大象传媒

This is Michael Charnaud鈥檚 story: it has been added by Pauline Colcutt (on behalf of the Fernhurst Centre), with permission from the author who understands the terms and conditions of adding his story to the website.

An unusual and true story of a young boy who with his mother became a prisoner of both the Germans and the Japanese May 1942 - August 1945

CHAPTER 5 鈥� FUKUSHIMA 1943 TO END OF 1944 .(PART THREE).

The main things which immediately helped us though were the arrival of two Red Cross Food Parcels each approximately 14鈥欌�� x 14鈥欌�� x 7鈥欌�� high for each person, with the promise of further ones at the rate of one per fortnight. In October 1944 we had a further 5 each, but then the Americans in January 1945 sunk the Red Cross ship bringing the supplies from neutral Vladivostock and so we only ever received a further two in March 1945 that had been held in reserve. Each parcel contained things such as Emergency K Rations, tins of spam, Klim dried milk, chocolate, Chesterfield and Camel cigarettes, Wrigleys chewing gum, tinned prunes, tinned kraft cheese etc. All most welcome and tasty after two years of privation. Also each person was issued with standard new US Army kit such as a thick khaki sweater, trousers underwear, and a thick heavy khaki US army overcoat, woolly hat and a US army blanket, my one which has somehow survived to this day. After the War Mother dyed it purple and it was used by my sons at Public school and today I notice it is in our Daughter Janet鈥檚 dog bed keeping her King Charles Spaniel 鈥楳onty鈥� warm and snug!. These items were all particularly welcome to the seamen from the British tramps who had survived in tropical clothes for two harsh winters. Also we were sent about a couple of hundred books for all varying tastes, that enabled a library to be set up, and we could then drift away in novels or conquer the Wild West with Zane Grey who was my favourite, and read some English Classics like Lorna Doone and Dickens! Another great gift was a gramophone and a whole bundle of records which we played and played over and over again ,and so once more we were able to enjoy a good tune and hear some new songs. But the real relief from our visit by the Red Cross was the knowledge that at long last, somebody somewhere at last knew of our existence and we were therefore not totally isolated any longer. At Christmas 1944 all the men and women were allowed to congregate together in the large hall and stage a concert. All sorts of acts were performed. The Cape Coloured Afrikaners played the Piano singing South African songs, the Geordies put on an act, and old father Yates recited a poem with such force that the plate of his false teeth fell out but with a huge lunge he caught them in mid air to everyone鈥檚 cheers and delight. It was another of the small benefits that had resulted from an easier regime following the visit of the Red Cross six months before. On occasions Mother would like many of the other Mums would feel very blue and get very depressed and sometimes her anxieties would overflow and come to overwhelm her as was natural with any human being under so much stress. But she had friends who would rally to her help and so I enclose a comforting letter written by David Millar Chief officer of the Kirkpool which I conveyed to her on one of my daily visits . It was so kind, considerate and touching that I have included it here. in full as it gives such a vivid picture of life at that time.

