The Newsletter No 9 September 2012

Introduction from our Chairman

It is with great pleasure that I can tell you though not until 2015 - when we hope to Midge and Sarah have once again put that the Liverpool Lectures (An Afternoon mark the 70th anniversary of VJ Day. together a great newsletter with features at the Theatre), on 19 September, look We are still not sure why we were unable about sport in POW camps, an update likely to be a sell-out. The afternoon to attract suffi cient delegates for the on an exciting archaeological dig in and evening events will take place at the conference. Perhaps, in these straitened Singapore, a profi le of POW padre, Noel historic Liverpool Medical Institution times, it was simply a matter of fi nancial Duckworth and latest news about Far (www.lmi.org.uk). Full details are on constraint? Or maybe the venue did not East POW books. our website and there may possibly be suit people? Perhaps the programme The Researching Far East POW History a few places left. We hope to have six failed to inspire? Group’s next big project is to establish Far East POWs with us and one or two As you know, the conferences depend on a second repatriation memorial, this surprises in store; it promises to be a delegate fees. We have to reach breakeven time on the waterfront in Southampton. unique and very entertaining afternoon before we can expect guest speakers to As this newsletter, sadly, reports the at the theatre. spend considerable amounts of money passing of two Far East POWs we are The idea for the Liverpool Lectures travelling to the conference (we can keenly aware of the need to remember emerged from the disappointment we only afford to give them a contribution those men who returned and to honour all felt at having to cancel the conference towards these costs). those who did not. planned for September - despite every Many thanks to so many of you for Mike Parkes is in the early stages of possible effort by the organising team. telling us how disappointed you were; negotiations with the local council We discovered that Sears Eldredge was your comments certainly boosted our and we shall keep you posted via our planning to visit the UK in September fl agging morale at a crucial time. Thank website, Facebook and Twitter as the anyway and we invited him to give his you to those of you who got in touch plans develop. Please let us know if you much-anticipated lecture to another immediately to say you were going to would support this initiative, we are audience, in another location - Liverpool. book who apologised for not having going to need a great deal of help and Thanks to Sears’ generosity, the venue’s told us by the deadline. Fear not, even encouragement to make this a reality. policy of not charging for lectures and a counting up the numbers who did that I do hope that you will fi nd much to local benefactor, this event is free. Given (NB – in any future event when we say interest you in this latest edition. Please the immediate take-up of places we feel book early we mean it!) the numbers still keep in touch and let us know your views that this may provide the way forward did not stack up. If you have a reason and comments. over the next couple of years: smaller, why this year’s planned conference did more focused events in different locations not appeal then do please let us know. Meg Parkes, Chairman around the country. Just be warned, it is Such feedback is invaluable in helping unlikely these will also be free! We hope us to plan future conferences that the to organise another full conference - majority wish to attend.

POW Padre A History of Captivity in 100 Objects... Michael Smyth

This article is about an extraordinary coxing or coaching a Cambridge In the second in our series man, Padre (later Canon) Noel VIII. Instead of being met with about objects that provide an Duckworth and it summarises his mutual incomprehension, or worse, various ways of attaching them, like where he had been working with insight into the life of a Far work during and immediately after the offi cer replied in English: “You round the neck but that was not very British HQ. After eight months in East POW we look at “dog tags” World War Two, as Chaplain to the are Duckworth, aren’t you?” He convenient, swinging about, it was captivity on Java he was shipped to (a soldier’s identifi cation tag). 2nd Battalion the Cambridgeshire had recognised him as the famous a nuisance. So that’s why I put the Japan. If you have any suggestions for Regiment. Cambridge Cox. When he appeared copper wire through mine [to make objects we might feature please on This is Your Life in January, a clip to put it over the waistband The bamboo ID has a different email me at: midgegillies@ John Noel Duckworth was born on 1959, Dr. Mark said: “I fi rmly believe of his shorts] ... don’t know where number on each side: the number p13 p5 btopenworld.com Christmas Day 1912, hence the name that if had not been for his fame we I got the wire from but I think Fred 403 was, I believe, issued in Java and Noel. As a student at Cambridge, he would have been executed.” Margarson may have given it to me... it appears to have been burnt into coxed the Cambridge VIII to victory I brought it home with me. I don’t the convex surface of the bamboo, in the Boat Race for three years The Japanese moved this group think there are many like it about.” a method known as pyrography. Dog Tags in succession, 1934 to 1936. His of men to Pudu Gaol, Kuala Above the numerals are Japanese successes led to him being selected Noel Duckworth shortly after Lumpur. Along with hundreds of The piece of wood is approximately characters. I do not know what This issue... the end of the war. as cox for the Great Britain VIII at other prisoners, the horrors they 3ins long by 2ins wide, with these mean and would welcome the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. front-line had a better effect on endured and Padre Duckworth’s Frank’s prisoner number, 14164, identifi cation. On the reverse, Prior to this event he coxed crews at morale than those who restricted work amongst them are described the Japanese characters, Roman concave, side of the bamboo the Book News the rowing regattas at Marlow and themselves to formal services and at length in Russell Braddon’s best- numerals II and a red cross denoting number 832 has been written on in Henley. One unusual entrant for purely religious instruction. selling book The Naked Island. He a member of the medical corps. what looks like pencil, with shading Cultural Heritage and Prisoners In “The Women’s Embroideries of Internment in the Far these regattas was a Japanese crew characterised Padre Duckworth as top and bottom also in pencil. It is of War, Creativity Behind East 1942-1945” Doctor Bernice Archer and Alan Jeffreys from Tokyo University, in effect their The 2nd Battalion remained in the UK “the most outstanding personality This ID badge was donated to believed that this number was issued Barbed Wire look at captivity from a female perspective. They argue Olympic VIII. until October 1941 when they sailed in Pudu Gaol”. In an article for the Liverpool School of Tropical on arrival in Japan or possibly at that “by utilizing simple domestic items and the material from Gourock, disembarking at the college’s annual magazine, Medicine’s FEPOW collection in Zentsuji offi cers’ propaganda camp Every so often a book comes along fragments of their repressed lives, many interned women Noel wrote in the University’s Singapore on 13 January 1942, in the Churchill Review (1970), he wrote: 2009 by Frank Scarr, a former on the island of Shikoku. This is that manages to combine rigorous demonstrated that they were not only part of a ‘fl owering monthly magazine, The Cambridge middle of an air-raid. Within hours, “Duckworth’s impact upon Pudu’s medical orderly with 198 Field where he was transferred to after standards of scholarship with of creativity’ within the camp but they were also record Review (October 1936): “We worried they moved 70 miles to Batu Pahat, to captive society was dramatically Regiment Royal Army Medical spending his fi rst eight months at fascinating insight. This is one such keepers and the makers of memorials to those interned”. over the Japs’ stealthy defeat of help strengthen its defences. When revitalizing . . . he brought an Corps. Motoyama, a coalmining camp, on book. inferior crews at the Marlow Regatta, ordered to retreat they found their incorrigible sense of humour, a Honshu. Introduction from Chairman 1 Adam Park Update 10 and we became even more worried as way blocked by Japanese defensive singular devotion and a mad spirit In an interview for the Captive Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War covers a range we watched their sly quaint methods positions at Sengarrang. These of defi ance.” Noel’s own assessment Memories project (www. The bamboo ID badge (above) Meg Parkes of creativity in a book that is lavishly and imaginatively of training.” In a heat, prior to proved impossible to overcome was merely that he considered it his captivememories.org.uk) he said: attached to the regulation Army dog illustrated. Although it has obviously been edited to the Olympic fi nals day, the Great Britain and orders were given for men to job to instil hope into a hopeless Sport and the Far East“At TakanunPOW camp in Thailand the tags belonged to my father, Captain highest academic standards it remains highly readable VIII defeated this Japanese crew. make their own way back towards situation and he could do that well. Midge Gillies Japanese decided we had to have Andrew Atholl Duncan of the Argyll and the authors never lose sight of the fact that they are The fi nal proved a disappointment, Singapore. a number and they insisted that and Sutherland Highlanders. He writing about real people whose voices deserve to be the British VIII lost an initial lead All prisoners at Pudu were moved we wore it all the time. There were was captured in Java in March 1942 heard. and fi nished fourth. After the At that point, there were over a back to Changi in October 1942. The brutality of life in a Far East and was too frail to take part in the Olympics he was ordained and went hundred wounded men who were Here Noel encountered Rev. J POW camp has meant that sport Three of the authors will be familiar to anyone who London Olympics of 1948. After to work at a parish in Hull. too ill to move. Two doctors from N Lewis Bryan, acting Senior is rarely associated with captivity attended Researching FEPOW History Group’s last the war he worked as a painter and Distillation unit, made by Gordon Smith at th conference. In “Wonder Bar: Music and Theatre as the 168 Field Ambulance, Dr. J Forces Chaplain. Their respective under the Japanese. But despite the decorator while training youngsters Tamarkan camp. News 2 POW Padre 13 Strategies for Survival in a Second World War POW Noel left Hull in August 1939 to A Mark and Dr. R Welch elected personalities were very different harshness of life, sport still helped at his local club in Carnoustie. Many Hospital” Professor Sears Eldredge, who will be giving This is another chapter where the illustrations helpjoin tothe Cambridgeshire Regiment’s to remain with them, as did Padre and Rev. Lewis Bryan held strict to raise spirits and some POWs even went on to compete at national and Another document at the National a lecture on entertainment in captivity this September at bring a fascinating, and sometimes overlooked, side2nd ofBattalion. The London Gazette Duckworth. At fi rst light the three views on a chaplain’s role. In his p6 managed to pursue sporting dreams international level. Archives records Halliday’s name. recorded his appointment, from walked into Sengarrang to seek help. journal, he described Duckworth when they returned home. the Liverpool Medical Institution, turns the spotlight on internment to life. one performance in particular that took place on 19 May 25th August 1939, as Chaplain to They were taking a mortal risk for in as “resenting any kind of discipline Although captivity robbed Coogan commandant saw him and reduced On June 12 this year Andy Coogan, 1944 in Chungkai Hospital Camp in Thailand. As he says At £80 this is a book that you are most likely to porethe over Forces, 4th Class. Although the similar circumstances, elsewhere in or co-operation and has openly of his chance to take part in the rations, claiming that the POWs 95, carried the Olympic torch at the start of his essay: in a library than at home. But whereas few peopleBritish will Army had long appointed Malaya, Japanese troops had killed disobeyed certain orders”. For Noel, games another FEPOW, “Jumping” were too fi t. through Dundee in Scotland on its be able to afford to keep a copy by their bedside tablechaplains, I their expected duties wounded men taken prisoner. Padre this period at Changi lasted only a Jim Halliday, won the lightweight relay around Britain for the start of “Because ‘Wonder Bar’ is considered one of the greatest defy anyone who opens the book not to wander offremained into ill-defi ned. The First Duckworth advanced towards a few months before he was assigned bronze medal for weightlifting at On release he weighed 4 ½ stone but the London games. World cycling achievements of the POW theatres in Thailand, it will be chapters that may not immediately appear relevantWorld to War had shown that chaplains Japanese Offi cer, issuing commands to “F Force”, in April 1943. the 1948 Olympics. Halliday, from was keen to resume weightlifting. champion Sir Chris Hoy nominated used as a lens to investigate who these performers were; their subject. As well as captivity in the Far East andwho in mixed with their men on the in a loud voice as if he were once again Lancashire, earned his nickname During the day he shovelled coal his great-uncle for the honour how they were able to produce sets, costumes, lights and the Second World War there are essays on POWs held from his habit of leaping high over at Kearsley Power Station, Greater A History of Captivity in 100 Objects 5 Book News 16 11 because of his “truly inspirational” musical instruments out of recycled materials; and why in Europe, aspects of the First World War, Italian POW the bar of his weights after every Manchester, and trained in the story of survival. music and theatre were promoted in Chungkai, and in camps in South Africa, camp magazines, art and cartoons, successful lift. evenings. He won the Olympic bronze 5 other POW camps in Thailand, as strategies for survival.” internment on the Isle of Man and civilians taken from During the 1930s Coogan was one with his very last lift and went on to He then goes on to describe how the group of men devised the Channel Islands. Rather than dilute the subject, the of Britain’s most promising runners He features become British and Commonwealth costumes (including wigs and make-up), scenery, musical range and scope of chapters makes the focus on the Far but his ambitions were cut short by in Janie lightweight champion. He also wrote instruments, lighting and the stage itself. East much richer when placed against other experiences the outbreak of war. He was taken Hampton’s a bestselling book, Olympic Weight- in different parts of the world. prisoner when he was 22 and worked The lifting and Body-Building for All. In “Tins, Tubes and Tenacity: Inventive Medicine in in the copper mines and railways of Austerity Camps in the Far East” Researching Far East POW Midge Gillies Formosa (now Taiwan) for two years Olympics History Group chairman Meg Parkes looks at the life- before being taken to Nagasaki. He (Aurum, and-death ingenuity of doctors and medical orderlies. Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War, Creativity believes his mental and physical £8.99) which She draws heavily on the many interviews she has Behind Barbed Wire edited by Gilly Carr and Harold training as an athlete helped him to was re- Sport and the Far East POW 6 Obituaries 18 conducted over several years with surviving FEPOWs. Mytum, published by Routledge Studies in History, 2012, survive captivity. issued this It becomes evident that the same ingenuity that helped £80, 316pp., Hardback, ISBN: 978-0-415-52215-1. “I never thought I would ever get to year. In it she Competitors in 1948 men to raise spirits through staging elaborate plays and carry the Olympic torch. Before the quotes fellow were still struggling sketches made life easier – and in some cases actually war I had hoped I might get there weight-lifter, with the effects of the saved lives – for POWs who suffered from a range of one day as an athlete. I suppose this Maurice war. dreadful diseases. is the next best thing,” he told the Crow: Daily Record earlier this year. “I reckon that Jim Halliday produced p16 Coogan weighed six and a half stones “Jumping” Jim Halliday, from the most remarkable performance of when he returned to Britain in 1945 his book, Olympic Weight- the whole 1948 Olympics.” 14 lifting with Body-Building for All, published 1950. Halliday, the British weightlifting captain, was called up in 1940 and evacuated from Boulogne After the fi rst few months of captivity after the fall of France. In 1941 his sport was out of the question for most regiment was sent to Singapore and, Far East POWs as rations dwindled, following the surrender, he worked disease took hold and many were on the Burma-Thailand Railway. weakened by hard physical labour. According to Hampton a group of In European camps, by comparison, Research by Keith Andrews at prisoners carved a barbell out of a POWs were able to take part in a the National Archives in Kew tree trunk and Halliday was the only shows Coogan’s name from his wide range of sport, from football time in Taiwan. one capable of lifting it. The camp and cricket to ice hockey and even 6 1 News of Pakanbaroe (Pekanbaru) and Moeara (Mura).

