Burma Railway Man: Secret Letters From a Japanese Pow Page 12

  18 January 1945

  My Darling,

  Once again THE day has come round. It is my ambition that next year we shall be together on our most important day in the year, I wonder?

  On this day this year, I can reiterate the vows I made to you four years ago. Four years ago and not more than three weeks together!! I feel that it is almost criminal on my part to have married you and then left you tied up like this. My deepest hope is that when I get home, you will tell me everything is the same between us, that our companionship is worth waiting for, that you still love me with the same devotion that caused you to accept me in 1940. On my side, I can tell you that your personality and influence have saved my reason, that the fact that we are partners has given me the strongest possible impulse to live – because it wasn’t the food that kept one alive in 1943.

  As Charles intimated, the Japanese decided to separate the British officers from their men. In a repeat of the earlier exercise in 1942, when all senior officers had been segregated, the Japanese sought to upset the cohesion of the camp by removing all the officers and concentrating them at Kanchanaburi.

  24 January 1945

  My Dearest,

  A sad day in our lives as POWs as all the officers have been taken from us and sent to Kamburie (sic)

  RSM MacTavish (Argyll & Sutherlands) has taken over as Camp Commander from Col. Toosey, CSM Stadden (RASC) has taken over as Adjutant from Major Davidson, Staff Sergeant Shenning has taken over messing from Capt. Boyle, while I have taken on the job of PRI from Major Marsh, the Canteen from Lt. Fullerton and the ‘underhand’ work of the Finance Committee from Capt. Northcote, Lt. Fallerton and Lt. Neivede.

  A big portion on my plate – besides which, I happen to be the senior 135 OR here, so I have about 100 Gunners to cast an eye upon, too.

  The Colonel almost made me howl when he said ‘au revoir’. He is a grand man! We no longer have officers to act as ‘buffers’ between ourselves and the Japanese.

  The WO’s have got to toe the line, now.

  The Nip officer, with whom I have to deal, is Lt. Oda, his Sjt. Major and the Koreans on Q Staff.

  February’45

  Things are going fairly well. I have introduced three new lines at the Canteen – lime Marmalade, rice rafts (for fried eggs) and fruit pies (which taste like apple pies).

  In my dealings with the Nips, things have, so far, gone smoothly. At first, I used an interpreter but now find that Lt. Oda can speak bits of English and we get on fairly well. He isn’t a bad cove, but the RSM is a bit of a turd. A lot of barking, but no bite so far. One of the Japanese 10 daily account forms is about five feet long by two feet wide. One walks round it to fill it in! There are so many regulations that one has to be very careful.

  I have a very good clerk, L/BC1 Wright (137), who is a National Provincial Bank clerk. Most of my staff are gunners. RA people seem to do what they are told better than other units. I am paying two rates, 30c per day for executive job (disregarding rank) and 25c for general labour. I get 40c, together with the Dutch Ensign, who looks after the Dutch staff.

  The regular bombing of Nong Pladuk and the rest of the railway, finally persuaded the Japanese to move their prisoners. This was not for humanitarian reasons but cold reality. The railway had not been a success, even when trains were able to travel unmolested along its length. At no stage did it carry the planned tonnage and was unable to deliver the supplies to sustain the IJA in Burma. With Japan clearly losing the war and with the Allies moving ever closer to the motherland, the prisoners were being hastily sent to work on projects aimed at defending the steadily deflating Greater Eastern Co-Prosperity Sphere, which was still acting as a buffer zone.

  Letter 155 Nong Pladuk February’45

  My Dearest,

  We are moving. I have been instructed to shut down the Canteen by the middle of the month and have to hand the Canteen capital to the Nips for conveyance to the new camp. We are not allowed more than 20 dollars each.

  Charles cryptically continues;

  A lot of problems arise which I cannot mention here in case these notes get found. We are allowed to have just about nothing now, so anything we have has to be hidden securely – not easy in a move.

