大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Georgina Jarvis of Norfolk Adult Education鈥檚 reminiscence team on behalf of Sidney John Stebbeds and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

We were in Singapore and had been warned that we might have to surrender to the Japanese (as I described in my previous article 鈥淎t Sea after a Wartime Wedding鈥�). Japanese soldiers did eventually arrive and we were ordered to line up on the nearby roadside. I soon realised the type of people they were - quick to start beating and abusing us. Also I found out that to retaliate was inadvisable. Then our instructions were to start marching .To where? I, like all my comrades did not know. After about a twelve-mile march we arrived at Changhi Military barracks. Most military personnel were squeezed into the barrack area, whist civilians were taken to Changhi Gaol. Whilst being held here our food consisted of Rice + Rice - a food which most of us were not familiar with as a main diet. I was only used to rice with sugar and milk. Clean water was very scarce, as were washing facilities.
We slept in a tent on the square of the barracks: twelve of us in a tent made for no more than six. I found the toilet facilities very inadequate: a trench dug with a pole across. With most of us now starting to have bowel problems, this was not one of the best situations. Sickness and viruses were creeping upon us fast. Medical supplies were very limited. Even at this early stage of being held captive, some of our comrades were passing away. I felt quite frightened at the thought of what may be in store for us all. I often wondered whether I would ever get home to my dear wife. If she knew what we were starting to experience, she would not be happy, but I knew she would want me to know that I was in God鈥檚 hands.
A few weeks like this passed and I was selected to move to an old RAF quarters at a place called Buki-tima close to Singapore. We were to help build a shrine. Our job was to carry heavy timbers and convey earth in cane baskets to where the shrine was being erected. Japanese engineers were doing the building. The Japanese soldiers handed out all the brutality they could think of. If they thought we were not doing the job as quickly as we should be, we soon received beatings from axe handles, bamboo canes or rifle butts. Any retaliation meant more of this treatment. One had to suffer in silence, or reap the consequences. I remember one of the jobs I was given was to cut turf off the local golf greens to put on to this shrine. I thought how we would be classed as vandals in the golfing world.
Time for our next move is due. We are taken to Singapore railway station where we are crowded into steel cattle wagons. On average about 35 men to each of these wagons; about 30 of these made up a train. So around 1000 men, plus guards with machine guns at the ready were on the move to Thailand. What we are taken there for was anyone鈥檚 guess. It took about four days to get to our destination. A journey I will never forget. Most of us now were suffering from dysentery, and with no toiletry facilities being available, most of us were experiencing a very hectic time. A lot of stoppages occurred as regular trains took priority over our train. So when we stopped in a siding, nine times out of ten it would be in full sun, and being steel trucks we are accommodated in, you can imagine what the temperature is like.
Eventually we arrive at a station called Bang Pong. This I find out is the station where a line branches off in the direction of Burma. The notorious Thai/Burma railway that was to claim so many lives, and cause so much suffering to us all.
We arrive at Kanchanburi, and further along where the line is going to go, huts had to be built to house the men as they gradually arrive to help with the task ahead. Huts are built with Bamboo, attab, and ties. Bamboo is cut from in the path of where the rail line is going to be laid, Attab is made from palm leaves folded over a strip of bamboo which in turn is laid on the roof of the hut. Tye is cut from the bark of a selected tree, (the actual name of this tree I never found out). Bamboo poles can be of various sizes as you can imagine the number of different sizes needed to construct buildings of a size to accommodate the number of men who were going to pass through these camps. Bamboo is not a good substance to work with. If it is not cut completely through, the outside of the cane is as sharp as any razor and will soon leave a gash on your unprotected body. These huts soon become infested with bed bugs; a bug that sucks and lives on one鈥檚 blood. When one is squashed the smell is indescribable: horrible. Also lice and body crabs which always lived in the hair parts of your body.
Security around the camps was not considered a major thing to the Japs. If anyone did escape, survival away from the main body was unlikely. There were nowhere near enough medical supplies or food available for any one to try to get away. Local inhabitants were bribed to give information of any POWs escaping. Thus escapees were soon back and would soon be seen digging their own graves.
