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(birds chirping)
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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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- [Narrator] 70 years ago in the jungles
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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of Thailand and Burma, a
railway was constructed
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at the cost of thousands of human lives.
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- People used to say to me,
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they used to say, oh you know,
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fancy you buying a Japanese car
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or buying a Japanese television
or something like that
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and I always thought that
was a load of nonsense
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because that didn't make any difference.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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- I had worst nightmare 10 days ago.
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And that's 70 odd years after.
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- [Narrator] The year is 1941
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and Japanese forces sweep
through southeast Asia
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crushing all resistance.
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(bombs exploding)
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Their ultimate goal, to
take the jewel in the crown
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of the British Empire.
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(shouting)
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India.
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The Imperial Army's biggest problem
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is moving supplies through
the treacherous terrain
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of Thailand and Burma.
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A train track will be their answer
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to be built by prisoners of war.
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It'll become known as the death railway.
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- My original group was 1,700 strong.
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By the time that the railway was finished,
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there were only 400 left.
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(dramatic music)
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- [Narrator] The second
World War has been raging
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across Europe for several years now
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and is not going the Allies way.
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Setback follows setback.
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In the Far East, Germany's ally Japan
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attacks US forces at Pearl Harbor,
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invades territories across the Pacific
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and is now advancing towards Malaya
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and the impregnable British
fortress of Singapore.
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Thousands of British and Australian troops
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are sent to defend the colony.
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For many, this will be the
defining moment of their lives.
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- People ask me, how is it that
you reached the age of 100?
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I said so many times I
have just missed death.
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This has happened to me so often.
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I said it's so much of
my life has been luck.
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- I don't feel old, I
don't want to feel old
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but I think of the
portraits when I suddenly
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have a 93rd birthday, this is crazy.
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It's just that life, it's
full and rich and interesting
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and I love it.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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- I have never spoken about it.
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A part, a bit was my
family, but never really.
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There's a certain point where you don't
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want to talk about it.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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(plane engine revving)
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(bombs exploding)
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- The Japanese, I supposed,
had to be about 100-K up.
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The Malaya beach were from
Singapore when we got there.
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So they're dropping bombs on the gulf
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and kill a lot of people in
the ship when they came in
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and the docks were full of
people trying to get away.
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It was definitely tragic.
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- We were the last ship in the convoy.
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It was about 11 o'clock in the morning
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when we were going in there
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a flight of bombers come over.
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Peeled off one at a
time, come in, bomb us.
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(bombs exploding)
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We had got it several times.
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It started to burn
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and there was thick columns of black smoke
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coming along the deck
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and I said to my mate by radio
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I'm going over the side.
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So I leave him, now we're
crouched down by the cabins
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and I get up on the rail,
stand up on the rail
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and I said, "Come on, Pat, I'm going."
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That's the last I seen of him.
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- [Announcer] In the same
dark, steaming tropical jungle
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men of both the British
and Imperial forces
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go through an intensive
up to training course
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to fulfill the need for officers
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of the Malayan defense force.
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Using collapsible boats,
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they protect themselves in
the methods of jungle warfare.
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- It was terribly bushy stuff, really.
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Tremendously bushy
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and for time when you
should have been training
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we didn't, and so we went really into war
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not well trained at all,
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I mean hardly trained, it was crazy.
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- [Announcer] The jungle
holds many a secrets
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to counter any move
directed against Singapore
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or Australia.
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- Absolutely no preparation
whatsoever had been done
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even to clear a field so you
could see what you were doing
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'cause we just faced mangroves forms.
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- The Japanese, they have tanks,
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they have armored cars,
but they also had bicycles
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and those bicycles won their war.
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(military drumming)
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- They came down Malaya
like a wild (mumbling).
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36,000 Japanese soldiers
close in on Singapore.
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(bombs exploding)
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Facing them are almost
85,000 Allied troops.
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(marching)
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But the Japanese are
motivated, experienced,
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and expert at jungle warfare.
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The Allies find themselves
constantly outflanked
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and outfought.
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- So we had this brief set of fighting
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and it's just a matter
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of very close contact
fighting which is horrific.
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- We were actually under mortar fire
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and my colonel literally lost his head.
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- There's no question I
was always scared stiff
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when I heard shells landing near one.
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- [Narrator] Despite some
fierce and stubborn fighting,
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the Japanese advance continues
to close in on Singapore.
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Winston Churchill warns his generals
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that surrender is out of the question.
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- We are dreading rumors that the Japanese
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didn't take prisoners
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and also we didn't know
what was gonna happen
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but it was a terrible, terrible reflection
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of the powers that be of ours
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that were running that show out there.
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It should never have happened.
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(ominous music)
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- [Narrator] February the 15th, 1942,
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the unthinkable does happen
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and the British Commander General Percival
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surrenders Singapore to the Japanese.
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- The white flag went
up at about four o'clock
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on the Sunday.
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- [Narrator] Churchill
would later describe this
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as the worst moment of the war.
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- The extraordinary thing is
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that the Japs of course
were completely amazed
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at having captured so many prisoners.
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- [Narrator] In all,
130,000 men are captured
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during this short campaign.
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To add to the humiliation of defeat,
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they're forced to watch the
victorious Japanese generals
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drive by.
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The Allied prisoners are marched up
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to the northern tip of Singapore,
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to the military base Changi.
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- We learned that everyone was going out
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to this Changi area and
they marched us 18 miles.
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People say what's it like
being taken prisoner of war?
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Chaos for Singapore and everywhere
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and no law and everything.
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- When things began to break down,
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which they did very quickly,
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malaria started.
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And then people got dysentery.
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- The Japs as part of this stay
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literally brought out loads of barbed wire
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which they then told us to put
up around a certain perimeter
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and that was the first
time we were actually,
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you could say we were in a prison camp.
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- You learn Japanese or pseudo Japanese
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and I can still swear in Japanese
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but I've forgotten all my Japanese.
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- They would put your shoes and say
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(speaking in foreign language)
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meaning what is the name of
it until you would say shit
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and so they would go around
pointing at other people's
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good boots, pointing and say,
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"You got you number one shit."