British Library honour for The construction of the Sumatra Captive Memories Railway was started in 1943 by romusha (native forced labourers), The Liverpool School of Tropical 80,000 of whom would die during Medicine’s (LSTM) FEPOW this work. The fi rst tranche of POWs history research website www. arrived on the line – predominantly captivememories.org.uk has been from Java – during May 1944. The selected for inclusion in the British railway construction was completed A section of the Sumatra Library’s UK Web Archive under the on 15 August 1945, the day of the Railway. © Amanda Farrell category “Oral History Websites in Japanese surrender. Of the 6,764 http://pakanbaroe.webs.com. the UK”. troops originally destined to labour on the line, over 2,500 died. Well over half of these deaths occurred I am exploring the ways in which when Allied submarines torpedoed FEPOW family members try to learn the Junyo Maru and Van Waerwijk about and understand the FEPOW in June and September 1944 part of their family history. respectively: cargo vessels used by the Japanese to transport POWs to So many of us carry out research The British Library, London. the island of Sumatra. to try to fi nd out those little scraps of information that can help piece The purpose of the Web Archive is to Although severely ill towards the end together a journey of a loved one collect, preserve and give permanent of captivity, my grandfather survived and help us understand what our access to key UK websites for future the Sumatra Railway and I have been relatives endured, particularly when generations. Further information fascinated by his story for many they may not have spoken much about the Web Archive is available years. When I fi rst started carrying about it themselves. I am really keen at: http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ out research into the Sumatra to speak with the relatives of Far ukwa. Railway, I found it frustrating that East prisoners of war who would there seemed to be relatively little be interested in taking part in my What a fi tting tribute, in this the 70th information available on this aspect project. Although the main focus of anniversary year since the start of of the FEPOW experience and I was my research is the construction of their captivity, to all the men who determined to know more. the Sumatra Railway, any FEPOW agreed to give interviews as part of relatives would be most welcome Funded by the Arts and Humanities LSTM’s FEPOW oral history study. to fi nd out more – and take part Research Council (AHRC), I have should they wish. I will be carrying been fortunate enough to be able Meg Parkes out interviews with family members to continue my research as a PhD of FEPOWs from September 2012 student at the University of Leeds, onwards and if you would like more working in close collaboration Research appeal for Sumatra information, or have any questions with the Imperial War Museum in Railway project about my research, please email me London. at [email protected]. Most books about the FEPOW My research will set out the rarely- Lizzie Oliver experience have overlooked the documented life history of this fact that after the Burma-Thailand second “Death Railway”, based Railway was completed a second on the narratives of men who “Death Railway” was constructed were there. It is bringing to light by Far East Prisoners of War, and the personal accounts of British overseen by many of the same FEPOWs (diaries, memoirs and Japanese personnel. This second oral history), but also what those railway, approximately half the accounts can tell later generations length of the Burma-Thailand about how the FEPOW experience Railway, was constructed on the has been remembered over time. As island of Sumatra between the towns part of this study on remembrance,