  Where are we going? Most popular rumours say Indo-China, China or Korea. I wonder. Travelling as POW is the most awful experience ever; but they move their troops in the same way.

  Chapter 11

  Ubon

  With Colonel Toosey and the rest of the officers now at Kachanaburi, sixty miles north of Nong Pladuk, Charles and the rest of the ORs found themselves transported over 300 miles away to the east, to the Thai-Indo China border. During the long journey, Charles and his companions passed through the Thai capital, Bangkok. They were struck not just by the beauty of the city but also the extensive bomb damage wreaked by the Allies, who now had complete mastery of the air. This was the first intimation that the tide of war could be turning against their captors.

  Letter 156 Bangkok February’45

  My Dearest,

  We left Nong Pladuk on the 21st in the last party. We travelled by train towards Bangkok and saw the famous pagoda or temple or wat at Nakhon Pathom (City of Origin), which is a holy town, and finally got to a place called Nakhon Chase as it was getting dark. The railway ended here owing to the attentions of the RAF all night. We were kept crammed in the trucks and were eaten alive by mosquitoes.

  The next morning, we started marching and found ourselves approaching a mighty river, which had once been spanned by a great steel bridge, which now reposed gracefully in the water, blown apart and twisted by the RAF.

  The Nips had slung a wire and bamboo footbridge across the ruins of the bridge and, across this swaying, flimsy structure, we had to make our way. I was very pleased to get across.

  On the other side, we waited hours until a train arrived with Burma-bound Nips. We got a shock here – 64 had to go on each truck. In every truck, about 20 had to climb up and travel on the roof.

  We got to Bangkok – Venice of the East and City of Temples – about midday and were transferred into barges, which floated on the Menam, the great river, which is the artery of Thailand.

  I had charge of a barge with 40 men, but suddenly noticed water creeping up the inside. After about an hour’s argument with a Nip, I finally managed to get all but 10 shifted. I shall always remember the journey through Bangkok. The sun caught the gilded pagoda and the coloured tiles on the wats and threw glorious colours to us who, for so long, had seen nothing beautiful, clean or decent. It was amazing to see people wearing proper clothes again. In the garden of one house, we saw the French flag waving. Best of all, we saw some of our own internees (civilians).

  We passed right through the City, down through the coconut plantations towards the sea. Where are we going?

  The question was soon answered. A great row of warehouses (‘go-downs’) suddenly appeared on one side of the river. Surely they weren’t going to put us in there – such an obvious target for the RAF.

  Oh yes, they were! Into the ‘go-downs’ we went – and now we are packed like sardines on the concrete floor of the great warehouses – not allowed an exercise or movement outside the buildings.

  Charles and his comrades were then transported 250 miles to the east to Ubon Ratchatani, close to the border with modern day Laos.

  Letter 157 Ubon, Thailand March’45

  My Dearest Girl,

  We have arrived. We left the ‘go downs’ by trains in trucks (44 to each truck), which had recently carried oil and tar. It took until midday to get to Bangkok Station from the docks – about 4 kilos. We then waited outside the station. At about 2am, the air raid sirens blew. What a place to be in! The Nips hurriedly took us away from the railway and we laid on a lawn in front of a school until the all clear went.

  The train left at 4am, drawn by a powerful Beyer-Garratt articulated locomotive. The damage done by the bombing was terrific. All that night, we travelled on and on eastward and all the ne
xt day. In the afternoon, we crossed a high range of mountains and descended again at Koret.

  At about 6am the next morning we arrived at the railhead of Ubon in Eastern Thailand. To the south is Cambodia in Indo-China. We then crossed a great river (the Mekong) in sampans and marched north for nine kilos. There is no camp here whatsoever. We are living in the open in paddy fields. I pray we shall have cover by the time the rains come, as all this area will be flooded.

  I have already started up the Canteen on borrowed capital and today was successful in getting a little shelter, which is the acorn from which a thriving canteen is going to be built. You may laugh at the insistence and seriousness with which I mention a mere canteen, but one day I will be able to tell you the whys and wherefores.

