcer and giving up hope of survival, 8/1945; gift of rice and salmon along with news of end of war, 8/1945; orders prisoners of war gave to guards after 17/8/1945; hearing of atomic bomb being dropped and attitude towards it; attitude towards Japanese; long-term effects of captivity and belief in importance of counselling.