An Egg Saved My Life

Leslie Berry joined the army before the war, becoming a Royal Engineer. In 1938 he was sent to Singapore, where he was still stationed when it fell in 1942. He consequently became a Japanese Prisoner of War and was sent to work on the infamous railway.

Conditions were appalling and the loss of life was high. They say that for every sleeper laid one man died. There was a lot of illness and disease and with so few medical supplies many men died. On one occasion, Les was so ill he was dying. The Australian medical orderly managed to obtain an egg (the Australians were skilled at finding the impossible)for Les. He refused to eat it. He told the man to go away and let him die. The orderly replied, "Eat the bloody egg or I'll ram it down your bloody throat." He ate the egg.

He always felt that that was the turning point. He got better and survived his experiences. He never said very much about his time during the war, preferring to put them to the back of his mind and move on. If questioned, he just used to say that he was one of the lucky ones: he came home.

Leslie George Berry - 30.1.1920-6.11.1985

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