Burma Railway Man: Secret Letters From a Japanese Pow Read online

  Colonel Toosey and Colonel Smiley were concerned that the large numbers of Japanese in the area were still fully armed. After a visit to the Japanese HQ, it was agreed that the soldiers should hand in their weapons and remain in their barracks. Through Smiley’s connection with the Thai administration, a good supply of food and entertainments were laid on for the increasingly restless prisoners.

  Weekly 10 Ubon 4 September 1945

  My Dearest,

  A rather amusing weekend. The Thai Governor sent up, what I presume to be the local Amateur Dramatic Society to entertain us with dancing last night.

  We expected a troupe of dancers who would be clad in the traditional costumes of old Siam. Instead, the Thais were dressed in spotless white drill suits, while the girls wore frocks and high heeled shoes! On the other hand, they did perform the old dances. There is much slow waving of the arms and hands – snakelike gestures. The man never touches the girl, but pursues her as she slowly makes the round of the stage. Music consists hand claps.

  One couldn’t help noticing that one girl was very pregnant. She seemed unembarrassed in front of her large audience of sex-starved males.

  The other show took place the next night. The local cinema was transported to the Camp. This included an ancient electricity generator, a large white sheet and a big drum. The show started with about half an hour’s thunderous banging on the big drum. The films then began, the accompaniment being the drum and a fife. The films were in short reels, dated in the 1920s, and were once in series or order. They were not now in order. They were put on as they came to hand and made a marvelous performance. The hens, seen being devoured by a lion one second is gaily chasing it the next. The heroine dies in one reel, but half an hour later drinks the cup of poison, which lays her low. The lads here gave it the bird properly, but the Thais took it to be applause.

  A large number of Thai girls came to the Camp to see the football the other day. Two of them, who are connected with the firm who now supply the Canteen, came to the Canteen and we showed them round. There was also a Eurasian, half Thai, half Dane. These girls are really miniatures. They are rarely more than 4′9″, and some are most attractive. The Thai language, dreadful to hear spoken by a man, is very pleasant in the women, as – as you possibly know – there are modulations in scale, unlike European languages. The same word, spoken in three different keys, means three different things. One, therefore, gets a singing effect.

  By the way, I hear that the name ‘Thailand’ is now changed back to ‘Siam’, so I must use that in future.

  The pace of repatriation continued to move too slowly for men who had awaited its arrival for years. The bitterness felt by most Japanese-held prisoners, at what they perceived as official indifference and shame, seems to have its roots in this period when they appeared to have been pushed to the back of the queue. Were these men being blamed for Britain’s worst military disaster; the fall of Singapore? Britain was euphoric about the victory against Germany which, because of its direct involvement, had touched the lives of all its citizens. The war in the Far East seemed so remote and interminable that there was a general disinterestedness, particularly after the Americans effectively ended hostilities with the dropping of the atomic bombs. It seemed to the prisoners that they had been forgotten by a nation more concerned with recovering from its struggle against Nazism.

  Weekly 14. 16 September

  We have not gone. Men are very fed up, indeed. Over a month now since the end. I am afraid that most of the ‘We’ll get you out quickly’ stuff is merely propaganda for you people at home. I cannot help thinking that the official view is that people here have done nothing for the war effort and the first place for transport home should go to those who have been fighting for the last six years. The Red Cross, of course, can be written off. I wish they wouldn’t keep on advertising how many food parcels each man got in German POW Camps. They even put a picture of the contents of the parcels in one book dropped by the RAF. Having done without the Red Cross for the last 3 ½ years, one can do without them now.

  The remoteness of Ubon Camp meant that it had to be supplied by air, something that added to the prisoner’s sense of isolation.

  Weekly 15. 18 Sept’45

  A terrific show by the RAF in Consolidated Liberators this morning. They roared low over the parade ground and actually dropped a number of canisters right into the camp. One went through a hut. Another hit a man on the head and chest and put him in hospital as seriously injured case.

