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 To the many who have researched the men and women who fought in the Far East, they hold our utmost respect.
They fought an enemy who were not only trained for jungle warfare but who were also better equipped.
Their battle carried on into captivity, a battle to survive, many did not make it, the odds were stacked too high against them.
After three and a half years in Japanese hands, the ones left, still fought on, the battle would last their lifetime and hopefully end, the day they meet their maker.
These pages are dedicated to these men and women, all are heroes, Far Eastern Heroes.
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‘Walk Into a Story’ by using Search below to display a ‘Topic’
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[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
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Supplied by Ann and Jesse
A newspaper article published in 1946 by the Foxton paper, on prison life in Macassar as experienced by Signalman R.J. Wagner.
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During the Japanese Occupation, British and European civilians were held at the internment camp at Sime Road. Amongst these essential service workers were not interned but put to work wearing arm bands to distinguish them.
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Major General Sir Charles Lane attended
The Surrender of 680,000 soldiers in South East Asia took place in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Buildings, Singapore on 12th September 1945.
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By James Sinclair
Tracey George Clifford Sinclair was a Captain in the 13th Auxiliary Pioneer Battalion. Captured Singapore, Tracey was then transported with the special Parties to Chosen (Korea) in the Fukkai Maru.
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By Andrew Finn
Isaac Newton said ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ I have got further in life by Standing on the shoulders of my Grandfather, Nevil C.C.Benham. (1918-1999). Captured in Java and at Tanjong Priok transported to Borneo via Sngapore
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By - George Idlett
George Idlett, known to his friends as ‘Doug’, was a member of the American Forces captured in the Philippines. His identification number at the Niigata ( Camp was 497). He now resides in Virginia, USA.
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By Peter Coppenrath
Jan was a gifted artist in the Netherlands Army, he was captured when Java fell to the Japanese on the 8th March 1942. On 9th February 1943, Jan was transported to Singapore in the Roko Maru with 1000 PoW’s making up Java Party 13. He then started his ‘Changi Sketch Book’ till he was released in September 1945.
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Transcribt by Mike Peaker
Staff Sergeant James O'Toole found himself thrown into action when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong on December 8th 1941. He was later to find how the Japanese treated their prisoners when the British Colony fell on Christmas day of the same year.
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By Gerard L. Becker
Gerard wrote this as part of his senior creative writing group in the hope that it in some way it honoured those who had to live through the hell of a Japanese PoW Camp.
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By Tony Banham and Ron Taylor
Francis ‘Mickey’ Myles and William ‘Bill’ Spooner became friends with the sinking of the Lisbon Maru. Tony Banham has given me permission to use some of the text from his book ‘The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru
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By Ernest S. Benford
This book is an autobiography of Ernest S. Benford’s life during World War II, 1939 - 1945, in which he and his dad, were prisoners of the Japanese Imperial Army. His dad died at Kanchanaburi Hospital during captivity. Sadly, Ernest, did not live to see his autobiography printed, he died in 1984. The story covers Changi, Thailand-Burma railway, Fukuoka and Nagasaki.
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By Tommy Thompson
Born in old Killingworth village on the 12th September 1918, Tommy worked as a Joiner before joining the army in 1939 when he was still only 20. This is his story of the time he spent as a Japanese POW for three and half years between 1942 and 1945, and for a large part, working on the infamous Burma Thailand ‘Death’ Railway.
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By John Emmett
John Emmett, a Scotsman by birth and inclination joined the Gordon Highlanders in 1935, just four years before the war, which was to involve most of the known world, began to erupt. He no doubt signed on for nine years, not the “Duration of Hostilities which became the norm as soon as conscription was authorised by Parliament. As a regular soldier he became one of the core around which the British Army of volunteers and conscripts was created. His story is centred on Formosa.
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By Dianne Cowling
A look at FEPOW family through the eyes of a child.
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Walter kept of his time with the 1st Independent Company prior to his capture in Singapore in a diary, this follows the Malayan Canpaign.
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By Arthur John Stagles, Compiled by Ian Stagles
When the war broke out in 1939 Jim Quadling and myself were working on a friends new house in Westfield Road, Dereham. We were building a gable wall and, on hearing that Britain was at war with Germany, Jim and I wrote our names on the back of a brick and layed it in the wall. Off home to get cleaned up and then up to the Drill Hall in Norwich Road, Dereham. If I remember correctly we were told to bugger off home and come back tomorrow! That was the start of a period in my life that was, in the earlier years, a unique experience learning to live a completely different lifestyle. The story covers the 5th Royal Norfolk’s and the Thailand to Burma Death Railway
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Supplied by Athur Lane
Full length book by Arthur Lane based on the battle for Malaya and Singapore
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Transcribed by William George Chapman
Documents and Verse, transcribed by Miranda, sent to me as collected by William George Chapman of the Royal Norfolk Regiment, dispatch rider for the 5th Battalion.
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By William Stobbs Kirsop
Because of a request from my daughter, and a little gentle nudging from my wife, Ive been asked to record the happenings of my life as a POW under the Japanese. Worked on the Thailand-Burma Railway also the Mergui Road, the escape route for the Japanese Army from Burma.
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By Patrick Cooper
Cecil ‘Don’ Cooper joined the AIF 8th Division and was shipped to Singapore in February 1941, captured he worked and died on the Thailand-Burma Railway.
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Pte. Frank Percival, R.A.S.C. wrote a vivid story for the Willesden Chronicle in November 1945 of his experiences as a prisoner in the hands of the Japanese since February, 1942. He was on the Thailand-Burma Railway.
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[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
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