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That means you have a
very good pair of boots
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and it was hilarious
because we had a lot of fun
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for about two weeks and then
they suddenly got the message
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through the interpreter
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and then we had to learn Japanese orders.
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- [Narrator] The Imperial
Army has a very tight grip
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on Japanese society.
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They've been fighting
a war in the Far East
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since the mid 1930's
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and are the driving force
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behind Japan's territorial ambitions.
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All young men are conscripted at 21
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into a tough and brutal training program.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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(shouting)
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(ominous music)
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By June 1942, the Japanese advance
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has continued across the Pacific
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and up into Burma towards India.
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With an urgent need to move supplies
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the solution is to dust
off an old British plan,
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to build a railway.
200
00:13:17,020 --> 00:13:22,020
- The railway itself was only
about 415 kilometers long,
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that's not an enormous distance at all
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to link it up with Rangoon.
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So they could bring people to Saigon,
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across to Bangkok and then
take them on the railway
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right up to the Burmese front
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so really the railroad was not
a long railway in that term
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but it was the most hellish
conditions to make it.
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- [Narrator] The Japanese
realize they have vast pool
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of potential labor in
the prisoners at Changi.
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- Things always change in these camps
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and about seven months later
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I was called to the orderly office
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and told I was put on a draft
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00:14:06,458 --> 00:14:10,250
to go to a holiday camp.
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00:14:10,250 --> 00:14:14,566
- There was about 600
of us that were selected
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and we were taken down to Singapore
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and loaded on the trucks.
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- And then we had a
train journey to Thailand
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00:14:24,590 --> 00:14:25,633
from Singapore.
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00:14:27,220 --> 00:14:30,290
There were 32 in my own particular truck
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00:14:30,290 --> 00:14:33,920
and that meant that only
a certain small percentage
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could actually sit down at any one time.
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- The kit was stuck in the center.
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There was no sanitary conditions at all,
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00:14:46,050 --> 00:14:48,480
like absolutely appalling.
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- This is where the
real degradation starts
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and that journey lasted five days.
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(soft music)
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- We went up to the first
place we stopped in Thailand
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was a place called Ban Pong.
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That was an ex Japanese camp there,
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the Japs had been stationed in there
233
00:15:22,790 --> 00:15:25,393
but the camp was under
about a foot of water.
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- I had a large box of watercolors
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and I had to shove the box away
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because there were two of us
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but I kept about six, eight or ten palates
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and of all things I did paint lasted me
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for as long as I wanted them.
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- And we were taken up the river.
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We were going to start
up the transit camps
242
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and they dropped us off
then at 20 mile intervals
243
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to go into the jungle and
start clearing the jungle
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because there would be
the main body of men
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00:16:08,780 --> 00:16:11,180
coming from Singapore and they would be
246
00:16:11,180 --> 00:16:15,473
matching up the jungle track
that followed the River Khwae.
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- And then we were told all men march
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150 kilometers.
249
00:16:38,250 --> 00:16:40,743
- The question of escaping was something
250
00:16:40,743 --> 00:16:42,220
that on occasion you thought about
251
00:16:42,220 --> 00:16:44,420
but very quickly dismissed because you had
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at least 1,200 miles of sea
253
00:16:47,670 --> 00:16:50,261
with lots of island in
between in the middle of it,
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00:16:50,261 --> 00:16:52,830
1,200 miles before you would get to safety
255
00:16:52,830 --> 00:16:55,933
or 1,200 miles up country
onto the rail we found.
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00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:58,641
- If you fell by the wayside,
257
00:16:58,641 --> 00:17:01,920
couldn't go any farther
and nobody could help you
258
00:17:03,950 --> 00:17:07,109
you were left to die or
they made sure you died.
259
00:17:10,820 --> 00:17:12,521
And that's called the death march.
260
00:17:15,619 --> 00:17:19,200
- [Narrator] The POW's,
already now weak and ill,
261
00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,550
are going to build the
track for the Japanese
262
00:17:21,550 --> 00:17:23,683
through the mountainous jungle terrain.
263
00:17:26,884 --> 00:17:29,280
- Then we had to climb up the topography
264
00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,180
and it's during a monsoon, of course,
265
00:17:31,180 --> 00:17:34,800
and you would take two
steps and went back two.
266
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:38,719
And the thick jungle there
and we started clearing jungle
267
00:17:38,719 --> 00:17:42,184
where the railway was going to go through
268
00:17:42,184 --> 00:17:45,723
so that was the first
introduction to the actual job.
269
00:17:49,265 --> 00:17:50,833
It got worse from then on.
270
00:17:54,665 --> 00:17:56,998
(exploding)
271
00:18:01,171 --> 00:18:05,088
(speaking in foreign language)
272
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,822
- They had so much cheap
labor like apart from us,
273
00:19:05,822 --> 00:19:10,380
they had the native
populations of these places
274
00:19:10,380 --> 00:19:13,140
that they took over
like they had brought up
275
00:19:13,140 --> 00:19:16,065
something right about a
couple of hundred thousand
276
00:19:16,065 --> 00:19:19,310
natives from down in Malaya and that like
277
00:19:19,310 --> 00:19:22,600
with promises of a great life
278
00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:26,023
but lots of them died in the jungle there.
279
00:19:32,610 --> 00:19:36,970
- I forget how long, but two
or three months was monsoon.
280
00:19:36,970 --> 00:19:40,410
For the first quite a
few weeks at this camp
281
00:19:40,410 --> 00:19:42,140
that had no roofs,
282
00:19:42,140 --> 00:19:47,140
we just ate, worked, slept under the rain.
283
00:19:48,725 --> 00:19:51,642
(thunder crashing)
284
00:19:53,094 --> 00:19:57,011
(speaking in foreign language)
285
00:20:22,546 --> 00:20:25,660
- It was really a problem of supply.
286
00:20:25,660 --> 00:20:27,790
The only communication was the river
287
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,350
and being the time of the monsoon
288
00:20:31,350 --> 00:20:32,940
the rivers tended to flood
289
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:36,490
and this rendered it almost impossible
290
00:20:36,490 --> 00:20:38,313
for supplies to get up.