  A number of old newspapers were also thrown out, together with the names of the crew. I always hope to get a note from Ken. These planes are terrific. It must be wonderful to be in action with air support, instead of knowing that everyone of the planes overhead is an enemy machine, as was the case in France and Belgium in 1940 and Malaya in ‘42. We didn’t have one tank in Malaya, and the RAF embarked as we disembarked on 13 January. Even then, they were in too much of a hurry to destroy machines, which we found on Sembawang Aerodrome on the week of the Capitulation.

  Some of the men from the outside tell us that it is now known that the campaign in Malaya was intended to be a delaying action designed to give time to garrison Australia with American troops. It was always known that it was impossible to hold Singapore. The reason we – in the 18th Div – were diverted from our destination in the Middle East, was because Australia complained that too many Australians and not enough British were in Malaya; so the 18th Div, trained for the Middle East and desert warfare, was hurried to Malaya and thrown into jungle warfare within a month of the end. A political expedient!! I hope that the 20,000 prisoners who have died in slavery in Thailand haunt those responsible forever!

  Charles then pays tribute to the man he admires above all others; Colonel Philip Toosey.

  Weekly 16

  I went out for a walk with the Colonel and another officer yesterday. The Colonel is a great man: he would be a Major-General at least if he hadn’t been behind the wire for 3½ years.

  His leadership, his optimism, his stubborn defence against the Japs for 3½ years have helped us tremendously. When the Japs took him from us for the last seven months, it was his spirit that kept No.1 Group the best in Thailand. We have had fewer deaths, less trouble with the Nip, less beatings-up. Even the Nips admire him.

  We in the 135 Field Regiment feel that we are lucky in having a man, who has made such a name for himself throughout the POW Camps, as our own Colonel. In civilian life he is with Baring’s Bank, Liverpool.

  Weekly 17 19 Sept’45

  Look here, Louie, my love,

  I wanted to buy you something from Siam, but am pretty well prevented from doing anything spectacular by lack of money. The well known racketeers in Camp – and some who weren’t suspected – are now buying local silk at 60.00 ticals per metre. Having run the Canteen for two years, I am believed by the troops to be excessively wealthy, but you know me well enough to know that the only money I have now is what has been saved from my pay. However, the Adjutant of the 135 gave me a nice little present, when he got here from Bangkok and I have managed to scrape together enough to buy you a small present. It was no use buying you one metre or so of silk (even though I should like to see you in undies made from that small amount!!), so I got, what is a very representative product of Siam, a silver belt, which maybe you can find a use for.

  Incidentally, I will mention here the normal dress of the Siamese women.

  She wears no shoes or stockings, except in town, when she usually uses sandals. The majority of women wear a black, ankle-length sarong; the poorer, cotton ones, the better off, in silk. This is kept up by a metal work belt, again the poorer use wire or steel ones, the better off, silver. Invariably, a white blouse is worn with the sarong. In the case of the better classes, these blouses are European type and caught in or tucked in at the waist. The poorer class do not tuck in at the waist. The very poor and the ancient of most classes in the country, wear no covering on the top part at all. On the head, the poor wear a v
ast straw structure.

  They are very regimented in dress, but in Bangkok, frocks are increasingly worn and, if the normal colour scheme of black and white is adhered to, the sarong usually gives place to a silk skirt – very short.

  It is the belt which keeps up the sarong, which I have bought as a keepsake for you. They are priced by weight. This was the best I could afford. I hope you like it.

  Since the finish, I have sent several communications to you. I know that an official telegram ‘Am safe in British Hands. Hope to be home soon. Waiting’, was sent. I have also sent one 10 word cable and one 25 word cable to you, and two letter cards to you and one to Shirley. I now have another letter card given me, which I am going to send to Bow. I know you won’t mind.

  The long wait caused many prisoners to indulge in the pleasures that had been denied them for three and a half years; drinking and sex. Colonel Toosey was anxious about venereal disease being spread amongst his men by the ‘comfort girls’ and, through David Smiley’s contacts, arranged for 10,000 condoms to be airlifted from Delhi.

