Wartime Memories of my father (Wendy Bird)
AAJ fought in the Malaya campaign from Jan 29th 1942 until the British, under command of Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, surrendered on Feb 15th, 1942, on which day AAJ received a rifle shot wound to the chest.
All POWs were taken initially to Changi, but in March and April parties started to be sent out along the now infamous railway construction route. On 16th August 1942 all those of rank full Colonel and above were shipped to Japan, leaving AAJ and others of his rank as the senior officers at the POW camps.
A printed version…….
* We have just learned that the different identification of “Johnson’s Camp” as 226km and 244km was due to an error by the Japanese that was noticed later and amended for the affected camps. We also learned from the same source that number of km refers to distance from Nong Pladuk and not Bangkok as I had guessed! A.S.
A fellow Suffolk Regiment soldier from a neighbouring POW camp
A sympathetic friend……….
From time to time, there was some slight relief afforded by various entertainments that the POWs managed to organise. These included cricket matches, which AAJ promoted when the opportunity arose. Click here to read an article about cricket