291
00:20:39,990 --> 00:20:44,990
All we got was supposed
to be 250 grams of rice.
292
00:20:45,032 --> 00:20:49,156
That usually came in the form of rice
293
00:20:49,156 --> 00:20:51,812
full of weevils and such.
294
00:20:51,812 --> 00:20:55,493
So we ate any vegetation that we could.
295
00:20:57,430 --> 00:21:01,740
- Snakes were very good
to eat if you'd get them.
296
00:21:01,740 --> 00:21:04,520
The first one I killed was by accident
297
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,290
and I just banged.
298
00:21:07,290 --> 00:21:08,950
It takes a lot to kill a snake
299
00:21:08,950 --> 00:21:11,312
because they'll thrash a
tremendous amount of time
300
00:21:11,312 --> 00:21:13,300
and I said we've got to
have something to eat.
301
00:21:13,300 --> 00:21:16,250
He said, do you know what you just killed?
302
00:21:16,250 --> 00:21:17,083
And I said no.
303
00:21:17,083 --> 00:21:19,380
He said that's a king cobra
304
00:21:19,380 --> 00:21:23,937
and I hadn't known but
it didn't matter really.
305
00:21:23,937 --> 00:21:25,770
- The lizards were quite nice,
306
00:21:25,770 --> 00:21:28,604
they were quite big, they could be up to
307
00:21:28,604 --> 00:21:31,692
about 18 inches long,
quite big like you know,
308
00:21:31,692 --> 00:21:36,692
and you'd just kill them,
skin them and cook them.
309
00:21:36,820 --> 00:21:39,480
Either grill them or
put them in some water
310
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:41,493
and cook them in a pot.
311
00:21:46,530 --> 00:21:48,800
- [Narrator] The men are now starving
312
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,972
but still the Japanese refuse
to sign the Geneva Convention,
313
00:21:51,972 --> 00:21:54,713
which protects the rights
of prisoners of war.
314
00:21:56,690 --> 00:22:00,000
- If our men misbehave,
if the Japanese said that,
315
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,640
misbehavior is nearly over stealing food
316
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,420
then we were all as officers lined up
317
00:22:06,420 --> 00:22:08,693
and had what's called bin-tos,
318
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,420
that's a Japanese officer
come up and give you
319
00:22:13,420 --> 00:22:15,320
a really hard bang on your face
320
00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:19,770
in front of all the men
to try and teach them
321
00:22:19,770 --> 00:22:21,073
that they shouldn't steal.
322
00:22:24,620 --> 00:22:29,040
- POW camp guard was trained
in Japanese military camp
323
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:34,040
full time for around five months
324
00:22:34,070 --> 00:22:37,190
and they are hitting almost every day
325
00:22:37,190 --> 00:22:40,983
accoriding to the Japanese training style.
326
00:22:43,072 --> 00:22:46,989
(speaking in foreign language)
327
00:23:06,815 --> 00:23:09,126
- There was nothing wrong with
the ordinary Japanese people,
328
00:23:09,126 --> 00:23:13,470
no it was the Japanese
Army was the problem,
329
00:23:13,470 --> 00:23:17,360
especially their Army, they
were taught to be brutal,
330
00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:18,890
that was part of their life
331
00:23:18,890 --> 00:23:23,890
and it was something
that you have a job to do
332
00:23:26,910 --> 00:23:29,900
to understand but right from the top
333
00:23:29,900 --> 00:23:34,480
of their headquarters right
the way down through their Army
334
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,120
they were totally, they were
even brutal to one another.
335
00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:40,973
- They have to encourage
POW's to work hard
336
00:23:40,973 --> 00:23:43,750
to perform their work.
337
00:23:43,750 --> 00:23:46,903
But most of the hitting wad
one by the Korean guards
338
00:23:46,903 --> 00:23:51,150
in the POW camp.
339
00:23:51,150 --> 00:23:53,047
The Koreans themselves say that
340
00:23:53,047 --> 00:23:58,047
Japanese soldiers and military pigeon
341
00:23:58,330 --> 00:24:00,040
then comes at the bottom
342
00:24:01,170 --> 00:24:02,643
Korean guards they say.
343
00:24:04,612 --> 00:24:07,112
(Asian music)
344
00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:16,047
- If somebody tried to
escape and they were caught,
345
00:24:17,997 --> 00:24:21,270
they weren't pleased
with just shooting them.
346
00:24:21,270 --> 00:24:23,423
No, no, they had to torture.
347
00:24:30,883 --> 00:24:34,800
(speaking in foreign language)
348
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:54,380
- If you weren't working hard enough
349
00:24:54,380 --> 00:24:56,010
one of the things they would make you do
350
00:24:56,010 --> 00:24:59,210
was to stand with this, hold
a stone above your head,
351
00:24:59,210 --> 00:25:03,220
well when you're weak anyway
if you put both arms up
352
00:25:03,220 --> 00:25:05,553
you start to feel faint very quickly
353
00:25:05,553 --> 00:25:08,970
and so you would drop the
stone so it would land,
354
00:25:08,970 --> 00:25:10,910
you would drop the stone fairly quickly
355
00:25:10,910 --> 00:25:15,910
and pick it up which was
better than collapsing
356
00:25:16,090 --> 00:25:17,630
because once you collapse on the ground,
357
00:25:17,630 --> 00:25:20,130
they knocked you around and
kicked you all over the place
358
00:25:20,130 --> 00:25:21,910
so you probably would get more damaged
359
00:25:21,910 --> 00:25:26,910
through fainting so you had
to play the game, really.
360
00:25:27,753 --> 00:25:31,670
(speaking in foreign language)
361
00:25:53,199 --> 00:25:54,986
- I was going back to
the latrine one night
362
00:25:54,986 --> 00:25:58,653
and one of these Korean
guards started to be
363
00:25:59,786 --> 00:26:02,040
homosexual with me and I
364
00:26:03,488 --> 00:26:06,970
without thinking I just
kicked him in the spot where
365
00:26:06,970 --> 00:26:08,250
no man wants to be kicked
366
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,530
and he fell so the guards screamed.
