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, Singapore, Malaya, Burma-Thailand Railway and River Valley Road Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-9/1944 and aboard SS Rakuyo Maru during voyage from Singapore, Malaya to Japan, 6/9/1944-12/9/1944 including sinking in South China Sea, 12/9/1944
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Collie, Australia, 1911-1941: family; education; problem of damage to eyesight after illness; employment as motor mechanic; effects of Depression on daily life; employment in garage; father's militiary service in First World War; memories of Armistice Day celebrations, 11/11/1918 and influenza pandemic, 1918-1919; attitude to British Empire and patriotism; question of eyesight preventing military service; reason for enlistment; attitude to rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazis; opinion of Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain; brother's military service. Aspects of period as private with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Australia, 5/1941-12/1941: route marches and physical training.
REEL 2 Continues: battalion move to Darwin, 10/1941; training in battalion workshop; recreational activities; opinion of Japanese treatment of Allied prisoners of war; attitude to Japanese and threat of invasion; morale; reaction to battalion posting to Singapore, Malaya; attitude to survival. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Aquitania from Fremantle, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941-1/1942: daily life aboard ship; training; guard duty; opinion of accommodation; opinion of medical officer Captain Claude Anderson and other medical officers; attitude to overseas service; opinion of defences on Singapore; opinion of Japanese; reaction to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, United States of America, 7/12/1941.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of Australian Prime Minister John Curtin; problem of spies; opinion of officers and NCOs; comradeship; transfer to Dutch cargo vessel and disembarkation at Singapore. Aspects of operations as private with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942-15/2/1942: battalion location; daily duties; story of attempting to leave Singapore on boat; reaction to blowing up of The Causeway; first experience of being under fire.
REEL 4 Continues: conditions in Singapore during bombardment; reaction to sight of dead bodies; attitude towards surrender to Japanese forces, 15/2/1942; parading before Imperial Japanese Army senior officers. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Selarang Barracks, Changi, Singapore, 2/1942-5/1942: story of execution of soldiers from battalion prior to surrender; march to Selarang Barracks at Changi; description of camp and barracks; accommodation; story of finding own clarinet; daily routine; organisation of prisoners of war; opinion of rations; military discipline; black market activities; story of cigarettes; description of rations available; working parties; story of execution of recaptured prisoner of war.
REEL 5 Continues: daily routine and living conditions in Selarang Barracks at Changi; maintenance of personal dignity; problem of boredom; educational classes; concert parties; popular songs; problem of coping with captivity; topics of conversation; religious beliefs; use of vegetable gardens to supplement diet; digestive problems caused by character of rations; prisoners of war state of health and diseases.
REEL 6 Continues: attitude to captivity; rumours in camp; relations with guards; personal possessions; question of attempting to escape. Aspects of voyage with Force A aboard SS Celebes Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Victoria Point, Burma, 5/1942: description of SS Celebes Maru and living conditions on board; daily routine aboard ship; rations; unloading ship; treatment by Japanese guards; morale; move to camp near aerodrome; contracting dysentery; opinion of Victoria Point Camp; move to jungle camp; sporting and musical activities; story of speech made by Imperial Japanese Army officer. Aspects of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 1942-1944: move to Thanbyuzayat Camp; construction of huts; treatment of indigenous population by Imperial Japanese Army.
REEL 7 Continues: moving camps southwards as railway progressed; problem of vitamin deficiency and diseases; story of drunken prisoner of war; method of treating prisoners of war suffering from beri beri; daily routine; question of sick prisoners of war being forced to work; cholera outbreak at 75 Kilo Camp, Meiloe, 3/1943; description of infected ulcer on hip and treatment; story of prisoner of war taking photographs in camp; effects of cholera and treatment; description of camp hospital; method of treating ulcers; use of maggots and leeches to clean wounds; protective clothing against malaria; problem of lice in clothing; effects of climate; memory of reveille bugle call; use of sugar in diet.
REEL 8 Continues: selection of prisoners of war for work; organisation of working parties; number of guards; work quotas; terrain; story of centipede; effects of being bitten by scorpion; use of elephants to carry wood; working hours and 'speedo' period; role of officers liaising with Japanese captors; opinion of Korean guards; nicknames for guards; beating of prisoners of war by Japanese and Korean guards; importance of friendships; topics of conversation; problem of weight loss among prisoners of war; concerts; conditions for Imperial Japanese Army guards; attitude of Japanese captors towards prisoners of war; amusing story of Imperial Japanese Army guard known as 'George'.
REEL 9 Continues: memories of later period in Singapore, Malaya; attitude of Japanese towards Emperor Hirohito; English language newspapers; clandestine radios; awareness of progress of war; amusing story of Imperial Japanese Army officer; question of maintaining self-respect; reaction to deaths of fellow prisoners of war; burials; attitude to survival; relations with local civilians; theft of watch; quality of tobacco; memories of 'Moonrider' cigars; use of charcoal in cigarettes; Red Cross parcels.
REEL 10 Continues: description of work on railway; problem of cold; effects of tropical ulcers and dysentery; completion of railway and moved to 105 Kilo Camp at Augganaung near bridge on River Kwai, 4/1943; question of pride in completion of railway; method of selection to work in Japan; physical condition of prisoners of war who had worked on Burma-Thailand Railway; concerts. Recollections of voyage aboard Rakuyo Maru from Singapore, Malaya to Japan, 6/9/1944-12/9/1944, including sinking in South China Sea, 12/9/1944: description of SS Rakuyo Maru; prior recollection of train journey from Thailand to River Valley Road Camp, Singapore, Malaya.
REEL 11 Continues: accommodation and sanitary facilities aboard SS Rakuyo Maru; sailing from Singapore, Malaya to Philippines in convoy; daily life aboard ship; torpedoing of ship by United States Navy submarine USS Sealion in South China Sea, 12/9/1944; abandoning ship and period on board raft, 12/9/1944-17/9/1944; deaths rate among prisoners of war on board raft; problem of lack of water and salt water ulcers; method of catching rain water in shorts; rescue by United States Navy submarine, USS Queenfish, 17/9/1944.
REEL 12 Continues: Aspects of rescue by United States Navy submarine USS Queenfish in South China Sea and return to Australia, 1944: memories of music aboard USS Queenfish; further deterioration of eyesight; medical treatment; rations; hospital treatment on Saipan Island; issue of United States Army clothing; number of survivors from sinking; prior recollection of sinking of SS Rakuyo Maru, 12/9/1944; reaction to death of friends; attitude to praying; effects of period in sea; attitude to reconciliation with Japanese and opinion of Keiko Holmes; sailing from Guadalcanal Island to Brisbane, Australia; reception on arrival; convalescence.
REEL 13 Continues: Aspects of period as private with Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 1944-1945: reunion with family in Western Australia; posting to military camp; return to civilian employment in garage; question of adjustment to civilian life; psychological condition; attitude of civilians towards former prisoners of war; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; reflections on period of military service.