Description
Object description
Australian private 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, Singapore, Burma-Thailand Railway and in Japan, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Liverpool, GB and Western Australia, 1922-1941: family life in Liverpool, GB, 1922-1931; emigration to Australia on Kingsley Fairbridge Scheme, 1931; voyage from Southampton, GB to Fremantle, Australia and arrival at Fairbridge Farm, 5/1931; description of farm and accommodation; location of farm; discipline; education; sporting activities; opinion of food; effects of Depression; attitude to British Royal Family and Empire; knowledge of First World War; activities with Toc H; awareness of Adolf Hitler; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with Australian Imperial Force at Claremont, Australia, 13/10/1941; three months training at Northam Camp; reason for enlistment; awareness of progress of war.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction to Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940; embarkation leave in Fremantle, 12/1941; attitude to prospect of killing; story of acquiring nickname 'Cowboy'; opinion of equipment and weapons; attitude towards Japanese; nature of war propaganda. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Aquitania from Freemantle, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941-/1942: daily routine; messing arrangements; morale; description of HMT Aquitania; anti-submarine precautions; opinion of officers; recreational activities; cigarette ration; regulations aboard ship; physical exercise and rifle drill; topics of conversation; disembarkation at Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of operations as private with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942-15/2/1942: impressions of Singapore Harbour; Imperial Japanese Army Air Service air raids; reaction to sight of dead bodies; posting to HMS Pelandok at Woodlands; opinion of officers; reaction to casualties; description of location on Bukit Timah Racecourse; night duty; rations; terrain; sentry duty; morale; role as reinforcement company; physical training; reaction to blowing up of The Causeway; location of Japanese forces; reputation of Japanese forces; lack of air cover; landing of Japanese forces; problem of Japanese spies; first engagement with Japanese forces; loss of officers; problem of communications.
REEL 4 Continues: weapons; first experience of being under artillery fire; description of Imperial Japanese Army bayonet charge; withdrawal to Singapore Gardens; water supplies; daily routine; reaction to fall of Singapore and surrender; 15/2/1942. Aspects of march from Singapore to Changi, 16/2/1942: initial first contact with Imperial Japanese Army troops; nature march to Selerang Barracks, Changi; sight of severed Chinese heads on poles in villages; conditions on march; opinion of rations; reason for eating hibiscus leaves. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Selerang Barracks, Changi, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-3/1943: initial accommodation in houses; contact with guards; discipline; relations between Australian and British prisoners of war; daily routine in Selerang Barracks; opinion of Australian General Gordon Bennett.
REEL 5 Continues: duties with working party building Japanese shrine at Johore Bahru, 23/3/1942-4/4/1942; opinion of rice; problem of lack of vitamins in diet; description of latrines; question of escape; treatment by Indian National Army Sikh guards; story of killing of Imperial Japanese Army troops and subsequent reprisals; treatment of Chinese civilians by Japanese authorities; recreational and sporting activities; concerts parties; lectures; library; black market activities; use of cigarettes as currency; selling of equipment; trading with Chinese civilians; incident of prisoner of war losing dog tags; personal hygiene; water ration; razor blades; memories of Changi Prison; question of Japanese observing Geneva Convention.
REEL 6 Continues: playing harmonica; description of cookhouse; cooking of rice; story of dried fish; medical treatment; description of Selerang Barracks; parade ground; latrines; non-escape agreement with Japanese captors; card games; attitude towards sex; work party at docks; story of razor blades; question of attempting to stowaway on ship; relations with guards; learning of Japanese language by prisoners of war; Japanese authorities use of prisoners of war as drivers; awareness of progress of war.
REEL 7 Continues: religious beliefs. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway in Thailand, 3/1943-6/1944: nature of train journey with Force D from Singapore, Malaya to Thailand including lack of sanitary facilities; arrival at Ban Pong Camp, 18/3/1943; daily routine and work at Tarsao Camp, 3/1943-4/1943; rations; move to Kanyo No 2 Camp, 25/4/1943; construction of cookhouse and huts; tented accommodation; problem of mosquitoes; ration supplies; morale; malaria; daily routine and living conditions; description of work at Hellfire Pass; use of explosives; treatment by guards and punishments; symptoms of cholera and treatment; other diseases; boiled water from river; disposal of corpses.
REEL 8 Continues: opinion of treatment by Japanese and Koreans guards; description of punishments; reaction to loss of friends; days off and work in camp; tropical ulcers and treatment; self-inflicted injuries; relations with Japanese interpreters; moved to Hintok Camp, 16/7/1943; work moving logs; story of being slapped by Japanese guard; living conditions in camp; memories of Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest 'Weary' Dunlop; story of celebrating birthday in Tarsao Camp, 23/12/1943; moved to Tamarkan Camp, 4/1944; daily routine and living conditions; work parties; weight loss; awareness of progress of war; move by train to River Valley Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 6/1944. Recollections of voyage aboard SS Rashin Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Moji Japan via Manila, Philippines, 4/7/1944-8/9/1944: setting sail aboard SS Rashin Maru, 4/7/1944.
REEL 9 Continues: description of SS Rashin Maru; attitude to being sent to Japan; selection process; opinion of accommodation and sleeping arrangements; sailing in convoy; period in Manila Bay, Philippines due to typhoon and United States Navy blockade; story of catching flies; sanitary and washing facilities; problems with lice; lack of medical facilities; convoy attacked by United States Navy submarines; treatment of prisoners of war by Japanese guards; reason for ship not being torpedoed; description of typhoon; disembarkation in Moji, Japan.
REEL 10 Continues: length of voyage; reception from Japanese civilians at Moji, Japan. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Hiroshima 2-B, Niihama, Japan, 9/1944-8/1945: move to camp at Yamana Copper Mine; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; rations; description of medical treatment and hospitalisation for ulcer on leg; Red Cross parcels; communication with home; morale; United States Army Air Force raids on Japan; light duties in cookhouse; story of cooking dogs paws; United States Army Air Force raids on camp and Yamana Copper Mine; question of prisoners of war being executed at end of war; discipline in camp; opinion of camp commander; news of end of Second World War and celebrations, 15/8/1945; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945.
REEL 11 Continues: Aspects of liberation and return to Australia, 8/1945-9/1945: speech by Imperial Japanese Army camp commandant on Japanese surrender, 15/8/1945; receiving Red Cross parcels and extra rations; attitude of Japanese civilians after surrender; further comments on dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; liberation by American forces; delousing; voyage aboard hospital ship USS Sanctuary to Okinawa Island, Japan; sailed on cargo boat to Manila, Philippines; voyage aboard aircraft carrier HMS Speaker from Manila, Philippines to Sydney, Australia; opinion of treatment received from Americans; disembarkation at Sydney, Australia and posted to hospital camp; story of arrival in Perth, Australia.
REEL 12 Continues: medical examination and treatment; attitude of civilians towards former prisoners of war; adjusting to civilian life; demobilisation from Australian Imperial Force, 2/1946; nature of post-war life and employment in Australia; reflections on period as prisoner of war.