鈥淒ear Mrs Charnaud,
I hope that you won鈥檛 think it presumptious on my part in writing you this chit and it鈥檚 just possible that it may help you a little. I know perfectly well that when I am feeling low and depressed I find nothing so stimulating as the knowledge that I have friends, people who think about me and care about me; it gives one such a grand feeling, particularly when we are stuck here, a small community on our own in this far off corner of the world. I shall never forget the day when those Red Cross parcels arrived here and the reaction I feel, joy, relief and gratitude, those emotions were singing up inside me and almost choking me, not for the material comforts which they brought, but for the message of hope and encouragement which they brought from the outside world and the certain knowledge that we had not been forgotten, and what a grand feeling it was to know that we had been remembered and that people outside were thinking about us and trying to help us. I guess most of us felt like that when the Red Cross Representative arrived here in person that was better still and confirmed the knowledge which the parcels had given us. Only on two previous occasions have similar emotions, the first was after waiting for what seemed a lifetime, the nurse came and informed me that a son had been born to me. I wonder if that makes you smile, I was quite a youngster then, only 24 and it made a tremendous impression on me. He is a fine healthy boy of seven now, and the second occasion was when my ship was sunk by the German Raider in the South Atlantic and I was picked up badly wounded from an over-pivoted and sinking lifeboat when we thought all hope was gone. We certainly have all of us had some experiences crowded into the past two years, haven鈥檛 we, but I would like you to know Mrs Charnaud how tremendously I have admired the splendid spirit and the splendid courage which you women have shown throughout all our misfortunes, you鈥檝e set such a grand example to we men and I feel quite sure it has done more than anything to imbue us too with some of that splendid spirit which will enable us to carry on until the final chapter. This latest news which we have just had from the Representative of the protector power representing our interests in Japan seems to have caused some of you ladies great distress. After what you have been through it is not un-natural as it takes very little these days to affect us one way or the other, but surely things are not as black as all that. The majority of chaps over here are quite bucked about it all, but a lot depends on the mental attitude one has adopted towards this question of exchange and even though negotiations are not in progress at present, I see no reason why they should not be resumed at any time particularly as there appears to be quite a number of women and children from other camps too to be repatriated, and I feel pretty sure that should an exchange be arranged the women and children from this camp will be included. For my own part while always retaining a slight hope that an exchange might take place before the end of the war, for a long time now I have no concrete hopes in that direction and I had adopted a mental attitude accordingly and as far as I can see the end of the war is in sight 鈥� so what the hell boys鈥�, Excuse my French!

I know it鈥檚 frightfully hard particularly for you women who are unattached and have children, the children themselves are such a serious problem, but it is not a bit of use worrying and making oneself ill. Women at home and all the world over are playing their part in this war, playing it nobly and splendidly so don鈥檛 you think it is up to us to play our part too? You鈥檝e done it so well up until now, don鈥檛 give in, let us continue to play it, we can鈥檛 do very much I admit. But we can keep cheery in spite of the odds and help ourselves by helping each other and show these people here that we can take it with a grin, don鈥檛 you agree? If that is the part that we are fated to play, lets play it well. I too have a wife and two kiddies at home in England but I can鈥檛 do them a bit of good by worrying about them and making myself ill, and don鈥檛 forget they are everything in the world to me, but I can help them far more by doing my best to help others and by forgetting my own cares and worries. Life is a funny business but it seems to work out right in the long run.

When I was Chief Officer on the East Coast of England in 1941 I was running between Hartlepool and London; it was just one continual nightmare at sea and in port and at that time it was the most dangerous stretch of coast in the world. Air raids in Hartlepool, our minds in London, mines torpedoes and air bombing at sea; home for a few days with my wife and kiddies in South Wales, more air raids and bombs. Very often when I came home in the middle of one I would find the two babes tucked away under the staircase sleeping soundly. We had no air raid shelter, guns would be blazing away, flames circling over head, bombs dropping, searchlights and flares lighting up the sky, things were pretty grim in those days. I was lucky to keep afloat for a good spell, until one night my ship caught one too. It was bound to get it sooner or later, law of averages; I was the only surviving officer, jolly lucky to be picked up on a pitch black night in the winter in the North Sea. I had a spell in hospital then home for a while and then back to sea again. It was hell for my wife, poor kid and I guess she鈥檚 been through a pretty tough time these past two years. To them and all our folks we have to keep smiling; the end鈥檚 in sight now and all this bloody courage will soon be over and so Mrs Charnaud it鈥檚 up to us to do our bit and keep smiling, the folks at home will do theirs and now I鈥檓 afraid I must leave you with my apologies for this rather long rambling letter and sincerely hope you will be your old cheery self again soon.

Yours very sincerely, David Millar鈥�

So as the New Year of 1945 approached, we knew that we would be in for a hard time, with all the shortages in the country, but we felt happy that at least that we would get a steady supply of parcels, as we were not to know yet of the loss of the Red Cross ship. We knew that Germany following the D Day landings was almost finished with the Russians on the Eastern Front sweeping all before them, and the British and Americans crushing them in France which had now been liberated. In the Pacific the war was now being brought with Air and Sea Power directly to the Japanese Mainland with such a force and determination that we knew things would soon in 1945 come to a climax.