367
00:26:11,530 --> 00:26:16,530
I got beaten up for a night and a day
368
00:26:18,690 --> 00:26:20,920
and the following night
369
00:26:23,230 --> 00:26:28,230
until I no longer remember much
370
00:26:28,950 --> 00:26:30,702
other than the pain
371
00:26:30,702 --> 00:26:33,653
and then I was put in the black hole.
372
00:26:36,118 --> 00:26:41,118
That really was probably the one time
373
00:26:41,790 --> 00:26:44,367
when I felt this was the end.
374
00:26:46,853 --> 00:26:50,860
- A sweatbox as they used to
put them in, put people in,
375
00:26:50,860 --> 00:26:55,590
they're made of bamboo,
stand about that high
376
00:26:55,590 --> 00:26:59,730
off the ground and they were made
377
00:26:59,730 --> 00:27:03,830
of small thin bamboos constructed,
378
00:27:03,830 --> 00:27:07,090
they were made so they weren't long enough
379
00:27:07,090 --> 00:27:09,102
for a man to stretch right out in
380
00:27:09,102 --> 00:27:14,102
and they were so low that
you couldn't sit up properly
381
00:27:14,180 --> 00:27:15,940
so if you were cooped up in there
382
00:27:15,940 --> 00:27:20,190
and you could get perhaps
you'd be sentenced to
383
00:27:20,190 --> 00:27:22,750
perhaps for certain things,
384
00:27:22,750 --> 00:27:25,615
you'd get a four night
punishment in there.
385
00:27:25,615 --> 00:27:29,532
(speaking in foreign language)
386
00:27:51,922 --> 00:27:54,255
(exploding)
387
00:27:59,550 --> 00:28:03,330
- [Narrator] In mid-1943, the
Japanese are still fighting
388
00:28:03,330 --> 00:28:05,270
in the north of Burma
389
00:28:05,270 --> 00:28:07,930
but short of supplies and troops
390
00:28:07,930 --> 00:28:10,223
the war is no longer going their way.
391
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:20,400
- We saw Japanese going
up to the Burma front.
392
00:28:22,170 --> 00:28:23,900
We watched the Japanese troops
393
00:28:23,900 --> 00:28:28,556
and they were unbelievable
in what they put up with.
394
00:28:28,556 --> 00:28:30,120
There were times when the treatment
395
00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:31,572
and even the food they got
396
00:28:31,572 --> 00:28:35,943
perhaps it was generally
better than ours, but not much.
397
00:28:36,997 --> 00:28:39,330
(hammering)
398
00:28:46,790 --> 00:28:48,960
- It was such an urgent project
399
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:50,990
to get a line through so they could feed
400
00:28:50,990 --> 00:28:52,830
their northern front with troops.
401
00:28:52,830 --> 00:28:54,820
This is what the railroad was about.
402
00:28:54,820 --> 00:28:57,730
So there was just urgency
about the whole thing,
403
00:28:57,730 --> 00:28:59,420
it was called a spee-to movement
404
00:28:59,420 --> 00:29:01,250
and got worse and worse and worse
405
00:29:01,250 --> 00:29:03,703
and you had to work harder
and harder and so on.
406
00:29:08,510 --> 00:29:10,540
- [Narrator] As anxiety to
get the railway finished
407
00:29:10,540 --> 00:29:12,453
grows within the Japanese ranks,
408
00:29:12,453 --> 00:29:16,111
the death rate amongst
POW's and native workers
409
00:29:16,111 --> 00:29:18,173
increases dramatically.
410
00:29:21,273 --> 00:29:25,190
(speaking in foreign language)
411
00:29:46,765 --> 00:29:49,765
(suspenseful music)
412
00:29:56,570 --> 00:30:00,716
- If my sick parade got too
large a Japanese private,
413
00:30:00,716 --> 00:30:04,840
was able to, everyone had
to work for the Japanese.
414
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:06,870
A Japanese private would come along,
415
00:30:06,870 --> 00:30:09,460
a non-medical private, take my sick parade
416
00:30:09,460 --> 00:30:13,540
and as long as a man, men
were fit enough to stand
417
00:30:13,540 --> 00:30:15,525
then they were fit enough
to work and off we would go.
418
00:30:15,525 --> 00:30:20,053
- Actually, there was
orders to finish the railway
419
00:30:20,053 --> 00:30:23,860
in a hurry so they had
to compel the sick man
420
00:30:23,860 --> 00:30:25,047
to work hard.
421
00:30:26,910 --> 00:30:28,500
- [Narrator] One of the
most difficult sections
422
00:30:28,500 --> 00:30:31,780
of the construction is
an area called Hin-tock,
423
00:30:31,780 --> 00:30:35,300
better known as Hellfire Pass.
424
00:30:35,300 --> 00:30:37,322
- When they were making big cuttings
425
00:30:37,322 --> 00:30:40,210
which were done largely
with hammer and tap,
426
00:30:40,210 --> 00:30:43,322
you would use a certain number
of charges to blow the rock
427
00:30:43,322 --> 00:30:46,130
and one of the games or the occasions,
428
00:30:46,130 --> 00:30:49,590
they would fire a charge
without telling anybody.
429
00:30:49,590 --> 00:30:51,590
(exploding)
430
00:30:51,590 --> 00:30:54,440
So some people got very badly injured
431
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,050
with flying sharp rock.
432
00:30:57,050 --> 00:31:02,042
I mean why, what's the
sense of all this here?
