Description
Object description
Australian officer served with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942-15/2/1942; prisoner of war in Selarang Barracks, Changi and Sime Road Camp, Singapore, Malaya, on Burma-Thailand Railway and Nakom Nayok Camp, Thailand, 2/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Streatham, GB and Australia, 1919-1939: birth in Streatham; reason for nickname; emigration of family to Western Australia, 22/10/1922; family; education; question of nationality; attitude to Great Britain and British Empire; employment; father's military service in First World War; memories of Armistice Day and Anzac Day celebrations; effects of Depression on daily life; awareness of rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazis in Germany; reason for enlisting with Citizen Military Forces; relations with Jewish community in Perth; nature of training with 2/28th Bn Citizen Military Forces including Vickers Machine Gun; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 9/1939. Aspects of training as officer with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Australia, 12/1940-12/1941: training at Northam Camp.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction to Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940; attitude towards Japanese; coastal defence duties in Darwin, 10/1940-11/1940; opinion of Australian Prime Minister John Curtin; opinion of officers; memories of Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Anketell; route marches; opinion of Japanese forces; troops going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) in Fremantle. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Aquitania from Fremantle, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941: embarkation on board at Fremantle; opinion of conditions on board; disembarkation at in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942. Aspects of operations with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942-15/2/1942: attachment of battalion to 28th Indian Infantry Bde; strategic importance of Singapore; location of battalion; patrols on motorcycles.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of defences; relations with Chinese civilians; story of Pathan soldier of British Indian Army; role in operations along River Jurong; transportation of machine guns and ammunition; location of machine guns; opinion of Indian troops; reaction to blowing up of The Causeway; opinion of strategy; problem of lack of air cover; story of escaping capture by Imperial Japanese Army and rejoining battalion.
REEL 4 Continues: story of rum; patrols; attitude to surrender; reaction to news of surrender of Singapore, 15/2/1942; opening fire on group of Imperial Japanese Army officers; execution of men from battalion by Imperial Japanese Army; capture and march to Changi. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Selarang Barracks, Changi and Sime Road Camp, Singapore, 2/1942-3/1943: amusing story of bore hole; duties with working parties in Adam Park.
REEL 5 Continues: story of missing Imperial Japanese Army sword; use of clandestine illicit radio; work in pineapple factory; relations with local civilians; communication with family; morale; military discipline; opinion of Gurkhas; rations; escape attempts; various memories of later working on Burma-Thailand Railway; organisation in Selarang Barracks; stealing food and supplementing diet from jungle; attitude to escaping.
REEL 6 Continues: selected for work with D Force to work on Burma-Thailand Railway, 3/1943. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 1942-1945: train journey from Singapore to Thailand, 3/1943; parade on arrival and move to Kanyu No 2 Camp; conditions in camp; roll call; march to railway; working conditions; problem of monsoon; opinion of medical officer Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop; rations; effects of dysentery; cholera outbreak; state of prisoner of war health; treatment received from guards; work of medical officer Captain Philip Millard; leaving Kanyu No 2 Camp, 8/1943; story of escorting prisoners of war down river to Tarsao Camp; burial of dead; comradeship; death rate; morale among prisoners of war; description of Allied air raid on River Kwai bridge.
REEL 7 Continues: damage to bridge and camp and casualties; change of attitude of Japanese captors after Allied air raid; story of being forced to sit on moving railway engine; opinion of Korean guards serving with Imperial Japanese Army; nicknames for guards; further Allied air raids on bridge on River Kwai; burial of dead and attitude of Japanese captors; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army officers; story of punishment of British prisoner of war officer; beatings by guards; bartering with Thai civilians; living conditions for civilian workers; clothing; personal dignity; humour; recreational activities; news of war.
REEL 8 Continues: rumours of end of Second World War; removal of prisoner of war officers to separate camp in Kanchanburi; story of being given cattle to eat by Imperial Japanese Army commandant; prisoner of war officers' move Nakom Nayok Camp; description of camp; question of prisoners of war being killed at end of war by Japanese; rations; end of war and departure of guards; food supplies dropped from United States Army Air Force aircraft; transfer to camp in Bangkok, Thailand, 9/1944; transfer to 14th British General Hospital in Rangoon, Burma; story of meeting General William Slim and Lord Louis Mountbatten; move to Mandalay, Burma and return to Australia; physical condition. Aspects of period as officer with Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 1945-1946: role as repatriation officer; question of adjustment to civilian life; comradeship.
REEL 9 Continues: Post-war life and employment: reflections on period as prisoner of war; attitude to reconciliation with Japanese; effects of war on post-war life.