大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Claire White of 大象传媒 Scotland on behalf of William Young and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was a Japanese Prisoner of War 1942-1945. I was in Singapore for eight months, then I worked on the railway in Thailand for a year. At the end of this year all the fit men were taken back to Singapore and sent to Japan. On the way we were torpedoed so we limped into Manila and were put on another ship. Again we were sunk and I was put on a Japanese Destroyer. I stayed in Japan for 14 months aged 21-22.

I witnessed the Nagasaki bomb blast from a distance of 12-15 miles. I was across the bay lying in the open. I was weak at the time owing to malnutrition so I couldn't stand properly. We were counting the heavy bombers flying across. I counted 600 B29 super force planes in total. It was a lovely morning.

Suddenly there was a vivid flash and I thought that one of the planes had been hit by ack-ack fire which was heavy at the time. The flash was followed by a black whirling mushroom effect in the sky. This got bigger and bigger with a tail trailing down to the ground. It came over the camp bringing with it the deathly sound of silence. We were enveloped by darkness and a huge, seething mass of smoke. The darkness lasted for one and half hours before we began to hear the faint drone of planes in the distance.

When the smoke cleared the Japanese had fled from our camp and, as far as we were concerned, this marked the end of the war. Everything within a five mile radius had been destroyed. Hills and trees were burnt black. We didn't know what had happened but we knew it was something terrible. I still wasn't able to stand.

Eventually US planes began dropping supplies to us. Each package dropped from the sky with a small coloured parachute attached and a message saying we'd be liberated in due course. One fellow was killed by an emergency drop of chocolate. He was so malnourished that he couldn't digest the rich food.

When we were liberated we travelled away from Nagasaki by train. The railway line ran straight through the city and we went to a decontamination centre at the docks. I was put onto an American hospital ship which was lying in Nagasaki bay because I had beri-beri and was unable to travel. I lay there for 3 weeks before I could leave.

I arrived back in Britain in November 1945. I travelled back from Japan via Canada and New York and sailed into Southampton on the 20th November aboard the Queen Mary. We were quarantined in a camp near Southampton from which we were collected by London military police.

I took the train back to Aberdeen from London King's Cross. I wandered around Aberdeen on arrival until a Red Cross worker asked how I was. They wanted to put me in Woodend hospital but I was having none of it! I enquired about my family and was put on a train to Turiff. On arrival at home I met a brother I never knew I had (I'd been away for 10 years). It was quite an experience.

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