2 Keeping the Spirit Going POW performance - a topic few people sell, Terri Fishel, the Director of the seemed to know anything about and Library at Macalester College, who People frequently ask how I became one that had been excluded from had seen a presentation I gave on interested in the subject of POW histories of theatre - and decided campus, stepped forward and said performance and wonder if I had a to dig deeper into the subject. Over that the library would like to publish relative who was a FEPOW. I did the next several years that search the book online as part of their entry have an older brother who was a led me to major archives in England, into digital publishing. With its pilot in the Pacifi c during the Second The Netherlands, Australia, and the many colour illustrations and audio/ World War. He was not a prisoner, United States, as well as to numerous video sources, she felt it ideally but was among the fi rst to transport online sources. There I found a trove suited for this approach. In these POWs out of Japan. of documents and artefacts related days of reduced funding for the arts, to the subject: diaries, souvenir it was a story she believed the public My personal interest started in programmes, publicity posters, needed to know about. 1998 when I began researching original songs and musical scores, background materials for a play I was sketches of theatres and performers - Captive Audiences/Captive writing based on the extraordinary even a few photographs. Since theses Performers: Music and Theatre encounters that occurred between entertainers had never received any as Strategies for Survival on the FEPOW Eric Lomax and Nagase offi cial recognition for what they had Thailand-Burma Railway 1942- Takashi (the interpreter for his done in “keeping the spirit going” 1945 will be published online at interrogation and torture) that I during the long years of captivity, it a free-access website: http:// found in Lomax’s book, The Railway became clear that a book had to be digitalcommons.macalester.edu/ Man, and Nagase’s memoir, Crosses written about them. thdabooks/1/. Two trial chapters and Tigers. Both men graciously are already available on the website. granted permission for me to use I was a teacher and a theatre director, The complete book will be available their autobiographies for this not a historian, yet decided it was up online in early 2013. project. I am thrilled to know that to me to try to bring this material Eric Lomax’s story is fi nally being to a wider audience. As I wanted to Sears Eldredge fi lmed. write about these activities in depth - detailing how and why music and While reading the memoirs of others theatre were produced in the camps - who had been on the Thailand-Burma it was necessary to narrow the scope Railway, I kept fi nding references to of the book. Since the Thailand- music and theatre performed by the Burma Railway exhibited both the POWs. Prior to this I had only come worst and the best of the FEPOW across the typical horror stories experience, the entertainment about the Japanese camps. I started produced in these camps could stand The author. a database of these references, and as emblematic of all like activities in when my play, Return to Kanburi, Far Eastern camps. was produced at Macalester College in 1999, it included a POW concert I interviewed more than 22 former Liverpool Lecture: FEPOW party as an interlude between the FEPOWs, many of whom had been performs songs from captivity acts. Takashi Nagase and his wife involved in the entertainment. were in the audience for the opening Contact with other FEPOWs eager Following Professor Sear Eldredge’s performance. to share their accounts was made lecture on entertainment John Lowe via mail and the internet. Invaluable will be performing some of the songs assistance also came from the he sang to keep POWs’ spirits up families of FEPOWs who, because when he was held in Singapore, these performances had meant Taiwan and Japan. so much to their family member, generously shared the precious Lance Bombardier John Lowe, artefacts in their possession. 5th Field Regiment, RA (11 Indian The Beauty Chorus from Division), from Islington in North Return to Kanburi. After more than a year spent trying London was twenty-three when he to convince publishers that this was captured. Before the war he Afterwards, I remained fascinated by story of captive performers would worked in advertising.

3 Galsworthy’s play The Skin Game. Keep in touch online He made folding screens out of strong brown paper, about a metre Our Facebook page wide, glued onto a frame of bamboo is a great way to poles and pegs. He used charcoal keep in touch with from burnt bamboo and chalk that developments in Far he found in the offi ce to draw a East POW history and domestic scene on one side of the to contact people from around the screen; on the other he sketched a world with similar research interests. court room. He took the female lead The social networking site is a useful and his friend, Danny Goldberg, the way to make sure you don’t miss main male part. The two females news items, TV documentaries and John Lowe, Malaya, 1941. wore scarves tied up “turban radio programmes connected with fashion”. Four Japanese offi cers sat FEPOW history. in the front room and a further 150 He still performs many of the songs POWs were squeezed into the offi ce. Sign up to our Facebook page he fi rst sang as a Far East POW by typing “Researching FEPOW such as “Romanov, Dumbenough, The camp provided John’s History” in the search fi eld on Tallenough, Smallenough”. The lyrics introduction to classical music. A Facebook and then “liking” the page. were inspired by the fate of the more Signals Offi cer, Lieutenant Sowerby, distant relatives of the Russian royal taught him how to play Weber’s We also now have family, the Romanovs. Although the Invitation to Dance. The Japanese a Twitter account. immediate family were executed allowed him to play it at a concert Follow us at: @ during the Russian Revolution some that Sowerby introduced with a FEPOW_History. members managed to escape to talk about the composer. John America. John performed the song remembers it as one of the best in Changi in a Cossack-style costume evenings in “three and a half years of of loose shirts and belts. monotonous captivity”.

“We’re working in the cloakroom of Midge Gillies the Hotel Waldorf Bar We were considered pretty hotski, until Trotski put us on the spotski, But now, we’re better off than Trotski, Trotski’s notski even got a potski.

Chorus: I’m Romanov, I’m Dumenough, I’m Tallenough, I’m Smallenough.”

From Changi John was taken in the overcrowded and unsanitary transport ship, England Maru to Formosa (modern-day Taiwan), No. 6 Camp, Taihoku, on the north eastern tip of the island. One of his jobs was to write the name of the dead on a small wooden cross in black Indian ink and to play the piano accordion for the short service before the coffi n was taken to the hilltop Chinese cemetery.

He also helped to put on John

4 A History of Captivity in 100 Objects...

In the second in our series about objects that provide an various ways of attaching them, like where he had been working with insight into the life of a Far round the neck but that was not very British HQ. After eight months in East POW we look at “dog tags” convenient, swinging about, it was captivity on Java he was shipped to (a soldier’s identifi cation tag). a nuisance. So that’s why I put the Japan. If you have any suggestions for copper wire through mine [to make objects we might feature please a clip to put it over the waistband The bamboo ID has a different email me at: midgegillies@ of his shorts] ... don’t know where number on each side: the number btopenworld.com I got the wire from but I think Fred 403 was, I believe, issued in Java and Margarson may have given it to me... it appears to have been burnt into I brought it home with me. I don’t the convex surface of the bamboo, Dog Tags think there are many like it about.” a method known as pyrography. Above the numerals are Japanese The piece of wood is approximately characters. I do not know what 3ins long by 2ins wide, with these mean and would welcome Frank’s prisoner number, 14164, identifi cation. On the reverse, the Japanese characters, Roman concave, side of the bamboo the numerals II and a red cross denoting number 832 has been written on in a member of the medical corps. what looks like pencil, with shading top and bottom also in pencil. It is This ID badge was donated to believed that this number was issued the Liverpool School of Tropical on arrival in Japan or possibly at Medicine’s FEPOW collection in Zentsuji offi cers’ propaganda camp 2009 by Frank Scarr, a former on the island of Shikoku. This is medical orderly with 198 Field where he was transferred to after Regiment Royal Army Medical spending his fi rst eight months at Corps. Motoyama, a coalmining camp, on Honshu. In an interview for the Captive Memories project (www. The bamboo ID badge (above) Meg Parkes captivememories.org.uk) he said: attached to the regulation Army dog “At Takanun camp in Thailand the tags belonged to my father, Captain Japanese decided we had to have Andrew Atholl Duncan of the Argyll a number and they insisted that and Sutherland Highlanders. He we wore it all the time. There were was captured in Java in March 1942

