Description
Object description
Australian seaman served aboard HMAS Perth in Australian coastal waters and Indian Ocean, 1941-1942, including sinking in Sunda Strait, 1/3/1942; prisoner of war in Dutch East Indies,
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Geraldton and Perth, Australia, 1920-1940: family; move from Geraldton to Perth; education; attitude towards England as mother country; awareness of First World War; opinion of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain; degree of awareness of situation in Europe. Aspects of enlistment and training as seaman with Royal Australian Navy in Australia, 1/1941-8/1941: background to volunteering for Royal Australian Navy, 1/1941; enlistment, 6/1/1941; initial lack of seriousness about training.
REEL 2 Continues: pattern of training; initial drafting to HMAS Kuttabul, Sydney. Recollections of operations as seaman aboard HMAS Perth in Australian coastal waters and Indian Ocean, 8/1941-3/1942, including sinking in Sunda Strait, 1.3/1942: initial reaction to drafting to ship in Sydney; act of sabotage by dockworkers in Sydney; reputation of ship and Captain Philip Bowyer- Smith; appointment of Captain Hector Waller, 24/10/1941; reaction to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, United States of America, 7/12/1941; background to move to Java, Dutch East Indies, 2/1942; situation in Surabaya, Java Dutch East Indies on arrival, 25/2/1942; reaction to Japanese forces' capture of Singapore, Malaya, 15/2/1942; orders to intercept Imperial Japanese Navy force, 2/1942; duties in X Turret; problems of multi-national force.
REEL 3 Continues: attitude to service on board ship prior to being involved in action; treatment received by able seaman in charge of mess; morale on board ship; ship's turrets and asdic; ship's cat; superstition of leaving port on Friday 13th; lack of air cover on move to Dutch East Indies, 2/1942; opinion of having Dutch Admiral Karol Doorman; conditions in X Turret; firing shells during Battle of Java Sea, 27/2/1942; question of presence of Imperial Japanese Navy submarine in Sundra Strait; reaction to mining of HMS Jupiter.
REEL 4 Continues: gathering supplies at Tanjong Priok, Java, Dutch East Indies, 28/2/1942; orders to intercept Imperial Japanese Navy invasion fleet in Sunda Strait; reasons for delay in leaving Tanjong Prio, Java, Dutch East Indies, 28/2/1942; ammunition supply prior to Battle of Sunda Strait; start of Battle of Sunda Strait; running short of ammunition; torpedo hits on ship; abandoning ship, 1/3/1942; period swimming in sea; getting ashore on Java, Dutch East Indies.
REEL 5 Continues: obtaining place in lifeboat; effects of oil fuel on body and attempts to remove it; leaving island and landing lifeboat bay; ashore on Java and capture by Javanese civilians. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Serang Camp, Serang and Bicycle Camp, Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-10/1942: arrival of Japanese in village; removal to Serang Camp; how his group gained nickname 'the dirty thirty'; conditions in Serang Jail; inability of Imperial Japanese Army to handle large number of prisoners of war; morale and comradeship in Serang jail; state of group's health; removal to Bicycle Camp in Batavia; work parties.
REEL 6 Continues: daily routine in camp; trading with Javanese; behaviour of Imperial Japanese Army guards in Bicycle Camp, Batavia; question of escape; philosophy adopted as prisoner of war; acquiring pair of Dutch military boots. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 10/1942: removal to Changi Camp, Singapore, 10/1942; degree of contact with family; question of concern for family in Australia. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 2/1942-1/1944: nicknaming of Imperial Japanese Army guards; behaviour of Korean and Japanese captors.
REEL 7 Continues: voyage to Moulmein, Burma; work with mobile force on railway; laying railway sleepers; cutting down trees; effects of digging for ballast; Japanese 'Speedo' programme; state of rice on arrival with work gangs; opinion of doctors; question of giving up; bombing of line at 100 Kilo Camp, Regue, Burma; reasons for not being selected to work in Japan; state of prisoner of war health; contracting pneumonia; nature of comradeship; burial of dead.
REEL 8 Continues: motivation for survival and religious outlook; attitude towards surroundings; opinion of completion of railway by Imperial Japanese Army engineers; attempts to acquire salt; effects of Allied bombing of railway line. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Thailand, 1/1944-8/1945: hearing for Thai civilians of presence of Allied paratroopers; arrival of British airborne forces, 8/1945; behaviour of Imperial Japanese Army guards; reaction to liberation; attitude towards treatment of prisoners of war by Japanese captors.
REEL 9 Continues: Aspects of liberation and period in Burma and Malaya and then return to Australia, 1945-1946: transfer to Rangoon, Burma after liberation; hospitalisation in Rangoon, Burma; story of flight in United States Army Air Force aircraft; treatment by Royal Navy personnel; return to Fremantle, Australia; question of need for counselling; five week period in naval depot, 1/1946- 2/1946; story of leaving train through window in darkness in Nullarbor Plain, Australia; discharge and question of having post-traumatic stress disorder; return to civilian life; effects of captivity and religious outlook; question of receiving compensation from Japanese Government; attitude towards Japanese.
REEL 10 Continues: question of inadvisability of sending Royal Australian Navy warships to Dutch East Indies; attitude towards war; question of lessons learnt from experience.