  Weekly 19 20 Sept.

  My Dear Louise,

  We were listening to the radio last night and heard in the news that 32 POWs from Thailand had arrived by flying boat at Poole in Dorset. The announcer then had the audacity to say that, of course, these were the fit ones, the others are not yet fit to travel! Something like a minor riot broke among the troops.

  All are terribly disappointed at being let down by our own Government and about 75% are now drowning their sorrows in ‘laus’ (very raw spirits) every evening. Of these, I gather about 50% are sleeping with Siamese prostitutes in Ubon, which isn’t a very wise thing, seeing that the Japanese Army have been in the same beds for the last 4 years. And 90% of Nips have VD.

  However, the RAF yesterday dropped a whole canister full of french letters and ET sets, so apparently England condones the use of our late enemy’s comfort girls in view of her inability to get us back to our wives.

  We are told that the mail from England is at Rangoon. We can hardly read how many of our people have been killed by the V bombings at that distance.

  I’m afraid you are going to find your husband very ‘anti’ by the time he gets back to England, if we are going to be continually buoyed up by false propaganda and dropped by realisation and fact. This situation rather reminds me of the last week in the Singapore battle, when we were promised that ‘the sky would soon be black with planes’. So it was –3 ½ years too late.

  Weekly 20 21 Sept.

  My Dearest,

  A stunning display by the RAF again today.

  A Consolidated Liberator came down low over the Camp, diving down and soaring again, while its crew lined the open doorway and waved. They threw out a roll of newspapers, which crashed through the roof of a hut and some magazines, some of which were unfortunately cut to ribbons by the tail. This is the piece that fluttered to the ground at my feet (a pinup). Or do you think that one of the crew tore it out of a magazine and dropped it – just to entice us? Darling, am I very wicked if I say that this is one of the nicest pictures I’ve seen lately?

  With discipline beginning to fray at the edges, Colonel Toosey flew to Bangkok to plead his case to allow the Ubon Camp to be evacuated.

  The Colonel has gone to Bangkok to see what is happening to the evacuation muddle. Things are getting rather out of hand here. We have no facilities for punishing people and the attraction of women and drink is too much for most men. And once men get sozzled, clashes with the Nips (who are still armed) become likely.

  The Nip discipline is remarkable. I should never have believed it of them. They are actually bringing our drunks into the Camp – and as far as now, their behavior is exemplary.

  I do hope we get news about evacuation soon.

  Toosey’s visit was successful and plans were made for the Ubon prisoners to be evacuated. Charles’s brush with the Australians, who put scorpions in his bed, still rankled and coloured his opinion of the whole country.

  Weekly 21 23 Sept.

  My Darling,

  It looks very much as if we are leaving very soon. Col.Toosey seems to have hurried matters at Bangkok. The Australians have already left – and they’re the last lot of Aussies I ever want to see.

  The stages of our homeward journey will be by lorry to Ubon, by sampan across the river (now swollen by the monsoon and stretching almost to the station; it took us 10 minutes to cross in February – now it is an hour’s anxious voyage!), by train via Koust to Bangkok, by ‘Dakota’ transport planes over the mountains to Rangoon in Burma, and then by sea to the UK.

  Darling, I’d love you to be here and to accompany me on the journey. Nevertheless, I know there will be a letter from you waiting at Rangoon! I’m counting the minutes …

  With repatriation imminent, Charles now considered the practicalities of meeting up with his wife. The war had caused disruption and families were no longer living at the same addresses as before the soldiers went into captivity. This uncertainty caused much anxiety but the waiting families were kept informed by the authorities and were generally waiting at the dockside for their loved ones.

  Weekly 22

  I have been thinking a lot about my arrival home. If I do not get communications at Rangoon, I shall be in a quandary.

  Say we land at Liverpool or Southampton – the latter more possibly. I shall not know whether Greenway Gardens or Parsonage Lane still exist. I shall not know whether you are still in Liverpool (fairly unlikely, I think). I think the best thing is to go to London and, failing the telephone directory, go a round of the old addresses from somewhere I shall be able to pick up clues and get in touch with you.