433
00:31:02,042 --> 00:31:04,375
(sad music)
434
00:31:08,380 --> 00:31:10,343
- We went out in the
morning with all the tools
435
00:31:10,343 --> 00:31:11,560
that had been issued
436
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,840
and after work when we returned
437
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:18,580
there had to be a role call of everybody,
438
00:31:18,580 --> 00:31:20,890
all the tools had to be handed in
439
00:31:20,890 --> 00:31:23,787
and if one were short, there
were usually a few short,
440
00:31:23,787 --> 00:31:28,787
we had to parade instantly
with practically every day
441
00:31:32,950 --> 00:31:36,618
the odd one or two dead
who died out there,
442
00:31:36,618 --> 00:31:40,220
they had to be put down
at the end, at the side,
443
00:31:40,220 --> 00:31:45,220
in order to prove the
same number had returned
444
00:31:45,570 --> 00:31:47,587
as went out in the morning.
445
00:31:50,153 --> 00:31:54,933
- Every morning I psyched
myself up to survive that day.
446
00:31:56,222 --> 00:32:01,222
That day only because
every day was never as good
447
00:32:02,780 --> 00:32:07,313
as the last one, it was never good.
448
00:32:08,190 --> 00:32:09,853
There was never any hope.
449
00:32:11,298 --> 00:32:12,548
Never any hope.
450
00:32:20,770 --> 00:32:23,130
- Because of lack of control,
451
00:32:23,130 --> 00:32:27,423
most of the people died was
because of the sickness,
452
00:32:28,830 --> 00:32:32,417
not by the, being hitted,
453
00:32:33,270 --> 00:32:36,970
cruel hits or death or, isn't so.
454
00:32:36,970 --> 00:32:41,970
But if the people had good
control of themselves,
455
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,468
they didn't drink water from the river
456
00:32:45,468 --> 00:32:50,468
or eat raw fish from, if
the people, POW behaves,
457
00:32:52,547 --> 00:32:57,547
very well they didn't catch sickness.
458
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:04,730
- And you catch I think
459
00:33:06,050 --> 00:33:09,170
every disease imaginable was there
460
00:33:09,170 --> 00:33:14,170
but the worst one with the
most lives lost was cholera
461
00:33:16,350 --> 00:33:18,910
and the Japanese themselves were scared
462
00:33:19,773 --> 00:33:24,063
and we had to bury these bodies.
463
00:33:25,610 --> 00:33:29,450
- That was I think perhaps the low point
464
00:33:29,450 --> 00:33:31,553
of my experience up there.
465
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,040
I mean looking back now
I can hardly believe
466
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:37,333
I experienced all this.
467
00:33:38,236 --> 00:33:40,903
(ominous music)
468
00:33:50,405 --> 00:33:54,322
(speaking in foreign language)
469
00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:47,219
- The medical officers in my opinion
470
00:34:47,219 --> 00:34:52,030
were absolute angels.
471
00:34:52,030 --> 00:34:54,143
They had no drugs to work with,
472
00:34:55,300 --> 00:34:58,883
not even an aspirin but (mumbling)
473
00:35:00,818 --> 00:35:04,670
a hospital camp in Turk-eye
called Wavy-dun-lob
474
00:35:08,766 --> 00:35:11,013
and did fantastic work.
475
00:35:13,370 --> 00:35:17,960
- Wavy-dun-lob, the most
wonderful Australian surgeon,
476
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,713
be a man I can't praise enough.
477
00:35:21,610 --> 00:35:24,110
I had something on my forehead,
he was gonna take it off,
478
00:35:24,110 --> 00:35:25,710
there wasn't any anesthesia for it
479
00:35:25,710 --> 00:35:27,980
but I think it was melanoma or something
480
00:35:27,980 --> 00:35:32,490
he was worried about and they
set us with another table
481
00:35:32,490 --> 00:35:35,358
and there was an Australian,
482
00:35:35,358 --> 00:35:38,780
really almost a skeleton kneeling down
483
00:35:38,780 --> 00:35:40,866
with his bum in the air because
484
00:35:40,866 --> 00:35:43,230
he talked about wanting
to use a prox-o-scope
485
00:35:43,230 --> 00:35:45,423
which was made in the camps
486
00:35:45,423 --> 00:35:49,446
and I remember him looking
into this bottom, you see,
487
00:35:49,446 --> 00:35:51,990
and he said in this
lovely Australian voice
488
00:35:51,990 --> 00:35:53,597
and he said, "Oh yes," he said,
489
00:35:53,597 --> 00:35:55,890
"I think I've seen you before."
490
00:35:55,890 --> 00:35:59,280
And we fell off the table,
491
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:00,990
we were rolling about what a lovely way
492
00:36:00,990 --> 00:36:02,123
to greet your friend.
493
00:36:06,390 --> 00:36:07,786
- [Narrator] At one camp alone,
494
00:36:07,786 --> 00:36:11,303
over 120 legs are to be amputated.
495
00:36:12,410 --> 00:36:16,060
- Operations, mostly amputations,
496
00:36:16,060 --> 00:36:19,834
as a result of these jungle ulcers
497
00:36:19,834 --> 00:36:24,834
were done with a sword
borrowed from the Japanese
498
00:36:27,630 --> 00:36:30,730
which they said they wanted back clean
499
00:36:30,730 --> 00:36:33,523
after the operation or operations.
500
00:36:34,430 --> 00:36:37,260
They did occasionally
produce a bit of sake
501
00:36:37,260 --> 00:36:41,683
so people could be put out to some extent.
502
00:36:47,610 --> 00:36:50,823
- I said to him I've got this ulcer,
503
00:36:52,230 --> 00:36:53,120
what could I do?
504
00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:56,320
He said, well I'm sorry,
I have nothing to give you
505
00:36:57,256 --> 00:36:58,800
and I don't have any drugs
506
00:36:59,650 --> 00:37:02,513
but if you go down to the latrine,
507
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:08,640
pick up maggots, count them,
put them on top of your ulcer
508
00:37:12,447 --> 00:37:14,760
and let the maggots do their work.
509
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:16,533
I said, what will they do?
510
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:19,973
They'll eat all the rotten flesh.
511
00:37:21,300 --> 00:37:26,250
And he says with a good chance
you'll get a clean wound.