5 Sport and the Far East POW Midge Gillies

The brutality of life in a Far East and was too frail to take part in the POW camp has meant that sport London Olympics of 1948. After is rarely associated with captivity the war he worked as a painter and under the Japanese. But despite the decorator while training youngsters harshness of life, sport still helped at his local club in Carnoustie. Many to raise spirits and some POWs even went on to compete at national and Another document at the National managed to pursue sporting dreams international level. Archives records Halliday’s name. when they returned home. Although captivity robbed Coogan commandant saw him and reduced On June 12 this year Andy Coogan, of his chance to take part in the rations, claiming that the POWs 95, carried the Olympic torch games another FEPOW, “Jumping” were too fi t. through Dundee in Scotland on its Jim Halliday, won the lightweight relay around Britain for the start of bronze medal for weightlifting at On release he weighed 4 ½ stone but the London games. World cycling the 1948 Olympics. Halliday, from was keen to resume weightlifting. champion Sir Chris Hoy nominated Lancashire, earned his nickname During the day he shovelled coal his great-uncle for the honour from his habit of leaping high over at Kearsley Power Station, Greater because of his “truly inspirational” the bar of his weights after every Manchester, and trained in the story of survival. successful lift. evenings. He won the Olympic bronze During the 1930s Coogan was one with his very last lift and went on to of Britain’s most promising runners He features become British and Commonwealth but his ambitions were cut short by in Janie lightweight champion. He also wrote the outbreak of war. He was taken Hampton’s a bestselling book, Olympic Weight- prisoner when he was 22 and worked The lifting and Body-Building for All. in the copper mines and railways of Austerity Formosa (now Taiwan) for two years Olympics before being taken to Nagasaki. He (Aurum, believes his mental and physical £8.99) which training as an athlete helped him to was re- survive captivity. issued this “I never thought I would ever get to year. In it she Competitors in 1948 carry the Olympic torch. Before the quotes fellow were still struggling war I had hoped I might get there weight-lifter, with the effects of the Maurice one day as an athlete. I suppose this war. is the next best thing,” he told the Crow: Daily Record earlier this year. “I reckon that Jim Halliday produced Coogan weighed six and a half stones “Jumping” Jim Halliday, from the most remarkable performance of when he returned to Britain in 1945 his book, Olympic Weight- the whole 1948 Olympics.” lifting with Body-Building for All, published 1950. Halliday, the British weightlifting captain, was called up in 1940 and evacuated from Boulogne After the fi rst few months of captivity after the fall of France. In 1941 his sport was out of the question for most regiment was sent to Singapore and, Far East POWs as rations dwindled, following the surrender, he worked disease took hold and many were on the Burma-Thailand Railway. weakened by hard physical labour. According to Hampton a group of In European camps, by comparison, Research by Keith Andrews at prisoners carved a barbell out of a POWs were able to take part in a the National Archives in Kew tree trunk and Halliday was the only shows Coogan’s name from his wide range of sport, from football time in Taiwan. one capable of lifting it. The camp and cricket to ice hockey and even

6 golf. They were helped by a supply organised between Australian and him to stop playing football, warning of sporting equipment, such as bats, English teams as a sort of unoffi cial him that if he continued while he was balls and repair kits, that the Red Ashes series which Swanton riddled with beriberi he was in effect Cross managed to send to some described as “Cricket de Luxe” committing suicide. He added that if camps. compared to later efforts. Ben he found him on the pitch he would Barnett, the former international court martial him and that any The Fenman newsletter, produced test wicket keeper and left-handed charges would be confi rmed upon by the Cambridgeshire Regiment, batsman, captained the Australian his release. shows that in the early days of Imperial Force in the fi ve matches captivity on Singapore POWs that were held on rest days in which Author Laura Hillenbrand believes played several games of football each side had a set number of overs. US Army Air Forces lieutenant Louis and cricket against other units but The surface meant the ball’s bounce Zamperini’s reputation as an Olympic that sport depended on rations and was unpredictable – and probably runner may have saved him from being allocated ground on which to added to the excitement of the four execution at Ofuna interrogation play. For the fi rst three weeks after to fi ve thousand spectators. Although centre in Japan and Omori (just capture they were allowed to bathe many cricket games were played outside Tokyo). He and his fellow in the sea and enjoyed swimming off with balls made from moulded latex crewman drifted deep into Japanese Telok Paku. Others at Changi played the players were fortunate enough to water after their B24-Liberator basketball, hockey, and quoits or have a cricket bag that had survived crashed due to engine failure in May took part in boxing. One POW who the battle for Singapore and which 1943. He survived attacks by sharks found two old volleyballs managed to contained stumps, bails, bats and and a passing Japanese plane that stitch them up and use them to start a new ball. England won the series, strafed them only to be picked up a competition but was frustrated 2-1 (the other games were drawn) by the enemy after forty-six days at when two of the twelve teams were – mainly due to Len Muncer of sea. He was held fi rst at Kwajalein on suddenly sent away on work parties. Glamorgan and Geoff Edrich. Edrich the Pacifi c Marshall Islands and then was later sent “upcountry”. taken to Ofuna and fi nally Naoetsu EW “Jim” Swanton, a thirty-fi ve- on the north coast. Hillenbrand’s year-old offi cer in the 148th Field There were also a handful of account of his captivity and his post- Regiment, Royal Artillery who professional footballers among the war struggle to come to terms with would became famous as a cricket POWs: Albert Hall from Spurs; his experience – particularly the commentator and journalist, Billy James from Cardiff City and brutality he suffered at the hands remembered “a certain amount of Johnny Lynas who had played in the of the notorious guard, Mutsuhiro play on the padangs of Changi camp 1920s and 1930s and was working as Watanabe, known as “The Bird” – is that really deserved the name of Blackpool’s assistant trainer when told in Unbroken, An Extraordinary cricket . . . It is true that one never war broke out. Johnny Sherwood True Story of Courage and Survival seemed able to hit the ball very far, had signed for Reading Football (Fourth Estate, paperback, 2012, a fact probably attributable about Club in June 1938 and had even £8.99). equally to the sudden change to visited Singapore before the war in a particularly sparse diet of rice an international tour with Islington The Allied POW authorities in and the conscientious labours of Corinthians. Sherwood, who was Singapore banned soccer and boxing generations of corporals in charge of held at Havelock Road on Singapore, almost a year after capitulation, sports gear, for whom a daily oiling took part in football matches on their in January 1943, because of the of the bats had clearly been a solemn, day off - every ten days - with nearby high number of fractures. It seems unvarying rite. These Changi bats River Valley Camp where Albert Hall, remarkable that both pastimes had must have reached saturation point was held. Sherwood wrote later: been allowed to persist for so long. in the early thirties, and I never Instead of playing football Sherwood found one that came up lighter than “It was something both camps looked switched to giving night-time talks W.H. Ponsford’s three pounder. forward to, and it certainly boosted about his pre-war tour with Islington However, the pitches were true – the morale of the boys, and funnily Corinthians. Other POWs took matting over concrete – and there enough . . . we had one ‘Pro’ on each part in sporting quizzes or relived were even such refi nements as pads side.” famous fi xtures. Swanton carried his and gloves.” (Cricket under the Japs, treasured copy of Wisden with him 1946 edition of Wisden) But the medical offi cer at Havelock throughout his captivity and used it Road was so concerned about to recreate famous cricket matches A series of test matches were Sherwood’s health that he ordered through mock commentaries. A

7 purple offi cial Japanese stamp at cricket. Listeners sat on the slopes of take part in. Nevertheless, quizzes the front shows the book has been a natural amphitheatre and shouted and accounts of past sporting classifi ed as “non-subversive” and out questions to him. He also triumphs helped to lift morale and, the nine hundred and fi fty-eight produced mock “live broadcasts” in a few remarkable cases, sportsmen pages have been rebound with rice from a huge wireless set made from such as “Jumping” Jim Halliday and paste and sackcloth. The book was so bamboo and matting. One of his cricketer Geoff Edrich, were able to popular in Thailand that a time limit most popular was a talk on the life of continue their careers even after the of twelve hours had to be imposed on Australian cricketer, Don Bradman. hardship of more than three years in each of its readers. captivity. The brutality of captivity in the Far At Tarsao Swanton helped to East meant that sport quickly became Midge Gillies entertain sick POWs with talks about something to talk about rather than

977309 - Gunner Andrew Coogan, 155th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

I have again used documents at the changed . . . having been transferred to Formosa National Archives at Kew to piece on 14 November 42 and was in Camp together Gunner Coogan’s time WO361/2058 – Master Roll, ABC 3 on 1 November 1944. Camp 3 is as a POW. However, these are not compiled by the Bureau of Record Heito. always on fi le and other sources are and Enquiry at Changi. This is always sometimes needed to complete the worth a check as it confi rms the WO361/1978 – Fukuoka POW picture. number of the Regimental Nominal Camp, Japan; the name list at 15 Roll his name will appear in. August 1945 and under Camp 24B WO345/11 – (his Japanese POW should include Gunner Coogan Index Card). Looking at the front WO361/2184 – Royal Artillery; and this has been confi rmed from of the card it becomes clear that nominal roll, A-C again compiled another source. he was moved from Singapore to in Changi. Again as there is no Formosa (Taiwan) and then Japan. questionnaire on fi le it is worth For the timeline we need we must This is evident because the Japanese checking as it not only lists his name, return to the reverse of his Japanese characters for those countries are rank, regiment and number but also POW Index Card. there but so is a box of four small if he went overland or overseas. In characters and four numbers in the this case, he went overseas on the 25 15 February 1942 – Captured at top left of the card which were his October 1942, the party known as Z Singapore. processing number on entering the Force. 28 October 1942 – Left Singapore Japanese Empire (that existed pre as part of Z Force on the England December 7th 1941). WO361/2096 – 155th Field Maru. However, as far as the camp in Japan Regiment, nominal roll. This 14 November 1942 – Arrived at is concerned there is only one alpha normally may have confi rmed what Keelung, Formosa, for transfer to character instead of two and the information was in WO361/2184 but Kinkaseki, No.1 Camp. Roman numerals for 24 and the alpha sad to say the page with his name on 14 March 1943 – Transferred to character B. I guessed this might be it was not in the fi le. Heito, No.3 Camp. Fukuoka No.24 Branch Camp and, 5 March 1945 – Arrived in Fukuoka luckily, I guessed correctly. WO361/2068 – Within this fi le No. 24 Branch Camp from Formosa is the nominal roll of Z Force with on the Taiko Maru. WO344/370 – This is the fi le Gunner Coogan’s name on it, the 14 September 1945 – Handed over to that, in theory, his Liberated POW party formed on 25 October 1942. Allied powers. (Please note the card Questionnaire should be in but needs a full translation). frustratingly was not. In the past all WO361/1968 – Taiwan POW we had to go by was what was on the Camp; name list as of 1 November reverse of the card, but times have 1944 and Gunner Coogan is listed as

8 Additional Sources of Information:

Death on the Hellships: Prisoners at Taiwan POW Camps Memorial The late Roger Mansell’s website: Sea in the Pacifi c War by Gregory F. Society website: http://www. http://www.mansell.com/pow- Michno, Lee Cooper, (an imprint of powtaiwan.org/ index.html Pen & Sword Books Ltd), 2001.

