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 Singapore General Hospital, Selerang Barracks and Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Perth, Australia, 1922-1941: family; education; memories of the Depression; activities with Boy Scouts; attitude to Australian involvement in First World War; attitude to patriotism and British Empire; opinion of Germans; awareness of Adolf Hitler and his anti-Semitic policies; reason for joining local Australian Army Cadets and uniform.
REEL 2 Continues: enlistment in Australian Imperial Force, 26/2/1941; reaction to outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; story of white feathers; reaction to Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940. Aspects of training with as private with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Australia, 2/1941-12/1941: brothers' military service; attitude to overseas service; gas training; opinion of training; attitude towards Japanese; reaction to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, United States of America, 7/12/1941; leave; writing letters home.
REEL 3 Continues: description of train journey to Fremantle; reaction to sinking of HMAS Sydney, 19/11/1941. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Aquitania from Fremantle, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 16/1/1942-25/1/1942: embarkation at Fremantle, 16/1/1942; accommodation and sleeping arrangements; daily routine and training; story of Dutch Consolidated Catalina aircraft escorting convoy; transfer to cargo ship; disembarkation in Singapore, 25/1/1942. Recollections of operations as private with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942-15/2/1942: march to railway station; initial impressions of Singapore; march to camp; reception from local civilians; climate; description of camp on the Johore Strait.
REEL 4 Continues: relations with British Army troops; story of leave in Singapore; daily life in Singapore; initial experiences of being under fire; washing of clothes; problem with Japanese spies; opinion of officers; attitude towards British Indian Army troops.
REEL 5 Continues: opinion of Major-General Arthur Percival; opinion of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; description of role in operations defending aerodrome; question of using mortars; relations between Australian and British troops; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army troops; story of ambush and British Indian Army troops refusal to advance; casualties; wounding in leg by shrapnel, 11/2/1942.
REEL 6 Continues: attitude to surrendering to Japanese forces; treatment of wounded British officers; sight of corpses in water; story relating to two Imperial Japanese Army soldiers; reaction to news of fall of Singapore, 15/2/1942; reason for abandoning weapons. Aspects of capture by Imperial Japanese Army in Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942: capture; journey on truck to Bukit Timah.
REEL 7 Continues: description of cell and interrogation; question of revealing unit; conditions in cell; story of guards executing prisoners in jungle and escape; nature of wounds; question of accepting help from Malay civilians.
REEL 8 Continues: problem of maggots in wound; story of walking into Singapore and admission to Singapore General Hospital. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Singapore General Hospital, 2/1942-5/1942: description of conditions in hospital and medical treatment; treatment of Japanese wounded; memories of Tamil orderly; story of visit by Imperial Japanese Army officers; description of gunshot wound sustained to chest; story of helping wounded Japanese Kempeitai officer; attitude to survival.
REEL 9 Continues: description of medical examination and blowing out cigarette smoke through bullet hole in chest; incident of being attacked by monkey on chain; problem of dermatitis and treatment; relations with Japanese military patients; meeting working parties of British prisoners of war; awareness of progress of war; reaction to Imperial Japanese Army Air Service bombing of Darwin, Australia, 19/2/1942. Recollections of period as prisoners of war in Selerang Barracks and Changi Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 5/1942-8/1945: removal by car to Changi Camp; interrogation; transfer to Selerang Barracks; story of Indian National Army guard; description of Changi Camp; accommodation; female internees; administration of camp; medical treatment received from Australian doctor.
REEL 10 Continues: further medical treatment at maternity hospital; effects of Japanese occupation of Singapore; story of Australian sailor; attitude of Japanese towards former machine gunners; daily routine in Changi Camp; opinion of treatment; contacts between civilian internment and military camps; transfer to military section of Chang Camp, 10/1942; reunion with prisoners of war from 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn; living conditions; debriefing; memories of comrade in battalion; camp morale.
REEL 11 Continues: sporting activities; relations with Japanese guards; use of illicit radios; attitude to being a prisoner of war; morale; question of working on Burma-Thailand Railway; work duties in camp; Japanese attitude towards prisoners of war; story of two officers escaping from camp; question of maintaining personal dignity; story of climbing coconut tree; black market activities in camp.
REEL 12 Continues: various amusing anecdotes; question of maintaining morale; opinion of medical facilities and doctors; communication with home; recreational activities; concert parties; attitude to lack of female company; educational classes; church parades; fighting between prisoners.
REEL 13 Continues: story of being moved from Selerang Barracks back to Changi Camp, 1944; description of layout of camp; washing and sanitary facilities; working parties; comparison of conditions in Selerang Barracks and Changi Camp; reason for removal of prisoners of war to Changi Camp; attitude to United States Army Air Force raids on Japan; attitude to escape; rehabilitation of prisoners of war returning from working on Burma-Thailand Railway; growing own food and black market activities; pay; method of supplementing diet by hunting in jungle.
REEL 14 Continues: question of origin of meat; amusing story of Imperial Japanese Army officer nicknamed 'Ice Cream Man'; discipline and punishments; relations with guards; diseases in camp and medical treatment; story of prisoner of war falling into bore hole; mortality rate in camp; eating snails; American prisoners of war; attitude to progress of war against Japan; use of illicit radio; reaction to receiving news of VE Day, 8/5/1945; opinion of rumours concerning use of atomic bomb against Japan, 8/1945.
REEL 15 Continues: examples of sabotage against Japanese authorities; question of collaboration of Malays with Japanese authorities; attitude of Japanese and Korean guards after VE Day, 8/5/1945; reaction to news of dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; story of Imperial Japanese Army officer refusing to surrender; story of Chinese guerrilla; memories of Alan Hurst; description of liberation of Changi Camp, 8/1945; food supplies dropped by air; duties in cookhouse until 10/1945; daily life in Singapore after liberation; story of intended plan to take revenge on Japanese.
REEL 16 Continues: attitude to punishment of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers involved in execution of prisoners of war; issue of new uniform; return to Singapore; description of voyage back to Australia, 10/1945. Aspects of period as returned prisoners of war in Australia, 10/1945-3/1946: leave in Brisbane; attitude to return to Australia; reaction of civilians; story of meeting stepfather in military camp; reunion with family; medical examination and further hospital treatment for chest wound and beri beri.
REEL 17 Continues: Aspects of period as civilian in Australia from 1946: demobilisation, 3/1946; pension; marriage; problem of adjusting to civilian life; employment in bakery; problem with health; attitude towards pension; reunions; problem of post-traumatic stress; reason for visiting Singapore, Malaya and locating site of executions; opinion of post-war treatment by Australian Government; reflections on period of military service and as prisoner of war; comments on books relating to wartime experiences.