Toilet facilities were very inadequate, a large trench with a Bamboo pole across, and woe-betide you if you lost your balance. With the weak state a great number of us were in, it is no wonder that these accidents did frequently occur.
The notorious rail line followed a route close to the famous river Kwai. A number of bridges were built over the tributaries of this great river. I was working on a couple of these bridges, some were small and some were of massive size. Three tiers high, these structures were big and all the timber used had to be cut and shaped from the trees we cut down for the railway to pass through the jungle. Apparently the route for this rail link had been surveyed years earlier, but was considered to be unfeasible. But the Japanese thought differently.
When work started properly on the railway line, men were expected to move one cubic metre of soil per day, either building up the embankment or cutting through the mounds so as to get a level. Soon we found out that our work was to increase. If there were 500 men in camp, and 100 were not at work on the building of the line because of sickness or essential camp duties, 400 men had to move the 500 square metres of earth. Food was not very nutritious, rice being the main ingredient of every meal, sometimes a little dried fish appeared or a portion of local vegetables was available. When this meal was dished out to us, we called it air raid stew, (All Clear). Poor food meant that the sickness rate increased quickly, Malaria, Beriberi, dysentery and malnutrition, were a big enemy to us all.
As each section of the rail was finished so the men moved along to different camps along the route of the 200-mile rail link. The lines and sleepers that we were laying came from a line being dismantled somewhere in Malaya. When we came to the rocky areas drilling of holes had to be done so dynamite could be used. Holes one metre deep into the rock had to be drilled by hand: one man to hold the drill whilst the other man struck the drill and the number of times that the drill was missed was uncountable due to our tiredness. Two men were expected to drill one hole a day, and if you did not keep up this rate you were soon getting a rifle butt into your back or a bamboo cane across your shoulders. Once a number of holes were completed, explosive was inserted, and fuses lit. You had to be out of the way quick. After the blasting, we removed the loose rock by hand.
Another big disease to hit us was Cholera. Deadly and contagious, it took many lives. The river, our only source of water, became infected. This meant every drop we used had to be boiled for at least twenty minutes, and the shortage of containers meant that only enough to drink and cook with was available. We made big filters from bamboo tied together into a metre square box, filled with sand stone and charcoal. The muddy water was poured through it and came out clear. Washing of the body could not be done owing to the shortage of clean water, so I used to rub my hair and body with clean sand, which removed dirt and foreign bodies from your skin.
Cholera patients were isolated to a separate hut to keep the disease to one area as much as possible. Also, as we lost our comrades they had to be cremated, so pyres were built for the cremation of all persons in this category. Lots of dry wood was needed for this purpose, and with rain every day, this became difficult to carry out.
We were experiencing malaria, dysentery, beriberi, ulcers, Ring Worm, hookworm, and numerous other infectious diseases, and hardly any treatment was available. The death rate was rapidly on the increase. More and more of our comrades have to be buried each day with as much respect as possible.
The preparing of graves and burials was carried out by the personnel that the Japanese considered unfit for work on the railway. Any complaining to our captors meant more beatings and starvation. Men who did retaliate would have to stand outside the guard room holding a large rock above their heads - sometimes up to 12 hrs at a time, or until they dropped to the ground exhausted.
This kind of behaviour and living carried on for a few months; one hardly remembered time as it passed by. Most nights before going off into a sleep, I would wonder how my wife was coping. I knew that she would not have heard from me. We were allowed to write a card occasionally, but we learnt that these cards only got as far as the rail junction at Bang Pong, where they were put into an incinerator and destroyed. I used to look up through the holes in the attab roofs of our huts and see the moon shining, thinking that a few hours later she would be able to see the same moon, hoping that a silent message would pass between us. The Japanese couldn鈥檛 take our thoughts away however much they tried. I used to pray that Babs and her family were all OK. We would be lying on the floor or on a bamboo bench. Possibly our only covering was a rice sack to act as a blanket; the temperature at night got down to about 75-80 degrees . This seemed quite cool after daytime temperature of over 100 degrees. Oh, to be cuddled up in the arms of your beloved wife. We had not had long together before this long separation came, and I thought that prayers to God would help us over these hard times and keep us close in every way possible. I went to sleep with these thoughts, and was aroused before light to get ready for another day of brutality and hardships. Faith in God did keep me from losing my sanity.
