Description
Object description
Australian NCO served as cook with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 24/1/1942-15/2/1942; prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Burma-Thailand Railway and Nakom Paton Camp, Thailand, 2/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Bunbury, Australia, 1922-1939: childhood and family; effects of Depression on family life; employment with bakers; father's military service at Gallipoli in First World War; education; attitude towards British Empire; awareness of world events; attitude towards Adolf Hitler and Nazi policies; opinion of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; opinion of Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies. Aspects of enlistment as private in Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 10/1940-7/1941: background to enlistment, 10/1940; basic training at Northam Camp; uniform and rifle. Aspects of period as NCO with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div, 7/1941-12/1941: posting to battalion in South Australia, 23/7/1941
REEL 2 Continues: training as machine gunner; attitude to military life; move to Darwin and duties building roads, 1941; awareness of progress of war; attitude towards Japanese; reaction to bombing of Pearl Harbor, United States of America, 7/12/1941. Aspects of voyage aboard HMAS Westralia and HMT Aquitania from Darwin, Australia to Singapore, Malaya via Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 12/1941-1/1941: leave in Sydney, Australia; story of going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) in Fremantle, Australia, 1/1942; voyage aboard HMT Aquitania from Fremantle, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 1/1942; conditions aboard troopship; daily routine; accommodation; disembarkation at Singapore, Malaya, 24/1/1942. Aspects of operations as NCO with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 24/1/1942-15/2/1942: location of battalion in rubber plantation; sight of civilians leaving Singapore.
REEL 3 Continues: move to Bukit Timah; problem of losing machine gun; occupying slit trench; casualties caused by Imperial Japanese Army artillery fire; wounding by shrapnel; reaction to first experience of combat; attitude towards deserters; medical treatment for wounds in church; reaction to surrender of Singapore, 15/2/1942; transfer to hospital. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, 2/1942-3/1942: description of camp and conditions; opinion of facilities; morale; daily routine; physical training; military discipline; opinion of rations; educational and recreational activities; concert parties; religious beliefs.
REEL 4 Continues: latrines; problem of presence of shrapnel in arm; military discipline in camp; selection to work on Burma-Thailand Railway, 3/1942. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway and Nakom Patom Camp, Thailand, 5/1942-8/1945: story of theft of bull and collective punishment; sight of British prisoners of war roped together; description of Kilo 4 Camp, Kandaw; outbreak of cholera; story of officer punished for refusing to sign pledge not to escape; daily routine and work; further description of 4 Kilo Camp, Kandaw; accommodation; clothing; thefts from kitbags; story of razor stolen by chaplain; opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Green; working in three-man team building embankments.
REEL 5 Continues: daily routine and working hours; breakfast; parade and roll call; march to work; question of attempting to escape; story of prisoner of war tied to stake and left to die for stealing food from Japanese guards' kitchen; examples of punishments; nicknames for guards; opinion of medical officer Captain Claude Anderson; treatment of skin disease tinea; question of sick prisoners of war being forced to work; tropical diseases; problem of ulcers and diarrhoea; personal hygiene; memories of other prisoners of war; attitude to survival and religious beliefs; importance of comradeship; rates of pay; opinion of treatment by Imperial Japanese Army engineers; conditions in 105 Kilo Camp, Augganaung; outbreak of cholera and burning bodies.
REEL 6 Continues: treatment for cholera cases and morality rate; opinion of surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel Albert Coates; amputations; bartering with civilians for food; buying and stealing bananas; clandestine radio; help received from Thai civilians; awareness of progress of war; brutality of guards; climate and humidity; lack of adequate clothing and footwear; heavy rain; story of fish being deposited on parade ground after storm; work building canals; topics of conversation; attitude of Japanese captors to prisoners of war; comparison of mortality rates among British and Australian prisoners of war; description of working on bridge on River Kwai, Thailand; attitude to Allied bombing of bridge and casualties; opinion of concert parties; attitude to completion of bridge.
REEL 7 Continues: story of Imperial Japanese Army guards abandoning Nakom Paton Camp, Thailand at end of Second World War, 15/8/1945; liberation by American forces; reason for lack of religious beliefs. Post-war life and employment in Australia: return journey to Australia and adjustment to civilian life; reunion with family in Bunbury; medical examination; question of talking about experiences as prisoner of war; problem of nightmares; attitude to reconciliation with Japanese; story of appearing as witness at Japanese war crimes trial; reflections on wartime experiences; opinion of treatment of veterans by Australian Government.