512
00:37:26,250 --> 00:37:28,410
- I've been bad,
513
00:37:28,410 --> 00:37:31,400
they kicked my nose in, I
had a bad fractured nose
514
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,900
and a hole between my eyes,
515
00:37:33,900 --> 00:37:34,960
I couldn't see anything,
516
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,220
I was next to an Aussie
who had his leg cut off
517
00:37:38,220 --> 00:37:41,450
and after that morning, a big Aussie,
518
00:37:41,450 --> 00:37:46,450
I mean, routine stuff under
the most crude circumstances
519
00:37:47,510 --> 00:37:49,338
then we were lying on bamboo.
520
00:37:49,338 --> 00:37:51,650
Anyway, in the middle of the hot,
521
00:37:51,650 --> 00:37:53,150
another man who was in,
522
00:37:53,150 --> 00:37:58,150
and he had an ulcer that
was granulating quite well,
523
00:37:58,414 --> 00:38:00,800
it was in far better
condition than hundreds
524
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:02,400
of the others around him
525
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,240
and he was kneeling up
and hugging his knees
526
00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:07,310
and rocking like somebody.
527
00:38:07,310 --> 00:38:10,500
The patient did it out
of sheer agony and pain
528
00:38:10,500 --> 00:38:14,320
and he kept on saying I'm
gonna die, I'm gonna die,
529
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,570
I'm gonna die and this
Aussie said look mate,
530
00:38:17,570 --> 00:38:20,050
he said if you're gonna die
hurry up and bloody do it,
531
00:38:20,050 --> 00:38:23,410
I want some sleep in this
lovely, friendly voice
532
00:38:23,410 --> 00:38:25,943
and we were falling about.
533
00:38:27,214 --> 00:38:29,210
Within two hours he was dead
534
00:38:29,210 --> 00:38:31,160
and I remember telling
Aussie in the morning,
535
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:32,760
and I said don't cry and he said
536
00:38:33,830 --> 00:38:35,333
the last thing anybody ever said to him.
537
00:38:36,862 --> 00:38:39,112
(drumming)
538
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,380
- [Narrator] The railway
is finally completed
539
00:38:57,380 --> 00:39:01,310
in October 1943, on schedule,
540
00:39:01,310 --> 00:39:04,305
but at the cost of over 120,000 lives.
541
00:39:04,305 --> 00:39:06,707
(jungle music)
542
00:39:06,707 --> 00:39:10,624
(speaking in foreign language)
543
00:39:56,130 --> 00:39:58,320
The POW's and local workers that died
544
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,470
building the railway are
buried where they fall.
545
00:40:01,470 --> 00:40:04,773
One life lost for every sleeper laid.
546
00:40:05,850 --> 00:40:10,120
- The jungle was full of British dead.
547
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,034
We buried a lot of them where they fell.
548
00:40:13,034 --> 00:40:15,980
- We left 12,000 dead up there,
549
00:40:15,980 --> 00:40:19,442
quite a path from the
wreckage that survived.
550
00:40:19,442 --> 00:40:22,514
- [Narrator] But it's
all been for no purpose.
551
00:40:22,514 --> 00:40:26,597
Within months the war had
turned against the Japanese
552
00:40:26,597 --> 00:40:28,903
and the Allies start
to regain territories.
553
00:40:30,350 --> 00:40:31,560
- [Announcer] These converted Hel-i-cans
554
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,960
now called hurry-bombers
carried two 500 pound bombs
555
00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:36,730
tucked beneath the wing.
556
00:40:36,730 --> 00:40:38,510
Down there somewhere in
that tangled wilderness
557
00:40:38,510 --> 00:40:42,240
lies their target or rather
that's where their target lay
558
00:40:42,240 --> 00:40:43,460
after this heavy pounding,
559
00:40:43,460 --> 00:40:45,150
there'll not be much hospitality left
560
00:40:45,150 --> 00:40:46,749
for the Japanese invader.
561
00:40:46,749 --> 00:40:50,666
(speaking in foreign language)
562
00:41:53,660 --> 00:41:55,020
- I think some of the officers,
563
00:41:55,020 --> 00:41:57,416
I think we had some
information from somewhere
564
00:41:57,416 --> 00:42:02,150
that things were getting pretty sticky.
565
00:42:02,150 --> 00:42:04,577
We had this huge camp with
a huge pitch around it
566
00:42:04,577 --> 00:42:06,690
and a big banner on one side
567
00:42:06,690 --> 00:42:11,340
and they put a machine gun into the wall
568
00:42:11,340 --> 00:42:14,640
and which really told us quite a lot
569
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,390
about what they were
intending to do anyway
570
00:42:17,390 --> 00:42:19,410
but still, we didn't know.
571
00:42:19,410 --> 00:42:22,568
And the of course within
about nine or 10 days,
572
00:42:22,568 --> 00:42:27,568
they had Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and that finished it,
573
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:31,041
we were just saved by the bell, really.
574
00:42:31,041 --> 00:42:34,958
(speaking in foreign language)
575
00:42:45,823 --> 00:42:50,740
- The Japanese were, had ceased
to fight from that time on.
576
00:42:51,610 --> 00:42:55,843
Well we knew then we were officially free.
577
00:42:55,843 --> 00:42:58,426
(upbeat music)
578
00:43:00,300 --> 00:43:02,710
- [Narrator] Japan surrenders
to the Allied forces
579
00:43:02,710 --> 00:43:05,663
on September the 2nd, 1945.
580
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:09,813
The POW's are at last free men again.
581
00:43:12,789 --> 00:43:15,039
(cheering)
582
00:43:23,930 --> 00:43:26,850
- The Allies had retaken Singapore
583
00:43:26,850 --> 00:43:28,410
and a couple days after that
584
00:43:28,410 --> 00:43:30,500
they were beginning to march the Japanese,
585
00:43:30,500 --> 00:43:32,203
by then prisoners.
586
00:43:33,900 --> 00:43:37,739
And one of our divisional
people, soldiers like people do,
587
00:43:37,739 --> 00:43:40,660
soldier's just watching what was going on
588
00:43:40,660 --> 00:43:44,410
and at one point he turned to his pal
589
00:43:44,410 --> 00:43:46,170
and said look at those poor buggers
590
00:43:46,170 --> 00:43:49,809
and I said to him, and that to me sums up
591
00:43:49,809 --> 00:43:54,390
the attitude of the ordinary soldier.
