Description
Object description
Australian private served 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 and Adam Park Camp, Singapore, Malaya, Burma-Thailand Railway, aboard SS Rashin Maru during voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Moji, Japan and Hiroshima 3-D Camp, Yamane, Japan, 5/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Perth, Australia, 1919-1939: family; childhood in Victoria Park; father Stuart Elliot's military service in First World War; memories of Anzac Day celebrations; effect of Depression on daily life; education; attitude towards British Empire and patriotism; awareness of rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazis in Germany; employment and apprenticeship; volunteering for service with Citizen Military Forces; training with 16th Bn The Cameron Highlanders of Western Australia; reaction to Munich Crisis, 9/1938; memories of declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; medical examination; called up, 10/1940; nickname 'Chocolate Soldiers' given to Citizen Military Forces; pressure to enlist with Australian Imperial Force; reaction to Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940. Aspects of period as private with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Australia, 10/1940-12/1941: equipment and weapons; training at Northam Camp; opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Anketell; importance of physical training; nicknaming of battalion 'Mountain Goats'.
REEL 2 Continues: period in Darwin, 10/1941-12/1941; attitude to prospect of overseas service; awareness of progress of war; reaction to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, United States of America, 7/12/1941; opinion of Japanese forces. Aspects of voyage aboard HMAS Westralia and HMT Aquitania from Darwin, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941-1/1942: voyage aboard HMAS Westralia from Darwin to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; embarkation aboard HMT Aquitania; memories of Christmas, 25/12/1941; opinion of senior military commanders; conditions aboard HMT Aquitania; daily routine; opinion of officers; reason for joining 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn; attitude to role as machine gunner; uniform; shore leave in Sydney, Australia; relations with Australian civilians; opinion of new recruits; accommodation aboard HMT Aquitania; story of leave being cancelled and going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) in Fremantle, Australia; voyage from Fremantle, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 1/1942 including weapons and lectures.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp and Adam Park Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-4/1943: use of boreholes as latrines; rumours; discipline; story of Japanese forces' victory parade; attitude to surrender, 15/2/1942; opinion of Indian National Army Sikh guards; attitude towards officers; recreational activities; morale; education classes; parades; working parties; use of converted Japanese trucks; personal hygiene; humour amongst Australian personnel; bartering food and tobacco; attitude to building Japanese shrine; amusing story of pork; methods of sabotaging work; treatment received from Imperial Japanese Army guards; roll calls; nature of work; story of Imperial Japanese Army officer losing sword; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; problem of bed bugs; cooking rations; relations with local civilians; story of sewing machines; rate of pay; question of Japanese authorities observing Geneva Convention; attitude of Japanese towards prisoners of war; attitude to bowing to Imperial Japanese Army officers; punishments.
REEL 4 Continues: attitude towards smoking; working hours; problem of tinea and other skin diseases; relations with Indian National Army guards; conditions in Selarang Barracks; rations; communication with family; description of work at River Valley Road Camp; morale in civilian population; lack of food. Recollections of of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 4/1943-6/1944: background to allocation to work on Burma-Thailand Railway; description of train journey to Thailand; arrived at Ban Pong Camp; question of escape; moved to Kanyu No 2 Camp; tented accommodation; climate; contracting malaria; organisation of prisoners of war; opinion of officers; nature of drilling work at Hellfire Pass; injuries; working conditions and hours; state of health of prisoners of war; story about Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop; opinion of medical officers; treatment of ulcers.
REEL 5 Continues: religious beliefs of prisoners of war; examples of humour; story of bamboo; further comments on treating ulcers; contracting amoebic dysentery; use of leaves as toilet paper; days off; work rate during 'speedo' period; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army engineers; various memories of friends; cholera outbreak; treatment and deaths; description of terrain and climate; supplementing diet from jungle, size of camps; attitude to completion of Burma-Thailand Railway, 12/1943; story of being selected to work in Japan; Allied bombing raids; further comments on cholera; morale; memories of Christmas, 25/12/1943; personal possessions. Recollections of voyage aboard SS Rashin Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Moji, Japan via Philippines, 1/7/1944-8/9/1944: conditions on board ship.
REEL 6 Continues: sleeping arrangements and sanitary arrangements; personal hygiene; sailed in convoy; question of emergency precautions; daily routine; food; story of collecting flies; tobacco; period at Manila, Philippines, 7/1944; recreational activities; United States Navy submarine torpedo attack on convoy, 8/1944; story of being caught in typhoon; disembarkation at Moji, Japan, 8/9/1944.
REEL 7 Continues: Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Hiroshima 3-D Camp, Yamane, Japan, 9/1944-8/1945: journey by train and boat to Niihama, Shikoku Island; number and nationalities of prisoners of war; rations; description of camp at Besshi Copper Mine; clothing and shoes; problem of cold weather; story of speech by Japanese camp commandant; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; problem of lice; opinion of rations; treatment by Japanese guards; work as carpenter; working hours; sight of United States Army Air Force bomber aircraft; conditions in mine; injuries and fatalities; relations with Japanese civilian workers; stories of obtaining food; cold weather; punishments; friendship with Japanese civilian carpenter; contracting pleurisy and pneumonia; medical treatment and operation; working in factory making sandals in Niihame; Red Cross parcels; United States Army Air Force bombing raids on Japan.
REEL 8 Continues: question of Japanese executing prisoners of war at end of Second World War; story of receiving news of atomic bombs and Japanese surrender, 15/8/1945; supplies air-dropped into camp; celebrations; relations with local Japanese civilians. Aspects of journey from Japan to Australia, 8/1945-10/1945: journey across Japan; disinfected and issue of new clothing; transfer to American hospital ship; opinion of treatment by American nurses; voyage to Okinawa Island, Japan; writing report about Japanese war crimes; flight back to Australia, 10/1945; reaction to being back in Australia. Post-war life and employment in Australia: return to civilian employment; reunion with friends; problem of adjusting to civilian life and relating experiences as prisoner of war; discharge from Australian Imperial Force, 1/1946; question of guilt for being prisoner of war; state of health; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; reflections on period of wartime service; attitude to reconciliation with Japanese.