  I was successful today in persuading Lt. Oda to take me to Ubon with him. I doubted his word when he said he couldn’t get fruit for me. He was right – this area is entirely rice growing and fruit is beyond our pockets. A grave question. Eggs are 20c too! I bought a pig t’other day and got choked off for it today.

  Lt. Oda told me that all supplies would come through the IJA here, as ‘there are no good merchants in this country’. This means high prices and plenty of rake-offs by Koreans.

  Notes from Ubon

  No fence around us yet.

  Tobacco here in baskets and not in limpange.

  A big camp is being built nearby by ourselves, for ourselves.

  Main working parties on Sensitai Aerodrome, near Ubon.

  Secondary working parties on Settitan Aerodrome near here.

  One man caught in Ubon – an Australian named Merritt. Nips took him out next day to show them where he went. Came back and said he had been shot trying to escape. We were allowed to get his body back. Obviously purposely done.

  Apparently a lot of mangos in this area in a month’s time.

  Have sent a typewritten post card home (25 words).

  As the Allies increase their pressure on all fronts, so the Japanese began another crackdown on their captives.

  Ubon April 1945

  My Beloved,

  We are now in the yet-to-be-completed camp and the Canteen is in the end bay of the Cookhouse. We work very closely together. No more trips to Ubon. Restrictions are now very tight. Plenty of nit-picking, the worst being the order to crop our hair. You wouldn’t recognise me, I’m sure. Men are very badly off for clothes now – many almost naked.

  The novelty of moving to a different area soon wore off and the mind-numbing monotony of captivity is reflected in the next letters, which concentrate on the natural world.

  The scavenger of the East is the Turkey Buzzard – a kind of vulture, which eats rubbish and especially dead dogs, cats, offal etc.

  A large number are attracted to the Camp by the intestines of the pigs, which are issued by the Japanese and which are killed by us. The intestines are thrown to them and a terrible fight ensues. Within seconds, everything is gobbled up and the vultures fly slowly up to a tree to roost, or mount even higher until they are circling specks in the sky.

  There are two remarkable insects around here.

  The Stick Insect which is coloured like a dead stick and grows up to 6 inches long. Only if it falls to the ground or moves can one tell that it is alive.

  Two more well known – if unpleasant-insects in Thailand.

  The Centipede is poisonous, but not fatal. I was bitten by one the other day. My arm got fat and I felt as if I had malaria. They are olive green and very unpleasant customers.

  Worse still are the scorpions. Again, the normal scorpion here is dangerous but not fatal. It attacks with the pincers and stings with a poisoned dart on the tail.

  Charles then recalled the incident when he caught the two Australian cooks stealing from the Canteen at Nong Pladuk the previous April. They sought revenge by putting scorpions in Charles’s bed.

  The first good news for over three years comes from the shouts of Thais that the prisoners pass on their way to work at the airfields. Charles is accurate with his misgivings about the British public’s attitude to the war in the Far East, which became known as the Forgotten War, something that even today continues to rankle with the members of the Burma Star Association.

  Letter 164 Ubon May’45

  My Darling,

  I believe the war in Europe is over. Strong rumours are coming in from the Thais and I am inclined to believe them. If it is, I only pray that Japan packs in because I feel sure the people at home will sit down and treat this war as a side issue. Is it true or not?

  Despite the Japanese intention of destroying cohesion amongst the prisoners by separating the officers from the ORs, the Ubon Camp was functioning efficiently under the leadership of RSM MacTavish, Charles Steel and the other NCOs. An unseemly power struggle briefly broke when a group of medical officers attempted to assert their authority.

  Letter 165 Ubon May’45

  The first real Canteen in the Camp is finished. We have built it as an extension of the Cookhouse to my own design.

  There is ample counter space, an office, store and sleeping quarters, besides a neat cookhouse. The Canteen embodies all the best points of previous canteens. We are quite comfortable, but I am worried about the fruit situation.