CHAPTER 6 ALFIE ROUND鈥橲 STORY.(PART ONE)

As mentioned before I would spend most of my recreational time with the Geordies in their room. I came to learn of the harsh conditions of Tyne side during the depression of the 1930鈥檚 followed by prolonged bombing as the Germans attacked the ports and the huge shipyards. Theirs was a life so different to that of a middle class young Colonial who had been brought up in isolated splendour on a beautiful tea estate in a paradise island. Even my year long stay in Melbourne was in a comfortable establishment in a prosperous part of a great city in a thriving new country. So the more I heard about the grim life in the North East from these poor folk who were so very kind to Graham and me, the more I wanted to learn just what life was really like there and what drove them to want to go to sea in the middle of a world war. They were to a man all staunch supporters of the Labour Party, and again this meant nothing to me as I knew then little of British party Politics. So one day to really find out what made them tick from the depths of their emotions I asked one of them who had befriended us both to tell me his story. Alfie Round was just eleven years older than me, and was a confirmed and dedicated Christian with an unshakable faith which however he kept very much to myself and in no way ever wanted to press on others. So I asked him once, just to tell me what life was like as a kid brought up there, in the harsh conditions of North Shields and what had made him go to sea?

He replied that his Father had started life as a fisherman on trawlers and had served on the, 鈥淗MS Laconia鈥� an armed merchant cruiser which was torpedoed in the First World War but he had luckily survived . After the War he had joined the army and just before Alfie was born he had gone to India where he just vanished and was never heard of again! His Mother meanwhile had remarried and made a new Family and so he had been brought up with his Granny and Grandpa who was a coal miner and took in foster children.

鈥� They were a kind couple for the most part living in a poor household like many others. Granny Barker would always turn out tasty Sunday dinners and the nicest Yorkshire puddings. We were very poor but we never went hungry. She excelled in baking bread, and there was always a good soup made by a ham bone thrown into the huge cast iron pan. Grandpa loved his pint with his mates but rarely came home the worse for wear. I was brought up in cramped conditions like others with the sharing of a desk bed. Just imagine a room of about 10鈥檟10鈥� square feet and a desk at one end which would convert into a bed in the centre and 6 children in it, 3 heads at one end and 3 facing the other way. Every now and then someone would kick and shout and Gran would threaten them with a leather belt鈥︹�hings were tough. Granny Barker could be kind one minute and a demon at another time. It was said that she was always worse at the time of full moon and her temper would be violent flinging anything that came to hand, once even a hot iron at her husband. I was treated like a common messenger boy to do anything and everything until one day when something in me snapped and I said 鈥淣O鈥� and then tore down the stairs away into the alleyway to seek refuge. I ran to Molly鈥檚 house a kindly Scottish lady who hid me behind her arm chair but Gran came storming in and grabbed me. I was expecting an unmerciful flogging but fortunately the neighbours had come and reported her at that moment to the 鈥淐ruelty Man鈥� a community officer charged with seeing that children were not harshly treated and that saved me. After he paid a visit she was kinder to me and less harsh. In Jan 1937 I started looking for a job when still only 14 years old, and applied for one with a Mr Deredder a Jewish Butcher to be an errand boy. I presented myself on a dark winters afternoon and it was bitterly cold. And he drew on his cigarette deep in thought as he viewed this puny lad in front of him. I stood and waited as he thought, taking long drags on his cigarette and then he called out to his assistant a man called Mr Office and mumbled something about cycles and I got the job at 6 shillings a week. There were three cycles that had tyres that needed pumping and I was started off getting them inflated which soon warmed me up. Mr Deredder never smiled but was always courteous and after six months gave me a raise of 3 pence a week. On the other hand each week he would give me a big parcel of meat to take home . The worst job was when we three lads had to go to the railway siding to load mutton carcasses. The other boys were large and well built whilst I was small and to start with my legs would buckle from the weight, but I did it and survived.

Cont/鈥︹�ee A Child鈥檚 War part Twleve

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