  We shall receive 8 weeks leave, pending demobilisation plus one day for every month abroad (another 48 days about). How about your demobilisation? If I wasn’t a POW, I gather I should be demobilised in Group 25. I should think your number would be fairly low, too.

  There seems to be heaps of back pay and gratuity waiting for us, besides several medals. There is only one medal I should like, for which I have qualified and that is the TA Long Service & Efficiency silver medal (12 years or 6 years War Service). Incidentally, you will be one of the very few women in England who is entitled to this medal. I am very proud of you. The other medals they can give to someone who has earned them. We haven’t.

  If you are still in the ATS, will you be able to get leave, I wonder? I should like you to do so if possible. I want to get back to the City at the very earliest possible moment, the last six years have been wasted; in any case, I cannot countenance having a holiday while my wife is working. We either both have leave or I’m going back straight away. You’re the person due for a yasme.

  And where shall we meet? Not at Sam Isaacs’s corner, I hope. Probably at a railway station? I wonder what rank you have obtained? I do feel terribly miserable at the fact that you have a miserable OR attached to you. I am not going to spoil your success by introducing myself in any way. I am fearfully proud of you, darling! But … if you do get a swelled head through reading these remarks, I’ll bat it back into place … and lay you across my knees as I seem to remember doing once before in play. Dearest Louise, I love you very dearly.

  Chapter 13

  Home at Last!

  Weekly 23 24th September 1945 Ubon Thai Military Barracks My Darling,

  A great day, indeed! Today we rode out of Ubon POW Camp, pasta row of Japanese, consisting of Major Chida (CO), bis Adjutant, Lt. Oda, the Defence officers – oh, the whole lot of them, plus their WOs & Sjts. As the trucks rolled past, they gravely saluted and held the salute until it was returned by the NCO in charge. This sounds nothing to you, but it was an amazing experience for us, who have had to salute all ranks of Japs and come stiffly to attention and bow to Nip officers for 3 ½ years.

  My party consists of 25 men (the complement of a Dakota). The Dutch drove us to Ubon by lorry. We then embarked on the swollen river in the hollowed-out tree trunk sampans of the Thais. About five m
en to each. These canoes are very fragile. One sits cross-legged and does not dare move, as the freeboard is about 3 inches.

  There followed an amazing journey. We crossed the river and then penetrated the flooded country of the other side. We moved along silent waterways and passed through bushes and lanes of trees. It was most eerie. Sometimes the boat had to push its way through the tops of tangled undergrowth. The water was not deep.

  We finally arrived at higher ground after 40 minutes of fascinating travel. We then marched to the Thai Barracks, where the Thai guards presented arms as we passed. It is now raining heavily.

  So began what became a rather leisurely journey back to England. To their surprise and delight, the POWs were feted by the Thais as they began their long train journey to Bangkok.

  Weekly 24 Korat, Siam 25th September

  My Dear,

  I can only liken today’s experiences to the triumphal advance across France in September 1939 by the I Corps. You remember my description of that.

  We boarded the train – real coaches – at Ubon this morning and were amazed to find a deputation from Ubon awaiting. Baskets of flowers, fruit etc!! and pretty Siamese girls to present them.

  We were more than amazed to find that at almost every station, the same performance was repeated. Generally speaking, at each end of each platform were Thai police with British, Thai and US flags. In the centre were massed the officials of the village, their wives and daughters. On each side were ranks of school children, all with Union Jacks. And then the vast population simply teemed wherever it could gain a vantage point. And the eats!! Masses of coconuts, bananas and boiled eggs: cakes and coffee: all kinds of things. At some places we got out, at others the stuff came through the windows. At one place, I saw the chubbiest Chinese baby I’ve ever seen. I took him from his mother into the train – and what a raspberry I got from the men!! He wasn’t more that three months and I had to be very careful – completely naked, of course. They all are up to 5 or 6.