I remember one camp that we were in was next to one of the rail marshalling yards. On each side of these yards which were a good target for Allied planes to be able to concentrate on, one was a fuel dump, then an Ack Ack battery, a vehicle maintenance dept. Whilst here a number of us were ordered to volunteer to do work at the vehicle repair dept .The Japs had brought in a lot of machinery for the repair of engines, but did not have any idea of how to perform the work. Us volunteers were expected to do the job. This we did, and although none of us were experienced mechanics, we did rebore and sleeve engines and reseat crankshafts successfully. After getting the vehicles working once more, we told the Jap guards that the vehicles would need a test run, this meant one would get a ride out in the lorry even if a guard was with us. On return the vehicle was put on to an area to await collection. On leaving the vehicle we would discreetly put a hand full of sand in the oil point. Our little effort of sabotage. We noticed that these vehicles were soon back! Whilst working in this dept we were able to get hold of diesel oil. This was a good deterrent for the lice and crabs that one had a job to keep down. It was difficult to transport as jars or bottles were a thing of the past for us, but the hollows of the bamboo made good containers.
Eventually, after all the ill-treatment that we had to contend with, the railway did get finished, and at the beginning of 1945 I was with about 1000 men who were sent to try to build a road called the Maguri road, from the north of Malaya, northwards towards Burma. We understood that this road was to be an escape route for the Japs who we believe were having to retreat from Burma at this time. Any information that we did sometimes get was not always authentic. The building of this road was similar to the construction of the railway, except that less attention was taken to the level or the curves than with the rail.
As the weeks went by, food was getting more scarce, illness increased rapidly, many of our colleagues were dying from malnutrition and Beri-Beri and the majority of us were getting weaker. The digging of individual graves was an impossible job to keep up with, so communal graves had to be dug and 10-12 bodies buried with one ceremony.
I know that by this time, each one of us had got Beri-Beri in arms and legs. When it gets to one鈥檚 back and chest and you are not able to get some vitamins into your body, then life expectancy was only about 3 weeks. I know that I had reached this stage. Then, thankfully one morning we arose to find that all the Jap guards had gone. We were left in a camp with about 200 of us left out of the 1000 men who commenced this feat 6 months earlier. Our own NCO s took charge of the situation: Keep all together, try to find any food with vitamins in it, and don鈥檛 panic. If you could find a lime tree, leaves as well as the fruit were boiled to be able to share the vitamins amongst the remainder of us. Grass was used in the same way .The taste was terrible, but taste did not matter when it came to survival.
Next day arrived, and lo and behold, British Paratroops descended on our camp. Then followed some Medics, and thankfully food and medical supplies were soon on hand. Quinine was desperately needed, and at first supplies of quinine were rationed, I let my brother who was with us have my allocation until enough was available for us all. We were kept as we were for a few days and with good food we soon gained strength and were able to start getting back to civilization. We still lost a few men who had not got quite enough strength to cope even after release.
I got back to a camp in northern Malaya, where we recuperated for about a week. Planes were flying in from Burma bringing necessary supplies, and on their return they were taking about 30 of us ex-POWs back to Rangoon. I had a few more weeks of recuperation, and then was able to proceed on to Calcutta on a hospital ship. After a spell in hospital in Calcutta I cannot quite remember how long for, I was able to travel on a train, across India to Bombay. Travelling on trains in India can be very frustrating, but I am pleased to say we were given a very good service. Eight of us had a very large compartment to ourselves, and food and drink was well catered for on the four day journey across India. We arrived at Bombay and there embarked on a troopship 鈥淭he Orian鈥� bound for England. There were about 100 ex-POWs on board this ship, the remainder were troops returning to the UK. On arrival near Gibraltar the ship did stop to have mail delivered, and I was lucky enough to have mail from my beloved wife. I still treasure those letters today. We eventually arrived in Portsmouth in October 1945.
We all had a medical examination and were gradually released to go on sick leave. I was reunited with my beloved wife Babs after a separation of over 4 years. And I thank her for all the looking after of me that she has done throughout the years. Thank you My Love.
Sid Stebbeds.

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