Prisoner of war - The Far East

[simon the viking]

@Dirk You kindly replied to this thread a while back but I can't seem to P.M you, would you P.M me if can please

 

[Oldhippy]

My father's brother was captured in Burma but he never spoke of it. I tried to talk with my Mother in law when I lived in Japan about the war in general but it proved fruitless.

 

[simon the viking]

My father's brother was captured in Burma but he never spoke of it. I tried to talk with my Mother in law when I lived in Japan about the war in general but it proved fruitless.

A lot people are same. They must of suffered horribly

 

[Oldhippy]

I remember that he and his wife never went away overnight as he used to have nightmares.

 

[pawl]

An old club ate was a prisoner of the Japanese during WW2 When Japanese cycling equipment first started to appear in this country he refused to even consider buying it.He did tell me how badly he suffered at the hands of the Japanese the prisoners were treated as slaves and badly brutalised

 

[accountantpete]

Not directly connected to your main request but my late father served in Burma and spoke of the ladies who volunteered in the theatre.

These are now commonly referred to as Wasbies - and many suffered great hardships to make it out there and then made a real difference in supporting the troops as best they could primarily as canteen staff but also as emergency field hospital staff and couriers.

https://www.nam.ac.uk/whats-on/wasbies-second-world-war

 

[Rocky]

My father too was in Burma from 1943-45. He was in the Air Sea Rescue branch of the RAF and came back pretty unscathed, thankfully. One of his best mates from the UK ended up as a Japanese POW who ended up in Changi Prison. He was a strapping 13 stone lad when he signed up. He came back after liberation weighing 5 stone. The psychological damage lasted until he died (aged 75). He was always a rebel and even in later life got up to all sorts of pranks which amused us when I was a kid. It was his way of coping. He hated authority.