Description
Object description
British medical officer served with 198th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 53rd Infantry Bde, 18th Infantry Div in Malaya, 1/1942-2/1942; prisoner of war doctor in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, on Burma-Thailand Railway and Nakom Paton Camp, Thailand, 2/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Paris, France and GB, 1915-1939: family; education; reasons for becoming a doctor; medical training at St Thomas's Hospital in London; contrast between medical practice pre-1939 and 2002; attitude towards Munich Crisis, 9/1938; qualifying as doctor, 1939; obtaining employment with Scunthorpe Memorial Hospital and responsibilities there.
REEL 2 Continues: marriage, 9/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as medical officer with Royal Army Medical Corps in GB, 1939-1941: initial posting to Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Regimental Depot at Mill Hill Barracks, Mill Hill; medical cases treated; postings in GB, 1939-1941. Aspects of voyage aboard SS Sobieki and USS Mount Vernon from GB to Singapore, Malaya, 11/1941-1/1942: allocation as ship's doctor aboard HMT Sobieski for North Atlantic crossing; trans-shipping to American USS Mount Vernon in United States of America; escort from American vessels; story of two soldiers with psychological problems; hearing of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in South Africa, 7/12/1941; ashore in Mombasa, Kenya, 12/1941; hearing of Japanese invasion of Malaya, 12/1941; crossing Indian Ocean.
REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of period as medical officer with 198th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 53rd Infantry Bde, 18th Infantry Div in Malaya, 1/1942-2/1942: impressions on arrival in Singapore; move to Johore; sight of Gurkha troops withdrawing; work manning aid stations; story of collecting wounded; retreat to Singapore; description of Tan Tok Seng Hospital, Singapore; Japanese bombardment of Singapore; surrender, 15/2/1942. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 1942: move to Alexandra Hospital, Singapore; medical personnel in Singapore; removal to Changi; question of venereal disease; setting up aid station in former school; number of dysentery cases; move to Roberts Hospital, Changi; running dysentery ward; contracting dysentery and explanation of its symptoms.
REEL 4 Continues: description of medical conditions treated; problems with vitamin deficiency; contracting skin diphtheria. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 1942-1944: selection to go to Thailand; train journey to Thailand; arrival at Ban Pong Camp; impressions of camp; move to Chungkai Camp; duties in charge of diphtheria ward; attitude towards Japanese medical orderly; story of treating diphtheria and dysentery case; description of camp hospital at Chungkai Camp; lack of supplies and equipment.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of conditions at Chungkai Camp; march to Takanun Camp including reaction to sight of column being led by Scottish piper; contracting dangerous throat infection and polyarthritis; description of Takanun Camp and hospital; three main reasons for death of prisoners of war; protecting sick from Japanese captors; problem with tropical ulcers; diseases prevalent amongst prisoners of war; bouts of malaria; cholera epidemic; burning of dead cholera victims' bodies.
REEL 6 Continues: Japanese attitude towards prisoners of war; presence of Asian forced labourers on Burma-Thailand Railway; importance of military structure for prisoners of war; behaviour of Korean guards towards prisoners of war; story of treating Korean guard for syphilis; receiving beatings; two brothers who ran secret radio at Chungkai Camp; attitude towards Japanese captors; prisoner of war sabotage of railway; other diseases experienced and reaction to contracting them.
REEL 7 Continues: participation in camp pantomime, 12/1943; evacuation of camps after railway completed and train journey to Chungkai Camp; treatment of sick by Japanese captors; attitude towards film 'Bridge Over the River Kwai' (1957) and British Broadcast Corporation's television series 'Tenko'; sight of butterflies in jungle; escape attempts and punishments; fate of his two batmen; return to Chungkai Camp by train; increase in camp size; participation in wood gathering parties.
REEL 8 Continues: prisoner of war's killing and eating of cobra; camp entertainments and his participation with acting troupe; work of prisoner of war surgeons at Chungkai and Takanun Camps; attitude of prisoners of war towards medical operating theatre; work of Australian surgeon Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop and Canadian surgeon Jacob Markovich; amputations performed in camp. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Thailand, 1944-1945: move to Tamarkan Camp, 1944; problems with snakes; playing the 'face game'; camp pantomime with Japanese audience.
REEL 9 Continues: reaction to his performance as director of pantomime; story of helping to perform operation on perforated ulcer in dark; question of human cost of Burma-Thailand Railway; use of quinine; return to Chungkai Camp; fate of prisoners of war sent to Japan; story of murder of Korean guard who discovered illicit prisoner of war radio; burying his research notes in cemetery at Chungkai Camp. Recollections of period as prisoner of war doctor in Nakom Paton Camp, Thailand, 1945: journey to Nakom Paton Camp near Bangkok; reaction to sound of men singing; retrieval of body of drowned prisoner of war for burial.
REEL 10 Continues: arrival at Nakom Paton Camp; treatment of septic abscess on foot; reaction to hearing news of dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; reaction to end of Second World War, 8/1945. Aspects of liberation, 8/1945-9/1945: receiving parcels and medical equipment including penicillin dropped by parachute; prior recollection of performing in show 'Hold That Thai'; travelling to hospital in Bangkok to retrieve research notes; amusing story of visit to brothel; turning down offer from Thai doctors to join their practice; invites to dinner in Bangkok; flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma; problems of malnutrition; attitude towards eating rice; prior recollections of loin cloth worn as prisoner of war; voyage to GB.
REEL 11 Continues: lack of communication with GB during period as prisoner of war. Aspects of post-war life and employment: attitude towards return to GB; fear of poverty; reaction to visits to cinema; attending one year course at St Thomas's Hospital; physical condition; discharge from British Army; effect of war experiences on his medical career; attitude towards National Health Service; attitude towards Japanese; question of compensation. Reflections on period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, on Burma-Thailand Railway and Nakom Paton Camp, Thailand, 2/1942-8/1945: lack of psychiatric problems amongst prisoners of war in camps; fatigue for those working on railway.
REEL 12 Continues: dental health of prisoners of war; sanitation and latrines; presence of monkeys at Takanun Camp; cooking methods; use of mosquito nets; suffering from scabies.