Keith Andrews, Researcher and RFH Committee member

3859246 – Private James Halliday, 18th Division Recce Corps

The purpose of this article is to piece River Valley Road – April 1942 – fact he was the British Commanding together Private Halliday’s time as Major Spencer Offi cer of D Force. Private Halliday a POW using documents held at the Kinsaiyok – June 1943 – Captain is there, as is Captain Hedley and National Archives in Kew. The task is Hedley Captain Harris. made a little easier because Private Kroeng Krai – August 1943 – Captain Halliday was not moved overseas by Harris WO361/2172 – Allied POW Camps the Japanese. Tha Muang – April 1944 – Captain in Thailand; nominal rolls at 1 Harris November 1944. All this contains WO345/22 (his Japanese POW Nakhon Nayok – June 1945 – Sgt. a list of names; there are no camp Index Card). The date on the front Major Harrison details. However, it notes beside of this card shows he went overland Private Halliday’s name his new from Singapore and is written in The offi cers are Detachment Leaders, and old card number. His new one English. The date of capture is 15 not Camp Leaders. If there are any is “7887” which is on his card; the February 1942; the place is Malaya, questionnaires on fi le compiled by old one “11095”, interestingly, is not Singapore. The characters those Detachment Leaders we might not. It also has the Roman numeral in the Camp box show he was be able to gather further information. IV beside his new number which is under the control of the Malaya Group 4. April 1944 saw him in Tha POW Administration, and that he WO361/2060 – Master Roll, G-I Muang - which was the new HQ for was transferred to the Thai POW compiled in Changi confi rms the fi le Group 4. His former camp number Administration on 21 March 1943. number of the Regimental Nominal is not noted but in remarks there This would have been as part of D Roll his name would appear in. is M 18/3/27 which I take to mean Force, Train No. 7. The reverse of he was transferred to the Thailand the card confi rms he left Singapore The Regimental Nominal Roll is not POW Command on 27 March 1943 on the 21 March 1943; the only other on fi le at Kew. which would tie in with the date entry is that he was handed over to he left Singapore and his arrival in the Allied Powers in Bangkok on 30 WO361/2177 – 18th Division Thailand. August 1945. Headquarters and Infantry; pilot roll, F – L again compiled in Changi. Unfortunately, the Nominal Rolls of WO344/380/1 – The fi le contains This lists full details of number, the Thailand POW camps are not on his Liberated POW Questionnaire rank, name, initial, regiment and if fi le at Kew. WO361/2196 is a list of and confi rms he was captured at he went overland or overseas and Allied POWs in Thailand and Saigon Singapore but gives his rank as the date, and can be used as a very at 1 August 1945 and was handed to Trooper and not Private as on his good way of double checking other the Casualty Department of the War card. records. Offi ce by Lt. Col. Swinton, there are These questionnaires are important no camp details. as, if they are completed correctly, WO361/1494 & WO361/2070 they can give information about the – These fi les contain the Nominal camps he was in and when, and who Rolls of D Force by train, in this case Keith Andrews, Researcher and the Camp Leaders and Detachment the train in question was Train 7. RFH Committee member. Commanders were. His gives us the The commander of the party appears following information: to have been Lt. Col. Carpenter; in

9 Anniversary sparks interest in Adam Park dig Jon Cooper

The exhibition at the Singapore National Library, the paper. The only pigments he could get hold of were “Four Days in February”, which opened on the 70th yellow clay and Reckitt’s Blue paint, but he managed anniversary of the invasion of Singapore, 8 February, to combine these to produce what many thought a proved to be a vital catalyst for the continuation of an masterpiece. He felt he did not have the ability to draw exciting archaeological investigation based around the the face so he searched magazines and cut out a picture Adam Park estate. TAPP2 (The Adam Park Project) is of Hollywood star Dorothy Lamour which he stuck now under way. to the image. Backlit from the outside the fi nal image looked impressive.

Fortunately the recent publicity surrounding the 70th anniversary commemorations has opened up many new leads. I have made contact with the next-of-kin of Captain Andrews and it is hoped that somewhere in the family archives we will unearth new documentation through which we can once and for all identify the exact location of the chapel. The author visiting the exhibition at the National Library.

“Four Days in February” focused on the fi ghting for the Adam Park estate and took the visitor through each day of the action. The exhibition displayed the archaeology associated with the defence of the estate but only commented briefl y on its role as a POW camp and the archaeologists’ part in revealing this fascinating story. In the future the fi nds may become a permanent display 16 Adam Park saw heavy fi ghting and and a museum may possibly be built on the site, but later became the accommodation for discussions about this are still at a very early stage. At POWs from the 8 Division Signals AIF. the time of writing the National Heritage Board has no further plans for displaying the artefacts to the public and they have been returned to storage. The POW story of Adam Park will undoubtedly take centre stage for TAPP2 . The hope is that the full story The focus of the new project remains within Adam of the camp can be retold through exhibitions and Park as there is still plenty of real estate – buildings, publications in 2015 as part of the 70th anniversary gardens, lawns, roads etc - to survey. Many questions celebrations of the liberation of Singapore. This would remain unanswered. Perhaps most pressing is the exact be fi tting as one of the most powerful images I have location of the POW chapel. One thing is certain: any found in connection with Adam Park shows the men further architectural surveys of the property in search of of the X4 and X8 Tunnelling Parties celebrating the the murals will be expensive and so every effort is being end of the war in front of a Union fl ag hoisted on the made to establish the whereabouts of the chapel through estate’s fl ag pole. The Tunnelling Parties were men who documented records in order to narrow the search to a had been sent back to Singapore after the completion specifi c wall in a specifi c room. of the Burma-Thailand Rail and who were given the job of building the Japanese defensive positions dug The mural was painted by Captain Eric Andrews, the into the high ground of the island in anticipation of the camp’s interpreter and padre. The greatest work went Allied invasion. Amongst the gaunt smiling faces in the into the construction of stained glass windows above photographs is the war artist Charles Thrale, who had the altar. Captain Andrews obtained pieces of glass been working on the tunnels and had drawn a number of which he covered with transparent paper; he then drew sketches of the Adam Road Camp; a camp set up amidst Mary Magdalene weeping at the empty tomb of Christ on the ruins of an old RASC compound on the opposite

10 Research into the POW occupation of Adam Park has inevitably led me to investigate the other adjoining sites in the area in order to get a better understanding of the relationship between the camps and their role in supporting the work on the Shinto Shrine on the shores of MacRitchie Reservoir. The Adam Park Chapel by A 3D model of the chapel based on the sketch. Lt Colonel Withers-Payne. This included a cursory look at the Sime Road POW camp. Most of the current heritage literature and side of Adam Road. signage concentrates on the use of the site by civilian internees. However, there is of course a myriad of The success of TAPP has led to information from other wartime events that would in some way leave an different sources. A new road planned to bisect the oldest archaeological trace. Sime Road was most notable before cemetery in town on Bukit Brown has not only raised the invasion as the site of Lieutenant-General Arthur a great deal of public debate as to the heritage cost of Percival’s command centre, although he himself lived at Singapore’s inexorable drive towards a concrete utopia Kheam Hock Road in “Command House”. The camp was but has also allowed us an opportunity to look for missing the scene of heavy fi ghting during the invasion, especially Allied soldiers who were last seen or reportedly buried in in the vicinity of Hill 95 and Water Tower Hill to the the area. The action on “Cemetery Hill”, as the Japanese south. British and Australian POWs used the ruins of the called it, was the decisive fl anking attack of the Adam buildings as accommodation in 1942 before being sent Park position. The Cambridgeshires and the 4th Suffolks “up country” to Thailand and then Tunnelling Parties were both engaged in the struggle for the Lornie Road/ joined the civilian internees on site in 1944 and 1945, Sime Road crossroads (nicknamed “Hellfi re Corner” by excavating a number of bunkers or “funk holes” in the the troops). The recent discovery of the Bureau of Record area which may well remain intact under the forestation. and Enquiry (BRE) records at the National Archives TAPP 2 will only highlight the potential of the site and in Kew has revealed the six-fi gure grid references of carry out a map regression exercise to reveal the remains the graves of the missing Suffolk men. Some of these of the Sime Road camp in the modern landscape. The locations are in the line of the new road. A report I wrote location of the Japanese HQ and St David’s Chapel at on the subject for the government body responsible for Sime Road have already been established. the exhumation of the Chinese graves prompted local tomb keepers (similar to cemetery caretakers) and historians to reveal an oral history that suggests that a number of mass graves lie undisturbed within the cemetery. These pits were apparently dug and fi lled soon after the fi ghting fi nished. They may contain the remains of missing Allied servicemen. Plans are under way to carry out an exploratory survey of the site by a team of local archaeologists.

