East Surrey Boy Bandsman then Japanese FEPOW (5 of 5)

I remember the Jap commander telling us the war was over, and now we would be under the command of our own officers.

Suddenly into our camp came seven or eight men who told us that they had been dropped by parachute six months or so before, to train guerillas, who, if the allies were to attack the mainland, would rush down to all the P.O.W. camps. But since the war ended, documents have been found from the high command in Japan, that had this happened, all prisoners of war would be shot, so the guerillas would not have got to us in time.

Soon after we were told we were free, planes came over our camp and dropped medical supplies, food, clothing and radios. I also remember that one of the prisoners ran forward, either to stop the canister swinging, or in his enthusiasm, just wanted to catch one. The swinging canister hit him on the side of the head and killed him instantly. What a shocking tragedy, all those years of imprisonment and on this blessed day of freedom, he died.

After a stay in the camp, whilst arrangements were being made, we were taken
by train to Bangkok, where we were given a meal and welcomed by Lady
Mountbatten, then afterwards taken in C47 Dakotas for the short flight to
Rangoon.

When we arrived, I learnt that one of the Dakotas had crashed; apparently they were using all the old planes that were available to get all the P.O.W.'s out of the jungle camps as quickly as possible. When this plane crashed, we lost another one of our old band boys, Bert Gadd.

The sad thing is, that during an air raid by the allies on one of the many railway camps, Bert Gadd had his leg blown off. They managed to save his life, then he has to go and die in that plane crash.

At Rangoon we all went to hospital, where we had medical and dental examinations and fitted out with kit. I don't remember much of what happened, things moved very quickly, but I do remember I weighed 7 stone 4 lbs, (I was one of the fitter ones).

After about a week or so, I set sail on the S.S. Orbita for England, that I hadn't seen for seven years.

We docked at Liverpool about I0th December 1945 and much to our surprise we were taken to a transit camp where we were to stay until the following day. We didn't like this; we all wanted to get away to our homes as soon as possible, but there it was, we had to obey orders. Anyway, there was plenty of food and entertainment in the camp.
One of the pleasures I now savoured, was being able to walk down a road, and coming to a t-j unction, to be able to choose to go either left or right, instead of being told what to do.

I've just remembered two incidents that I should have mentioned earlier, so I'll just pop them in now.

When we knew we were going to have a meal on reaching Bangkok, we said what we would like to eat, and how we were going to enjoy the meal. However, when we sat down to it, we found we could hardly eat anything, we had to take it gradually.

I remember the women from the W.V. S. (Women's Voluntary Services) who served us with our meal, I got quite a shock when they spoke, because their voices sounded so shrill and high pitched, we hadn't seen or heard any European women during our years of captivity.

Also, when we were at Rangoon, two of us, (I cannot remember who the other chap was), we decided to go into the town. As we were walking along, two Americans in a jeep asked us if we would like a lift, but they started driving like maniacs so we stopped them and said we would walk the rest of the way, as we had just got through 3 1/2 years of captivity and didn't intend to be killed by their stupid driving!

Now back to the transit camp at Liverpool - the next morning we were issued with a railway warrant -28 days leave pass, ration and clothing coupons, put on a train for London, then from there we were on our own.

Now during the seven years I was away, especially the years as a P.O.W., I, like many others, used to dream of our homes back in England.

I could remember vividly my home at Sheerness, the house, every little detail,
the street outside where we used to play as kids, but when I returned home in
1945 things were different, because my mother had married again.

She now lived in Bromley, so I had to find my way there (I had received a letter from mum, telling me how), also to get used to a new house, meet a strange stepfather, two stepbrothers and three stepsisters, all very hard to manage at once.

I remember during my first night in my strange new home, I just couldn't sleep, I was not used to four walls and a roof, so I got up, dressed and went for a walk round Bromley. Also, my brother and sister, who I was dying to see again, were away. Frank was in the Royal Marines out somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and Cis was in the A.T.S. in Germany.

Well, the years between 1935 and 1945 proved to have been adventurous and exciting, going abroad at 17 years of age to China, (not many people went to China in 1938), to growing up in those two vibrant and colourfull cities, Shanghai and Singapore, which are so different today, now they are full of huge skyscrapers everywhere.

Eventually, I settled down at home, and began to enjoy myself, and thought how very lucky I was, and so grateful………… I had survived

However....

There are things of which I may not speak
There are dreams that cannot die;
There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak
And bring a pallor to the cheek,
And a mist before the eye.

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