  There is a serious difference between ourselves and the MOs, the only commissioned officers in Camp.

  It started off on the move up here, when the MOs behaved in anything but an officer-like manner. The next clash came when I refused to serve an officer in front of a long queue of work-weary men. The Hut WOs have also had differences over the lateness of MOs on sick parades. The upshot of it all is that the SAO – a major – has threatened us all with Court Martial etc. We are carrying on as usual. This is an ORs Camp run by the WOs and there is going to be no ‘I’m an officer’ business.

  We are recognised by the Nips – not the MOs. The trouble is that they have one thought only – themselves. A more selfish lot of upstarts I’ve never seen. Fortunately, Col.Toosey had a talk with me before he left. His last words were, ‘Beware of the Medics – they have no idea of administration’. So we know where we stand.

  There will be no Court Martial today, tomorrow or any day …

  Charles describes the trials of running the canteen, cheating the Japanese and keeping a cool head.

  Letter 166 Ubon June’45

  My Darling,

  A first class ‘do’ with the Nips today …

  Since being here I have had to make 100 dollars a period profit for the Nips POW Sports Fund. This is meant for us but the Nips buy their own things out of it. At the same time I have to give information regarding the amount spent per man per month. The total spent by the men in April and May was no less than 20,000 dollars more than they were paid by the Nips.

  And so, this afternoon I was called upon to explain where the money came from. Of course I know. Men go out on work parties, steal anything that comes to hand and sell to the Thais. A stick of solder will fetch 20 dollars in this impoverished land, a pair of shorts about 50 dollars. The Nips can’t put anything down and be sure of finding it again. At Hashinokos at Nong Pladuk, someone sold the air raid siren during an air raid!! Nails bring about 20c each! And all this in spite of a threat of shooting if caught talking to the Thais.

  Many of the men have a great deal of money, although the official IJA orders say that if a WO or NCO is found with more than 20 dollars or a Pte with 10, there will be trouble. They make hundreds and spend it. The Japs then pick up the Canteen receipts and compare it to their payments in wages. The result: trouble!!

  At Nong Pladuk, the Officers used to rely on the argument that parties coming through the Camp on their way to Nakompaton Hospital Camp used to spend their money. There, too, the officers were allowed 50 dollars and one could always say that a lot of them had spent it all at once.

  Here I took the line that men had saved money at Nong Pladuk for the journey up here (the total surplus spent was less than that which the men could have legitimately brou
ght here) and owing to the Canteen being very small in March, they were unable to spend it, with the result that the surplus appeared in April and May.

  Lt. Oda knows where the money comes from. He also knows I know he knows. But one cannot come out into the open and admit anything or otherwise there would be a witch hunt and the men would suffer. And, after all, although the men mainly think about their own stomachs and pockets this stealing is really a mild form of sabotage.

  It was a case of Greek meeting Greek this afternoon and honours were divided. I find that in a stand-up of this kind, it is essential to keep still – say, with one’s hands behind one’s back and not to move backwards. Most important of all is to keep calm. The Jap method of bullying by shouting is inclined to upset people if they do not preserve a calm attitude and be prepared for it.

  It is useful to stare them out, too, but this sometimes infuriates the little men to the extent when describing one Jap to another, never to question them – which one finds oneself doing automatically – or the fact that he wears glasses. Needless to say, one doesn’t mention protruding teeth or slit eyes …

  One Nip came up to me once, rolled up his trousers and showed me his thighs, saying ‘I’m not yellow as you are told, am I?’

  Charles had to endure more annoying Japanese antics regarding the canteen.

  A typical Nip trick yesterday.

  At about 6pm, the ‘A side’ Gunza sent for me – told me that the Canteen had to clear out of its building by the next morning, because he wanted our building for a new Nip cookhouse. I was furious. The grand little stoves made of home-made bricks, which we have in the canteen have attracted them, I think.