A POW sketch of St David’s chapel; it appears a new power house has been built over the portico of the chapel but the rest of the platform still remains (courtesy of Bruce Bird).

Meanwhile back at Adam Park work continues on the The “Green House” on Sime Road, now a archaeology around the estate. Our eleventh metal private residence, was used by the Japanese detector survey at No.16 Adam Park took place in June command as their HQ for the “Shrine Job”. 2012. The house was reputedly occupied by Japanese forces during the fi ghting and the archaeology tentatively

11 If you would like to know more about The Adam Park Project see Glasgow University’s Centre for Battlefi eld Archaeology website: http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/humanities/research/ archaeologyresearch/battlefieldarchaeology/ centreprojects/singaporewwiiproject/ or have a look on Facebook page for news, reports and videos: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Adam-Park- Project/137333236283715

If you would like copies of the project survey reports or can help out in any way with the research please drop me an email at [email protected]

The King’s Crown is in remarkably good condition.

backed this up with a small number of Japanese bullets, cartridges and buttons found on site. However the most spectacular fi nd of the dig was a “King’s Crown” rank badge; a particular vivid and impressive reminder of the estate’s wartime heritage.

12 POW Padre Michael Smyth

This article is about an extraordinary coxing or coaching a Cambridge man, Padre (later Canon) Noel VIII. Instead of being met with Duckworth and it summarises his mutual incomprehension, or worse, work during and immediately after the offi cer replied in English: “You World War Two, as Chaplain to the are Duckworth, aren’t you?” He 2nd Battalion the Cambridgeshire had recognised him as the famous Regiment. Cambridge Cox. When he appeared on This is Your Life in January, John Noel Duckworth was born on 1959, Dr. Mark said: “I fi rmly believe Christmas Day 1912, hence the name that if had not been for his fame we Noel. As a student at Cambridge, he would have been executed.” coxed the Cambridge VIII to victory in the Boat Race for three years The Japanese moved this group in succession, 1934 to 1936. His of men to Pudu Gaol, Kuala successes led to him being selected Noel Duckworth shortly after Lumpur. Along with hundreds of the end of the war. as cox for the Great Britain VIII at other prisoners, the horrors they the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. front-line had a better effect on endured and Padre Duckworth’s Prior to this event he coxed crews at morale than those who restricted work amongst them are described the rowing regattas at Marlow and themselves to formal services and at length in Russell Braddon’s best- Henley. One unusual entrant for purely religious instruction. selling book The Naked Island. He these regattas was a Japanese crew characterised Padre Duckworth as from Tokyo University, in effect their The 2nd Battalion remained in the UK “the most outstanding personality Olympic VIII. until October 1941 when they sailed in Pudu Gaol”. In an article for from Gourock, disembarking at the college’s annual magazine, Noel wrote in the University’s Singapore on 13 January 1942, in the Churchill Review (1970), he wrote: monthly magazine, The Cambridge middle of an air-raid. Within hours, “Duckworth’s impact upon Pudu’s Review (October 1936): “We worried they moved 70 miles to Batu Pahat, to captive society was dramatically over the Japs’ stealthy defeat of help strengthen its defences. When revitalizing . . . he brought an inferior crews at the Marlow Regatta, ordered to retreat they found their incorrigible sense of humour, a and we became even more worried as way blocked by Japanese defensive singular devotion and a mad spirit we watched their sly quaint methods positions at Sengarrang. These of defi ance.” Noel’s own assessment of training.” In a heat, prior to proved impossible to overcome was merely that he considered it his Olympic fi nals day, the Great Britain and orders were given for men to job to instil hope into a hopeless VIII defeated this Japanese crew. make their own way back towards situation and he could do that well. The fi nal proved a disappointment, Singapore. the British VIII lost an initial lead All prisoners at Pudu were moved and fi nished fourth. After the At that point, there were over a back to Changi in October 1942. Olympics he was ordained and went hundred wounded men who were Here Noel encountered Rev. J to work at a parish in Hull. too ill to move. Two doctors from N Lewis Bryan, acting Senior the 168th Field Ambulance, Dr. J Forces Chaplain. Their respective Noel left Hull in August 1939 to A Mark and Dr. R Welch elected personalities were very different join the Cambridgeshire Regiment’s to remain with them, as did Padre and Rev. Lewis Bryan held strict 2nd Battalion. The London Gazette Duckworth. At fi rst light the three views on a chaplain’s role. In his recorded his appointment, from walked into Sengarrang to seek help. journal, he described Duckworth 25th August 1939, as Chaplain to They were taking a mortal risk for in as “resenting any kind of discipline the Forces, 4th Class. Although the similar circumstances, elsewhere in or co-operation and has openly British Army had long appointed Malaya, Japanese troops had killed disobeyed certain orders”. For Noel, chaplains, their expected duties wounded men taken prisoner. Padre this period at Changi lasted only a remained ill-defi ned. The First Duckworth advanced towards a few months before he was assigned World War had shown that chaplains Japanese Offi cer, issuing commands to “F Force”, in April 1943. who mixed with their men on the in a loud voice as if he were once again

13 F Force was the penultimate large- padres continued to work tirelessly. stayed in Changi. When these men scale party of British and Australian Unfortunately, Padre Haigh died at came back to our family a new troops sent to work on the Burma- Songkurai, shortly before the railway spirit was born in camp. The bond Thai Railway. It comprised 7,000 was completed. of common suffering had brought men, approximately 11 per cent many incompatibles together.” of all troops sent to the railway With the railway fi nished men began but accounted for 25 per cent of to be moved back to Singapore. As soon as he was suffi ciently all deaths. Within the British Some 2,000 were judged too ill recovered, Noel set about contingent of 3,400 the ultimate to survive the long journey and constructing a church adjacent to death rate topped 60 per cent. were transported to Thanbaya Changi’s hospital wards. Aside from hospital camp in Burma. Even so, his tireless ministrations, Padre Another member of the approximately 800 of them died Duckworth attracted large audiences Cambridgeshires, Bill Taylor, saw there. As he had done previously at for his talks about pre-war Boat Race Duckworth and his party pass their Sengarrang, Padre Duckworth chose experiences. Unfortunately, these camp, heading for Songkurai. In to remain with these sick and dying were not to Rev. Lewis Bryan’s liking his book With the Cambridgeshires soldiers. who commented in reports written at Singapore he wrote: “The Padre, in Changi Gaol and now held in the a much respected and well-loved He became known to all as “Duckie” Museum of Army Chaplaincy: man, inspired many with hope. and formed a choir to sing to men His concern for those who suffered in their hospital wards. Typically “I talked to him in the kindest . . . won him the admiration and they concluded with “Australia”, possible way and told him with his gratitude of a multitude of soldiers “Land of Hope and Glory” and fi nally amazing gift for eloquence there was from many parts of the world.” “God Save the King”. After which no need to descend to ‘smuts’ for Duckworth would shout “Are we laughter and his responsibility was Padre Duckworth remained downhearted?”. The response was a to keep a moral tone in his lectures undaunted by the enemy despite resounding “No”. As he left the ward rather than lower the standard.” beatings and punishments. Davy “Duckie” would roar “To Hell with Jones, a medical orderly, recalled the Nips”. As the war moved to its conclusion Noel’s humour, sympathy and those imprisoned endured further understanding. He told the Army On Christmas Eve 1943 Padre privations. Eventually it was over Medical Services Magazine (October Duckworth held a midnight service and a fi nal thanksgiving service 1983) that he was “a person I looked with carol singing and such was the was held at Changi on 27th August up to, full of bravery, never showing respect for him that all in the camp, 1945. Rev Lewis Bryan reported the fear in the face of brutality from sick included, attended. Lt Norman occasion: “It was a service that will the Japanese guards”. Articles by Dean summed him up: “He gave all long be remembered with the vast Quartermaster John Franks, which he had to the sick and when he had body of men singing the hymns, and appeared in The Daily Mail 19 and no more to give he would encourage the dull thunder of 4,000 voices 20 June 1995, contained similar his friends to contribute something.” tributes – as well as a detailed ( www.pows-of-Japan.net) description of the movement of F Force and the conditions they During March 1944 the remaining endured at Songkurai. survivors from Thanbaya returned by train to Changi. Rev. Lewis Padre J Foster Haigh was also at Bryan noted in his journal: “Mr. Songkurai and, according to records Duckworth arrived from up country in the Imperial War Museum, (IWM with his party - he is invalided with 66/313/1), commented: “Long faced cardiac beri-beri and gone straight and embittered men live here. The into hospital here. He has done going is hard. The life bitter. Our grand work up country and has an task is Herculean for I am sure one amazing story to tell and will tell.” of the great things we have to do is Noel himself later recalled: “Men to infuse these men with new hope trickled back bringing stories of – to lead them out of the slough of horror, oppression and death. You despair into the green pastures of could feel the tremendous surge of Duckworth coaching one of confi dence. It is not easy.” Yet both sympathy among those who had Churchill College’s boats.

