Description
Object description
Australian NCO served with 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn, 7th Australian Infantry Div in Australia, Palestine, Lebanon, French Syria and Java, Dutch East Indies, 2/1940-3/1942; prisoner of war in Cirebon Prison, Bandoeng Camp and Bicycle Camp, Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies, Changi Camp, Singapore, Burma-Thailand Railway and Hiroshima 9-B Camp, Ohama, Japan, 3/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Perth, Australia, 1920-1939: family; attitude to GB and British Empire; story of uncle's service in First World War; effects of Depression on daily life; childhood activities; education; employment as cub reporter with Daily News; attitude to Adolf Hitler and Nazi regime in Germany; service with 10th Light Horse Regiment, Citizen Military Forces; attitude to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and policy of appeasement; opinion of Germans; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939.
REEL 2 Continues: attitude to royalty; reason for enlistment with 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn, 1940; further memories of period with 10th Light Horse Regiment; political beliefs. Aspects of enlistment and training as NCO with 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn, 7th Australian Infantry Div in Australia, 2/1940-4/1941: enlistment in battalion at Perth; question of age; medical examination; opinion of conscientious objectors; opinion of equipment and training; reaction to Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Ile de France from Fremantle, Australia to Egypt via Ceylon: activities on board troopship; ashore in Colombo, Ceylon.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of British; further memories of Colombo, Ceylon; arrival in Suez Canal, Egypt; initial impressions of Middle East. Aspects of operations as NCO with 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn, 7th Australian Infantry Div in Palestine, Lebanon and French Syria, 4/1941-1/1942: opinion of Arabs; story of visit to Bethlehem, Palestine; nature of training and problem of lack of ammunition; story of losing pay book; theft of rifles; daily routine and living conditions; climate; strategic importance of French Syria; opinion of officers; machine gunners assigned to infantry brigades; opening of Syrian Campaign, 6/1940; attitude to Vichy French; sight of first dead bodies.
REEL 4 Continues: description of initial experience of combat; death of friend Private Ted Graham in French Syria, 6/7/1941; attitude to fighting Vichy French; attitude to killing; shell shock cases; opinion of Syrian Campaign; memories of Beirut, Lebanon; relations with civilians; sexual activity and brothels; duties building concrete pill boxes; positions in monastery; memories of snow, 12/1941; reaction to German invasion of Soviet Union and Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, 7/12/1941 Recollections of operations as NCO with 2/3rd Machine Gun Bn, 7th Australian Infantry Div on Java, Dutch East Indies, 2/1942-3/1942: opinion of Japanese forces; voyage from Egypt to Java; disembarkation on Java, 15/2/1942.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of Brigadier Arthur Blackburn; daily routine and operations; role of battalion as rearguard; attitude to retreating; story of meeting with Brigadier Arthur Blackburn; attitude to surrender of Dutch forces; relations with local civilians; story of encountering Imperial Japanese Army patrol and capture, 3/1942.
REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Cirebon Prison, Bandoeng Camp and Bicycle Camp, Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies, 3/1942-1/1943: comparison of Allied and Japanese attitudes to surrender and capture; story of attempted escape from Cirebon Prison, 6/1942; opinion of treatment and food; description of Bandoeng Camp; educational and recreational facilities; opinion of rations; memories of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop; treatment by Imperial Japanese Army guards; discipline; relations with Japanese captors; pay; story of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop taxing officers to supplement rations for men; bartering.
REEL 7 Continues: move to Bicycle Camp, Batavia; memories of Christmas, 25/12/1942; conditions in Bicycle Camp, Batavia; attitude to being made prisoners of war. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 1/1943: voyage from Dutch East Indies to Singapore, 1/1943; removal to Changi Camp; initial impressions of Singapore; morale; clothing and footwear; comparison of conditions on Java, Dutch East Indies and Singapore; story of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop attempt to obtain boots; opinion of Brigadier Frederick Galleghan; selection to work with Dunlop Force on Burma-Thailand Railway, 1/1943. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 1/1943-6/1944: conditions on train to Ban Pong Camp; personal possessions; description of location and building Kanyu No 2 Camp; accommodation; hospital treatment for dysentery and malaria; story of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop performing medical operation; maintenance of morale.
REEL 8 Continues: attitude of Japanese captors to sick prisoners of war; opinion of medical officers and medical treatment; description of work on railway; attitude of Japanese captors to prisoners of war and examples of ill treatment; punishments; Japanese forces' view of Europeans; further memories of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop and role in medical treatment of prisoners of war.
REEL 9 Continues: terrain and climate; British and Australian attitudes to personal hygiene; story of further treatment for malaria; memories of Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1943; burial of dead; story of chaplain.
REEL 10 Continues: medical supplies; medical treatment; artificial limbs; anesthetics; attitude to completion of Burma-Thailand Railway; selection for work in Japan. Aspects of voyage aboard SS Rashin Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Moji, Japan, 4/7/1944-8/9/1944: conditions on board ship; ship's encounter with typhoon; latrines. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Hiroshima 9-B Camp, Ohama, Japan, 9/1944-8/1945: nature of work in coal mines; attitude to working in Japan; morale; treatment by Imperial Japanese Army guards; communal baths; daily routine and work; rations.
REEL 11 Continues: problem of cold weather; memories of Christmas 25/12/1944; question of escape; Allied bombing of Japan; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army guards; Red Cross parcels; use of salt and cigarettes as currency; rations; story of prisoner of war and Christmas dinner, 25/12/1944; relations with Japanese civilian mine workers; safety precautions in coal mine; medical facilities; awareness of progress of war against Japan; story of receiving news of end of Second World War, 15/8/1945; Imperial Japanese Army guards abandonment of coal mine; air-supply drops from United States Army Air Force aircraft, including K-rations; memory of Emperor Hirohito's radio broadcast; reaction to end of Second World War, 15/8/1945; opinion of American films; description of voyage from Japan to Australia via Manila, Philippines.
REEL 12 Continues: opinion of treatment received from Americans; reception on return to Australia; aspirations for post-war period; story of letter from father; reflections on period as prisoner of war; return to employment as journalist; question of adjustment to civilian life; importance of comradeship; post-war reunions; attitude to reconciliation with Japanese. Aspects of period in Japan, 1945-1946: story of returning to Japan to work as sport editor for military newspaper in Tokyo; accommodation; opinion of Japanese society; memory of attending first Japanese performance of 'Madame Butterfly'; reflections on Second World War; further comments on Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop.