大象传媒

My father John Leslie Graham was a prisoner of the Japanese from February 1942 until August 1945. During that time he was allowed to send 5 postcards home to his family via the Red Cross. All 5 cards arrived safely in Hull and they have been kept as a treasured family possession. In January 2003 at the time of his 84th birthday my father wrote his recollections of the experiences at the time of sending the cards.

He has given me permission to share some of the memories and he has chosen the first card which was sent shortly after his capture and the second card which was sent at the time of the most intense suffering.

Anne Jenkins, Daughter

Card 1
I remember writing this card shortly after the surrender of Singapore at Changi Prison Camp. The journey to Siam began at Singapore Railway Station at the end of October 1942. We were in working parties. Each one consisted of 500 men from British regiments. We were under the command of Colonel Knight of the Royal Norfolk regiment and we were known as H battalion, plus the Korean guards.

We were crowded into wagons just enough room to sit down and with no provision for sanitary arrangements. The men with dysentery soon had a problem. When we arrived at Kuala Lumpa station a bucket of rice and water was provided. The journey lasted for 4 days.

On arrival at Bam Pong we marched to the transit camp. It was a a terrible place. All down the centre of the huts was stagnant water which reached to just below the sleeping platforms. Next day we prepared to leave this camp to go further up country. The Japanese advised us to leave our kit bags with all our belongings, as they would be sent on to our destination. True to Japanese promises we never saw our belongings again. They would sell our clothes to the natives as it was a ready market. We proceeded up country in just what we were wearing plus a small haversack and a bottle of water. So consequently over time our clothes and boots wore out. We were reduced to wearing a piece of cloth known as a 'Jap nappy' and walking and working barefoot.

After a 4 day march we arrived at Tonchan Main Camp in November 1942. There were already 2 other battalions there. The river ran past the camp which was a godsend. After toiling on the track all day it was refreshing to wash in the river, although we had no soap. Work continued on the construction of the railway track. But after clearing a good stretch of jungle the Japanese engineers realised that it was the wrong area and we had to start again.

Soon men became ill and began dying from malaria, dysentery and despair due to the hard work and the rice diet. Towards the end of December 1942 I had my first attack of malaria. There was no quinine so you had to get over it and carry on until the next attack which occurred monthly.

There were no fences around the prison camp. The jungle provided a natural fence with nowhwere for us to go only more jungle.

Card 2

I remember writing this card at Tonchan Main Camp in August 1943. The cards were issued as it was beginning to get dark. After rushing around to find a pencil I managed to complete the card; that's why the writing is out of line.

I, with a party of prisoners, had been transfered from Tonchan Main Camp to Tonchan Spring Camp in April 1943. There was a stream running down the centre of the camp which fed a waterfall at the end of the camp.

Our first task was to move tons of earth to form a cutting for the railway track. The weather was hot and it was hard work on a poor rice diet. Then we had to build a small bridge to pass the waterfall. After that we had to clear rocks to make a further cutting. This involved what was known as the hammer and tap brigade. One man held a metre steel rod and his partner hit the rod with a heavy hammer, until a metre hole was drilled through the rocks. These were filled with explosives and detonated. We then had to clear the rubble.This procedure was carried out many times until the work suited the Japanese engineers.

All the time that we were working on the track the Japanese were always shouting 'speedo'. We nicknamed one of the guards 'speedo'. They would beat up any prisoner if they thought he wasn't working hard enough. Another ploy was to make us hold a heavy rock above our head.

In June 1943 the monsoon broke. The camp and the whole area soon became a quagmire. All down the centre of the huts was ankle deep in mud. When you woke up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet you had to paddle through the mud. When you got back to your sleeping platform you only had a tin of water to wash your feet.

In due course the inevitable happened - a cholera epidemic broke out. The Japanese stopped all work on the railway. A clearing was made in the jungle and 2 tents were erected for the sick. Our men soon became ill. A victim would start with diarrhoea and vomiting and die in a matter of hours. There was no treatment they were just left to die. Before the epidemic was controlled over 100 men had died.

When work resumed on the railway the British officer complained to the Japanese that the remaining men were not fit for work. The Japanese reply was that it didn't matter how many men died, the railway would be built. And it was built at a terrific cost.

So that's why I remember writing this post card after such a traumatic time which we had all endured. I never expected it to be received in England.

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