大象传媒

My father was a soldier in 1929 and with many others went to war in 1939. He was based in Aldershot when war broke out. He didn't talk very much about his experience fighting in the war or his time as a Japanese prisoner of war. But I am writing this story from memories told by my mother and from letters and photographs I have at home.

My mother heard nothing about him until a letter arrived in September 1942 to say that he had been in Singapore and possibly taken to Java when Singapore fell to the Japanese. Nothing was heard from my father Richard Ward until September 1945 when a telegram arrived to say that he was safe in Australian hands.

In letters to my mother Emma, written after his release, he tells of his weight dropping to seven stones.

I overhead that they slept in a stone room
on the floor and that if anyone died their clothes were take off them so others could keep warm. Teeth were taken out while they sat. Food was scarce with rice being the main food. The prisoners used to search the bins for more food before the rats ate it. My father got the disease Beri-Beri. The toilet was a hole in the ground.

I can remember when I went to bed my mother put a book by the bed whilst I was asleep. When I woke up she said that my dad had passed by in a plane during the night and left it for me. She was just trying to keep our spirits up and I believed her story. She always believed that he would come back.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.