Description
Object description
Australian private served as signaller with 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn, 7th Australian Infantry Div, Australian Imperial Forces in Middle East and Java, 1941-1942; prisoner of war in Bandoeng Camp, Bandoeng and Bicyle Camp, Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies, Changi Prison, Singapore, Malaya, Burma-Thailand Railway, during voyage of SS Rashin Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Moji, Japan and in Hiroshima Camp 9-B, Ohama, Japan, 3/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Perth, Australia, 1916-1939: family; childhood; education; employment; impressions of First World War; effects of Depression on daily life; musical activities as banjo player; attitude towards GB; memories of Munich Crisis, 9/1938; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment in Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 1940-1941: reaction of mother to his enlistment; propaganda and recruitment; reasons for enlistment, 12/1940. Aspects of training with Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 12/1940-7/1941: basic training; uniform; further training as signaller; sporting activities; opinion of training and equipment; issued of Lee-Enfield Rifle; daily routine in camp.
REEL 2 Continues: signal training; night exercises; morale; musical activities; posting to 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn in Middle East, 7/1941; contents of pack. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Queen Mary from Australia to Egypt, 7/1941: initial impressions of ship; accommodation; signals equipment; sailing in convoy; recreational and sporting activities on board; daily routine; messing arrangements; docking in Trincomalee, Ceylon; memories of friends; sailing across Red Sea; disembarkation in Egypt. Aspects of period as signalman with 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn, 7th Australian Infantry Div in Palestine and French Syria, 7/1941-1/1942: joining battalion; initial impressions of Middle East; daily life in camp; tented accommodation; problem with theft of rifles; relations with local civilians.
REEL 3 Continues: location of battalion headquarters; method of transporting Vickers Machine Gun on donkeys; opinion of Italian forces; comments on campaign against Vichy French forces in French Syria; daily routine and duties as signaller; reaction to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 12/1941; opinion of Japanese forces; memories of Christmas, 25/12/1941; reaction to fall of Singapore, Malaya, 15/2/1942. Aspects of operations as signalman with 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn, 7th Australian Infantry Div in Java, Dutch East Indies, 2/1942-3/1942: voyage aboard HMT Orcades from Egypt to Java; problem of lack of equipment; battalion morale.
REEL 4 Continues: operations against Japanese forces; story of prisoners of war being shot by Imperial Japanese Army; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army as fighting troops. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Bandoeng Camp, Bandoeng and Bicyle Camp, Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-3/1943: story of being taken prisoner by Imperial Japanese Army; attitude to surrendering; description of Bandoeng Camp; treatment of prisoners of war by Japanese captors; daily routine and living conditions; relations between prisoners of war; recreational activities; relations with Japanese guards; working parties; relations with other prisoner of war nationalities; educational classes; military discipline; opinion of rations; maintenance of morale.
REEL 5 Continues: various memories of different prisoners of war; concert parties; attitude to being rescued; description of camp in Bandung; opinion of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Dunlop; listening to news on hidden wireless; question of communication with family; daily routine and work; attitude to captivity; religious beliefs; opinion of conditions in Bandoeng Camp; relations with other nationalities; playing bridge; story of bartering cigarettes; clothing; relations with guards; description of Bicycle Camp, Batavia; story relating to Imperial Japanese Army officer; medical examination; story of clandestine illicit radio.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Changi Prison, Singapore, Malaya, 1/1943-3/1943: description of voyage aboard SS Usu Maru from Batavia, Java to Singapore; move to Changi Prison; living conditions; prison clothing; memories of Black Jack Cunningham; daily routine in Changi; rations; train journey to Thailand; lack of sanitary facilities in trucks; opinion of treatment and accommodation in Changi Prison; work duties; concert parties; attitude to absence of women; state of health; opinion of medical officers; story of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Dunlop operating on prisoner of war with hemorrhoids; amputations; relations with Japanese guards; punishments; transfers to work on Burma-Thailand Railway, 3/1943; description of camp in jungle. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 3/1943-7/1944: question of speed of construction; working conditions and hours; construction of bridge on River Kwai.
REEL 7 Continues: story of wasps nest; Japanese guard nicknamed 'Boy Bastard'; attitude to working for Japanese; rations; problem of cholera outbreak; physical condition; story of ducks; finding supplementary food sources including eating boa-constrictor; examples of comradeship; sick parade; daily routine and work duties; nicknames of Japanese guards; hierarchy in Imperial Japanese Army; description of diseases and effects; problem of bugs and lice; treatment of ulcers; story of amputation; description of camp hospital.
REEL 8 Continues: further comments on cholera; preventive measures and treatment; sterilising utensils; death rate from cholera; disposal of bodies; treatment of cholera patients; importance of comradeship; attitude to religion among prisoners of war; punishments; thefts of cabbages and ducks; varying attitudes of Japanese guards; punishments and examples of torture; punishment of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Dunlop in 'hot box'; incident of prisoner of war being thrown onto fire; searches; awareness of progress of war; treatment of other nationalities including Dutch prisoners of war; reaction to Japanese treatment of prisoners of war; morale; further comments on Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Dunlop.
REEL 9 Continues: story relating to blind Aircraftman Bill Griffiths; story of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Dunlop being condemned to death by Japanese captors; punishment of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Dunlop in cage; Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Dunlop's attitude to Japanese captors; increase in work load; completion of Burma-Thailand Railway and celebrations; Allied bombing of Burma-Thailand Railway; attitude to work on Burma-Thailand Railway; physical condition and weight; reaction to being sent to Japan; description of travelling on railway; attitude to death of prisoners of war; return to and reception at Changi Prison, Singapore, Malaya, 6/1943. Aspects of voyage aboard SS Rashin Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Moji Japan, 4/1944-9/1944: opinion of ship and accommodation; lifebelts; voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Manila, Philippines; docking in Manila, Philippines; lack of toilet paper and using pages from books; condition of prisoners of war; post-war meeting with United States Navy submarine commander.
REEL 10: submarine attacks on convoy; description of typhoon; opinion of Japanese seamen; conditions in hold; duties aboard ship; problem of flies and bugs; story of catching flies. Aspects of period as prisoners of war in Hiroshima No-9B, Ohama, Japan, 9/1944-5/1945: work in coal mine; attitude to being in Japan; location and description of coal mine under sea; accommodation; food; medical facilities; opinion of treatment; punishments; story of clandestine wireless; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; relations with guards; United States Army Air Force air raids on Japan; memories of Christmas 25/12/1944; news of war in Europe; sight of United States Army Air Force bomber aircraft; communication with family in Australia; liberated by American forces; medical examination; amusing story of biro; question of prisoners of war being executed by Japanese.
REEL 11 Continues: attitude to escape; relations with Japanese guards after dropping of atomic bombs, 8/1945; resistance and escape plans. Aspects of liberation in Japan and return to Australia, 8/1945-10/1945: story of celebrating end of war with Red Cross parcels and saki; story of suicide of prisoner of war; problem of adjusting to freedom and eating too much on liberation; treatment of sick; disinfected with DDT; baths; clothing; medical examination; food; conditions aboard United States Navy hospital ship; amusing story of nurses; physical condition and weight loss; relations with Japanese civilians; sightseeing in Japan; opinion of coal miners; opinion of treatment on United States Navy hospital ship; problem of recurring nightmares; story of return to Australia. Post-war life and employment: problem of returning to civilian life; contacts with family.
REEL 12 Continues: reception on arrival in Sydney; return to Perth, 10/1945; reunion with family; demobilisation, 1/1946; reflections on period of military service and captivity.