14 saying the Lord’s Prayer together.” services throughout the area. When Michael Smyth is the author of it was known he would preach or Canon Noel Duckworth - An Rev Lewis Bryan concluded his work offi ciate at a particular church, his Extraordinary Life to be published at Changi by preparing reports for popularity was such that buses were later this month. Copies will be the Army Chaplains Department. often hired to bring people in from available from: The Development He summarised his views on Noel: nearby villages and hamlets. Offi ce, Churchill College, Cambridge, “A brilliant mixture of qualities good CB3 0DS, £8.99 + p&p. and bad. Is still the Cambridge cox Two civic events in honour of the and has not yet grown up. Completely Cambridgeshires occurred in 1946. irresponsible, yet full of enthusiasm The fi rst was a commemorative - very popular with the men . . . I had service held at Ely Cathedral on 17 occasion to have him up on a few February, led by Noel Duckworth, occasions for breach of discipline, and attended by 3,000 people. On but I have forgotten them.” 15 February 2012 extracts from the address Noel gave that day On 12 September 1945 Padre were read out at a service held at Duckworth broadcast from the National Memorial Arboretum Singapore, on the BBC, a talk he commemorating the 70th anniversary entitled a “Japanese Holiday”. This of the fall of Singapore. The second was the fi rst time that many people was a ceremony at Cambridge in Britain, Australia and elsewhere where the Regiment was awarded had heard what had befallen those the Freedom of the Borough of who had worked and died on the Cambridge. Formal recognition Burma-Thai Railway. He concluded of Noel’s wartime deeds came his broadcast with: “Those of us that through two mentions in despatches, came out of that hell, thank God for “gallant and distinguished for deliverance and for the memory service whilst a prisoner of war” of just men made perfect, whose and “in recognition of gallant and examples as martyrs at the hands of distinguished service in Malaya in the Japanese blaze yet another trail in 1942” respectively. the annals of human perseverance.” From 1946 to 1948 he was Chaplain Just before sailing for England at St John’s College, Cambridge. He he gave an interview to the Daily next served as Dean and Chaplain of Sketch. Now he looked forward to the newly created University of the the challenges they would all have Gold Coast (Ghana). Returning to to face on their return: “Yes, you the UK in 1957 he became Chaplain will fi nd us different. We are older at Pocklington School, near York. in mind and body. We are more Whilst there he appeared as the gentle, because we have learned to subject of This is Your Life in 1961. appreciate the small things in life - a He left Pocklington on appointment carpet on the fl oor or a clean bed . . . as chaplain of the newly founded And what do we expect to see in you? Churchill College, Cambridge. He We’ve heard strange tales of home remained here until his retirement life being not what it was. We want in 1973 and he died on 24t November to make it what, in bondage, we’ve 1980. A former comrade said of learned we should like it to be.” him at his funeral “he bore all the hallmarks of a Twentieth Century Once he had returned to England, Saint”. Padre Duckworth dedicated himself to visiting members of the Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Regiments and their families. He was in great demand from soldiers’ families for wedding and baptism

15 Book News

Cultural Heritage and Prisoners In “The Women’s Embroideries of Internment in the Far of War, Creativity Behind East 1942-1945” Doctor Bernice Archer and Alan Jeffreys Barbed Wire look at captivity from a female perspective. They argue that “by utilizing simple domestic items and the material Every so often a book comes along fragments of their repressed lives, many interned women that manages to combine rigorous demonstrated that they were not only part of a ‘fl owering standards of scholarship with of creativity’ within the camp but they were also record fascinating insight. This is one such keepers and the makers of memorials to those interned”. book.

Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War covers a range of creativity in a book that is lavishly and imaginatively illustrated. Although it has obviously been edited to the highest academic standards it remains highly readable and the authors never lose sight of the fact that they are writing about real people whose voices deserve to be heard.

Three of the authors will be familiar to anyone who attended Researching FEPOW History Group’s last Distillation unit, made by Gordon Smith at conference. In “Wonder Bar: Music and Theatre as Tamarkan camp. Strategies for Survival in a Second World War POW Hospital” Professor Sears Eldredge, who will be giving This is another chapter where the illustrations help to a lecture on entertainment in captivity this September at bring a fascinating, and sometimes overlooked, side of the Liverpool Medical Institution, turns the spotlight on internment to life. one performance in particular that took place on 19 May 1944 in Chungkai Hospital Camp in Thailand. As he says At £80 this is a book that you are most likely to pore over at the start of his essay: in a library than at home. But whereas few people will be able to afford to keep a copy by their bedside table I “Because ‘Wonder Bar’ is considered one of the greatest defy anyone who opens the book not to wander off into achievements of the POW theatres in Thailand, it will be chapters that may not immediately appear relevant to used as a lens to investigate who these performers were; their subject. As well as captivity in the Far East and in how they were able to produce sets, costumes, lights and the Second World War there are essays on POWs held musical instruments out of recycled materials; and why in Europe, aspects of the First World War, Italian POW music and theatre were promoted in Chungkai, and in camps in South Africa, camp magazines, art and cartoons, other POW camps in Thailand, as strategies for survival.” internment on the Isle of Man and civilians taken from He then goes on to describe how the group of men devised the Channel Islands. Rather than dilute the subject, the costumes (including wigs and make-up), scenery, musical range and scope of chapters makes the focus on the Far instruments, lighting and the stage itself. East much richer when placed against other experiences in different parts of the world. In “Tins, Tubes and Tenacity: Inventive Medicine in Camps in the Far East” Researching Far East POW Midge Gillies History Group chairman Meg Parkes looks at the life- and-death ingenuity of doctors and medical orderlies. Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War, Creativity She draws heavily on the many interviews she has Behind Barbed Wire edited by Gilly Carr and Harold conducted over several years with surviving FEPOWs. Mytum, published by Routledge Studies in History, 2012, It becomes evident that the same ingenuity that helped £80, 316pp., Hardback, ISBN: 978-0-415-52215-1. men to raise spirits through staging elaborate plays and sketches made life easier – and in some cases actually saved lives – for POWs who suffered from a range of dreadful diseases.

16 Unsung Heroes of the Royal alphabetical Roll identifying the names and service Navy and the Royal Marines, numbers of all these men…” at the heart of this book that The Far east Prisoners of War makes it so useful. 1941-1945 Sadly Les died in 2006, three years into the research This is the sequel to Pam (and her for this second book. It is to Pam’s great credit that she late husband Leslie’s) book Unsung has seen this work through to publication, dedicating Heroes of the RAF that became a the book to his memory. Pam and Les have given to all Bible to researchers with an interest those wishing to research the FEPOW story an invaluable in the fate of the 6,000 RAF men taken captive by the aid and we all owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. Japanese in the Far East. It is meticulously researched Unsung Heroes of the Royal Navy and the Royal and clearly set out. Marines is a must-have book for anyone with an interest in the FEPOW story. This new volume, Unsung Heroes of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines, is 144 pages long - exactly half Meg Parkes the number of pages of the RAF book – and another invaluable tool. It is packed with information about the 2,700 offi cers and men who were taken prisoner in the Unsung Heroes of the Royal Navy and the Royal Far East. As Roderick Suddaby, the former Keeper of Marines, The Far East Prisoners of War 1941-1945 by Documents at the Imperial War Museum in London, Pam Stubbs, Tucann Books, £12.50, 2011, ISBN 978-1- acknowledges in his Foreword, it is the “invaluable 907516-11-5.

Out Now in Paperback

Stolen Childhoods: The Untold Story Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, of the Children Interned by the Fourth Estate, £8.99. US Army Air Japanese in the Second World War Forces lieutenant and ex-Olympic by Nicola Tyrer, Phoenix, £7.99. The runner Louis Zamperini survived hardback was reviewed by Doctor on a raft fl oating in the Pacifi c after Bernice Archer in No. 8 Issue, his bomber crashed. He was held February 2012. fi rst at Kwajalein on the Pacifi c Marshall Islands and then taken to Ofuna interrogation centre in Japan, Omori (just outside Tokyo) The Barbed-Wire University: The and fi nally Naoetsu on the north Real Lives of Allied Prisoners of coast. The hardback was reviewed War in the Second World War by by Midge Gillies in Issue No.7, Midge Gillies, Aurum Press, £8.99. August 2011. The author is Researching FEPOW History Group’s newsletter editor; the book covers Europe and the Far East. Jonathan Moffat reviewed the hardback in Issue No.7, August 2011.