592
00:43:54,390 --> 00:43:58,050
- We had a Sergeant Major,
a British Sergeant Major
593
00:43:58,050 --> 00:43:59,347
that was in our camp but we didn't have
594
00:43:59,347 --> 00:44:01,777
any officers with us and what he said
595
00:44:01,777 --> 00:44:05,771
was he gave us a bit of good advice,
596
00:44:05,771 --> 00:44:10,771
he said, he advised us
not to take any action
597
00:44:14,710 --> 00:44:17,127
against the Japanese.
598
00:44:17,127 --> 00:44:20,520
He said you've survived
three and a half years
599
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:25,520
of being prisoners, so he
said think of your families,
600
00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:30,123
don't do anything stupid
that might get you killed.
601
00:44:30,123 --> 00:44:34,040
(speaking in foreign language)
602
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:46,360
- [Announcer] Japanese
guards were made to carry
603
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:48,300
the sick and wounded to they key site
604
00:45:48,300 --> 00:45:49,770
where landing craft will take them to
605
00:45:49,770 --> 00:45:51,790
the hospital ship in the bay.
606
00:45:51,790 --> 00:45:54,707
(orchestral music)
607
00:45:57,580 --> 00:45:59,420
Other prisoners who are able to walk
608
00:45:59,420 --> 00:46:01,110
make their way to the landing craft
609
00:46:01,110 --> 00:46:04,547
which will carry them on the
first stage of a happy journey.
610
00:46:18,031 --> 00:46:19,310
From the far eastern shores,
611
00:46:19,310 --> 00:46:21,770
many have already started a longer voyage,
612
00:46:21,770 --> 00:46:24,703
taking them back to the land
they have served so bravely.
613
00:46:26,210 --> 00:46:28,940
- We, there was no one there to meet us.
614
00:46:28,940 --> 00:46:33,940
There was no bands there to
meet us or anything like that.
615
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:39,150
But we were just taken off the boat
616
00:46:39,150 --> 00:46:44,150
and taken to a transit
camp there in Southampton
617
00:46:45,060 --> 00:46:50,060
and we were there for a couple of days
618
00:46:50,251 --> 00:46:55,251
and then we were just stuck
on the train and sent home.
619
00:46:57,270 --> 00:46:59,620
- I used to go out in the morning
620
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:03,650
and I'd walk the streets of Aberdeen
621
00:47:03,650 --> 00:47:05,921
for hours and hours
622
00:47:05,921 --> 00:47:10,921
and looking, looking for somebody.
623
00:47:13,950 --> 00:47:14,803
Was that you?
624
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:19,160
I was forgetting I'd been
away six and a half years.
625
00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:22,690
- When I got back, I decided
I'd forget everything,
626
00:47:22,690 --> 00:47:24,530
I'm going to start a new life
627
00:47:24,530 --> 00:47:27,047
and I didn't join any ex
prisoner of war outfit
628
00:47:27,047 --> 00:47:28,900
or any prison or anything,
629
00:47:28,900 --> 00:47:31,635
I didn't want to have anything
as far as I'm concerned
630
00:47:31,635 --> 00:47:33,670
although I'm talking about it now,
631
00:47:33,670 --> 00:47:38,670
I just wouldn't talk about
any of my ex prisoners of war
632
00:47:38,930 --> 00:47:40,330
experiences or anything.
633
00:47:40,330 --> 00:47:43,000
No, I'm going to start a new
life and something quite new.
634
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,460
And I would have nothing to
do with what's happened to me
635
00:47:45,460 --> 00:47:48,030
that's just happened, it's finished.
636
00:47:48,030 --> 00:47:52,029
- It was a bit overwhelming with having
637
00:47:52,029 --> 00:47:55,100
so many people coming to you
638
00:47:55,100 --> 00:47:58,430
and wanting to know everything about you
639
00:47:58,430 --> 00:48:00,581
and all that like, you know?
640
00:48:00,581 --> 00:48:04,360
We had no understanding of what
horrors we had lived through
641
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:09,360
and how the comparison
between people's kindness
642
00:48:10,730 --> 00:48:15,297
and the brutality that
we had been experiencing.
643
00:48:15,297 --> 00:48:19,214
(speaking in foreign language)
644
00:48:30,439 --> 00:48:34,450
- It's been very difficult with the family
645
00:48:35,870 --> 00:48:37,673
because I never spoke about it.
646
00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:40,603
My wife died without knowing.
647
00:48:42,470 --> 00:48:45,200
Mind you, she must've seen or felt
648
00:48:46,260 --> 00:48:48,193
the swinging of moods.
649
00:48:49,450 --> 00:48:50,473
She wasn't dumb.
650
00:48:51,850 --> 00:48:56,331
And one night when I had the nightmare,
651
00:48:56,331 --> 00:48:59,283
I finished up with my hands on her throat.
652
00:49:01,890 --> 00:49:06,847
So at that stage I went
into the spare bedroom
653
00:49:06,847 --> 00:49:10,140
there was a chair, I'm
used to sleeping up.
654
00:49:10,140 --> 00:49:11,173
For weeks.
655
00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:14,680
- I couldn't sleep properly
for about 10 years,
656
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:18,323
that's a long time but I could
only just sleep on the sofas.
657
00:49:18,323 --> 00:49:22,650
In the camp you just
slept under the surface,
658
00:49:22,650 --> 00:49:23,777
you were ready to move on
659
00:49:23,777 --> 00:49:27,150
but then I come in and
start beating people up
660
00:49:27,150 --> 00:49:29,460
and turn everybody out for working party,
661
00:49:29,460 --> 00:49:31,720
didn't know what was gonna
happen by day or night
662
00:49:31,720 --> 00:49:34,397
very often and so you would sleep by there
663
00:49:34,397 --> 00:49:38,000
and I knew exactly where
everything of mine was,
664
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:39,365
that I could put my hands on it.