17 Obituaries

Peter Dunstan MBE and Repulse on December 10 1941 experiences in an unpublished (1921-2012) is a familiar one. Peter, known to memoir. He was repatriated his comrades as “Tiny”, remained with other Royal Marines on the Peter George Dunstan was born at his post in the transfer room, troopship Worcestershire. After in London in 1921. By 1939, aged between magazine and guns, below the war, he worked as an industrial 18 and standing some 6ft 6 ins P1 gun, until after the “Abandon engineer for Crown Agents and in tall, Peter wanted to join the Ship” order. Sgt Terry Brooks RM the early 1970s, while working in Guards Division but his father, ensured all his gunners and support Bangladesh, seized an opportunity a Gallipoli veteran, was opposed crew were accounted for before to visit Thailand. He then to this. In October 1940 he ordering them to jump into the sea. organised FEPOW pilgrimages to volunteered for the Royal Marines They were rescued by HMS Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, and, after training, 80 per cent of Express and returned to Singapore. meeting Father John Ulliana of the squad was sent to Birkenhead the Ban Pong mission and building to join the new HMS Prince of After various duties in Singapore, up links with that community and Wales RM Detachment under Major including guarding the Kranji its school. Peter spent many years Claude Aylwin. Wireless Station, the surviving developing a Far East War Graves Royal Marines were amalgamated archive as well as documenting with what was left of the 2nd the history of the HMS Prince of Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Wales and Repulse Royal Marine Highlanders into a composite detachments. These records battalion known as the Plymouth can be found at the Imperial Argylls. They participated in the War Museum and Royal Marines Battle for Singapore seeing action Museum. over three days in the area between Tengah Airfi eld and the Upper Bukit Timah Road/Dairy Farm area. The survivors were then withdrawn to Tyersall Park where Peter was wounded in the hand during the Peter Dunstan MBE. intense Japanese mortaring.

On May 21st 1941 HMS Prince of A POW and medical orderly in Wales sailed to Scapa Flow and two Changi and Bukit Timah Camp, days later was ordered to sea with Peter was sent to Thailand with HMS Hood to pursue the German W Party on October 26th 1942. battleship Bismarck. Sustaining On arrival at the fl ooded, fi lthy serious damage and some casualties, Ban Pong camp, Peter never forgot HMS Prince of Wales then spent baskets of eggs and fruit left out by two months undergoing repairs local people for the POWs. at Rosyth dry dock before being After the war he was to meet Father allocated in August 1941 to take John Ulliana, the Italian priest at Winston Churchill across the the small Catholic Mission in Ban Atlantic to meet US President Pong who had organized this and Peter’s liberation questionnaire. F.D.Roosevelt at Placentia Bay, similar acts of charity. Newfoundland. At his home in Mill Hill Peter Peter’s POW camps included received and answered hundreds Within months HMS Prince of Konue 1 and 2, Hintok, Tarsao of FEPOW family enquiries. In Wales was heading for Singapore via Hospital then, from March 1944 2006 he was awarded the MBE Freetown and Cape Town, arriving to the end of the war, Kaorin for Services to the Far Eastern December 2nd, 1941. The story of workshop camp. Peter left a Prisoners of War Association and the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales record of these camps and his Far East War Graves Archives. Peter

18 was recently interviewed in the to on the Captive Memories website daughters, Gill and Jenny and their two BBC2 documentaries relating at: www.captivememories.org. families. to the Fall of Singapore. An online interview with Peter can be listened Our condolences to Peter’s Jonathan Moffatt

Billy Griffi ths MBE would take his cigarette out of his mouth and (1920-2012) put it out.

Billy Griffi ths served in the RAF during World War Nowell Peach, an experienced surgeon pre-war, also Two and in March 1942, along with the remnants of his remembered him: squadron, at the age of 21, was captured by the Japanese We had one very hectic night there just before in Java. the capitulation. Weary Dunlop and myself and Arthur Moon and Maurice Kinmonth were the Two former RAF medical offi cers, who were interviewed two surgical teams. We worked throughout the for the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s FEPOW night about twelve hours, we didn’t stop. On oral history study in 2007 (www.captivememories.org. casualties from this action, one of them was uk), each separately remembered meeting and caring for this poor chap Bill Griffi ths, who had not only him in Java. lost both his eyes but both his hands as well. All Weary Dunlop could do was to remove his Maurice Kinmonth vividly recalled witnessing Griffi ths eyes, they were so badly damaged, and tidy up receiving emergency treatment after an horrifi c incident. the wrists and it really was frightful... On one On 16 March 1942 Griffi ths was among a truckload of occasion a Japanese guard came in and was POWs taken by the Japanese to clear up booby traps going to fi nish him off with a bayonet which left by the British and Dutch troops in drainage ditches might have been the most merciful thing to do along the roadside near Bandung. He was ordered at but Weary Dunlop interposed himself, very bayonet point to pick up a bundle of netting. It exploded heroically, and saved his life, which I suppose in his hands. In a desperate state he was rushed in the in the end was justifi ed because he made a very lorry to No.1 Allied General Hospital in Bandung (run by good career as a singer after the war, he and Australian surgeon Weary Dunlop). Kinmonth recalled his wife used to tour all over the country doing in his interview: concerts... The most memorable case I had to look after there was a young chap, Griffi ths, he had Peach met up again with Griffi ths a year or so later on, both hands blown off and was blinded. From this time at St Vincentius Hospital in Batavia: some sort of booby trap he had these terrible I had a ward full of mostly nutritional cases injuries... tidied up the stumps of his hands, he and there were no nurses and so we doctors had had a lot of stuff shoved into his face, bits of this to take turns in sitting in the wards all night. bomb, couldn’t really do much... the feeling at And Bill Griffi ths was in my ward and he used the time was really that he shouldn’t survive. to have terrible mental troubles owing to his two frightful injuries. And I remember several It was his spirit that impressed people. Kinmonth times in the night having to try and comfort recalled how even the Japanese guards had tried to help him. I also had a special board made for him to him: help him write, I think with his feet or his nose He was the most cheerful, fantastic chap you or something like that. He used to write and could come across. He used to, he was in the of course it was braille I think they got him to same camp as I was in afterwards [Tandjong try and do. Oh, it was marvellous spirit, and Priok] and he used to wander round the camp it was so incredible how there was always a with a basket on his arm and a fag in his man who took him under his wing and look mouth, because we had a tobacco factory in after him. They had to take him to the lavatory this camp. Even the Japanese used to sort of, and everything, of course... there was always you know, when his fag got a bit short a guard some kind soul who would look after him, quite

19 amazing. and things like that.

Kinmonth met Griffi ths after the war: Billy Griffi ths spent time at St Dunstan’s, the charity He was at Roehampton when he came back that works with blind ex-servicemen, where he received and when I came back I had a job in Kingston training and gained confi dence to build a full and active and I was walking in the park and I saw this life. He became a champion swimmer and he and his chap running with a chap on a bicycle behind wife, Alice, performed and entertained audiences around him, had a couple of bits of tape or string or the country. In 1989 Pen & Sword published his memoir, something guiding Griffi ths as he ran across Blind to Misfortune, a remarkable testament to an the park. Then I found out who he was and got extraordinary ordinary man. Billy Griffi ths died on 20 in touch with him again. He’s been about since, July 2012 aged 92. he’s been on television, singing and concerts Meg Parkes

John Brown (1942-2012) States Volunteer Force) and was Singapore. a POW in Singapore, then went We were very sorry to hear of John’s with the notorious F Force to the An accountant by profession, death at his home in Pinner on July Burma-Thailand Railway in April John’s research was characterised 27, 2012. 1943. It was this that fi rst took John by attention to detail and careful to the National Archives, Kew and documentation. John was a John was a member of the Imperial War Museum to search for great sharer of information and Malayan Volunteers Group and an POW records for his father and other exceptionally generous. He would outstanding historical researcher Malayan Volunteers. often approach a fellow researcher who attended the fi rst Researching with a bundle of photocopies saying: FEPOW History Group’s conference. John created a meticulously “I think you will fi nd this useful” - researched and annotated nominal and it always was. Similar items of The son of John Brown OBE, a post- roll of the December 1941 Malayan interest would arrive from time to war chairman of Harrison & Crosfi eld, and Straits Settlements Volunteers time in the post. John was born in Melbourne in June which he then distributed to 1942 after his mother and sister were researchers in this fi eld. More Our condolences to his children: evacuated from Singapore. John’s recently, John was examining the Catherine, John and Simon. father served in the 2nd (Selangor) experience and location of POWs Battalion FMSVF (Federated Malay at Blakang Mati (today Sentosa), Jonathan Moffatt

20 Committee

Chairman: Meg Parkes Newsletter Editor: Midge Gillies [email protected] [email protected] asst editor: Sarah Edwards Secretary: Sarah Edwards [email protected] Conference Coordinators: Keith Andrews, Martin Percival and Stephen Rockcliffe Treasurer: Mike Parkes [email protected] Postal address for correspondence: Meg Parkes, 34 Queen’s Road, Hoylake, Wirral, CH47 2AJ

Editor’s Comment

I am happy to receive suggestions for articles or indeed to consider articles submitted for future editions of the RFH newsletter. In particular we would like to carry stories about areas perhaps less well known than Thailand- Burma. Do contact me if you have any ideas.

Midge Gillies

21