665
00:49:39,365 --> 00:49:43,103
I think she might've
drawn a few drawing things
666
00:49:43,103 --> 00:49:46,350
and so you were always ready to move.
667
00:49:46,350 --> 00:49:47,903
When I came home,
668
00:49:47,903 --> 00:49:50,660
it was nice to just fold my clothes up
669
00:49:50,660 --> 00:49:51,867
and I set them the way I do now
670
00:49:51,867 --> 00:49:54,787
and I know just where they are.
671
00:49:54,787 --> 00:49:57,704
(depressing music)
672
00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:06,485
- Well, compensation and I
think I'm right in saying
673
00:50:06,485 --> 00:50:10,495
that I got 30 pounds, we all did,
674
00:50:10,495 --> 00:50:13,703
several years after the war.
675
00:50:15,175 --> 00:50:19,220
We were certainly the
worst country of the lot
676
00:50:19,220 --> 00:50:24,083
at doing anything at all to
get compensation from the Japs.
677
00:50:24,083 --> 00:50:28,100
I blame it mostly on politicians
678
00:50:28,100 --> 00:50:29,920
and above all the treasury
679
00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:31,899
because we finally got,
680
00:50:31,899 --> 00:50:35,635
I think the figure was 10,000 pounds,
681
00:50:35,635 --> 00:50:40,635
about I'm guessing 15
years ago, not much more,
682
00:50:41,530 --> 00:50:44,150
and there weren't many left
683
00:50:47,510 --> 00:50:50,480
so the treasury obviously
saved a lot of money.
684
00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:53,659
- When they talked of
trying to get some financial
685
00:50:53,659 --> 00:50:57,263
benefit out of it that might
have done a bit of good
686
00:50:57,263 --> 00:51:00,180
to help to heal some of
the things for the blokes
687
00:51:00,180 --> 00:51:04,433
but for me I have no ill feeling
688
00:51:08,510 --> 00:51:11,090
against the Japanese at all.
689
00:51:11,090 --> 00:51:14,273
I meet Japanese here now, no trouble.
690
00:51:15,860 --> 00:51:19,777
(speaking in foreign language)
691
00:53:21,445 --> 00:53:23,862
(soft music)
692
00:53:41,217 --> 00:53:43,310
- I mean the Japanese
693
00:53:43,310 --> 00:53:44,620
for all what they did
694
00:53:44,620 --> 00:53:47,590
they have repented
695
00:53:47,590 --> 00:53:52,313
and let the generation know what happened.
696
00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:56,000
But in Japan they don't.
697
00:53:58,170 --> 00:54:00,530
- Japanese say, the Emperor say
698
00:54:00,530 --> 00:54:03,938
they express deep remorse for the POW.
699
00:54:03,938 --> 00:54:07,953
I think that was enough
for Japanese thought
700
00:54:07,953 --> 00:54:12,442
that was enough for apology
but POW's didn't think so.
701
00:54:12,442 --> 00:54:16,359
(speaking in foreign language)
702
00:54:31,237 --> 00:54:35,331
- Let the Emperor come
and apologize to me.
703
00:54:35,331 --> 00:54:40,107
That might be the answer.
704
00:54:40,107 --> 00:54:43,317
And I will decide whether
he was sincere or not.
705
00:54:47,274 --> 00:54:48,790
- Actually there are two reasons
706
00:54:48,790 --> 00:54:51,030
why I don't hate the Japanese.
707
00:54:51,030 --> 00:54:53,640
The one reason is it would do them no harm
708
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:56,590
but if I hate anyone it does me harm.
709
00:54:56,590 --> 00:54:58,350
And I say that the other
reason, I'm a Christian
710
00:54:58,350 --> 00:55:01,400
and Christians are taught
to love and not to hate.
711
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:05,010
- I can't stand the way we all, I suppose,
712
00:55:05,010 --> 00:55:06,340
I do it sometimes,
713
00:55:06,340 --> 00:55:10,060
we generalize people, nations or groups
714
00:55:10,060 --> 00:55:15,060
or bankers or industrialist or whatever
715
00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:19,273
because there are some good,
bad and indifferent anywhere.
716
00:55:20,590 --> 00:55:24,710
- In all I think I've
just been terribly lucky.
717
00:55:24,710 --> 00:55:27,291
I'm very happy doing what I'm doing
718
00:55:27,291 --> 00:55:31,374
and I have no regrets,
really, it doesn't matter.
719
00:55:33,369 --> 00:55:35,618
- I have been there and I've done it.
720
00:55:35,618 --> 00:55:37,538
All the things that I ever wanted to do.
721
00:55:37,538 --> 00:55:39,371
And I have no regrets.
722
00:55:42,386 --> 00:55:46,510
The fact that I was a prisoner of war
723
00:55:46,510 --> 00:55:49,650
was just a blip in my life, you know.
724
00:55:49,650 --> 00:55:51,040
- I'm determined to
725
00:55:53,340 --> 00:55:55,480
live and beat the Japanese
726
00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:59,003
because I'll outlive them all I hope.
727
00:56:01,250 --> 00:56:03,053
All those who were involved.
728
00:56:04,820 --> 00:56:07,127
- One of the most
interesting parts is this,
729
00:56:07,127 --> 00:56:08,750
was the sheer ingenuity,
730
00:56:08,750 --> 00:56:10,120
you put a lot of people together,
731
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:13,254
they're tennsmith, they're
pharmacists, chemists,
732
00:56:13,254 --> 00:56:15,231
so you put all these people together
733
00:56:15,231 --> 00:56:20,231
and you can begin to start
moving half the mountain
734
00:56:20,270 --> 00:56:22,600
and I think that really
saw the corporate magic
735
00:56:22,600 --> 00:56:23,540
of the whole thing.
736
00:56:23,540 --> 00:56:25,364
It was so important.
737
00:56:25,364 --> 00:56:29,281
(speaking in foreign language)
738
00:56:39,478 --> 00:56:40,978
- Thank you today.
739
00:56:46,540 --> 00:56:50,207
(patriotic whistling music)
53930
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