Tampakan, Southeast Asia's largest undeveloped copper-gold prospect
Estimated to contain 12.8 million tonnes of Copper and 15.2 million ounces of Gold

 
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Irian Jaya
Lembeh Island


Sandakan City
Kudat
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MUSIC 1
MUSIC 2





American Shogun MacArthur


Japanese Imperial Army Officer


Imelda Marcos with Pure Gold Finger
and Lucky Precious  Jaded Buddha

-- His excesses were most graphically illustrated by his wife Imelda's extravagance. When the couple were forced out of power in 1986, she left behind 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 1,000 handbags and up to 3,000 pairs of shoes.

Rest in Peace President  Marcos

Yamashita Treasures Gold TOO HEAVY GOLD CARGO ??
Airbus 300



Dead  Japanese Soldier





Victory Liner Bus in 1950's

1947 Roxie Bazar

  Corregidor Island - Philippines

  

Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, the Philippines - It contains the largest number of graves of our military Dead of World War II, a total of 17,206, most of whom gave their lives in the operations in New Guinea and the Philippines. US Army Air Force Cemetery

Dedication of last surviving boxcar that was used on the Death March at the Capas National Shrine on April 9, 2008.
Courtesy of Jim Litton

A 60th Anniversary memorial ceremony in Tacloban, Philippines, on October 20, 2004

Admiral William F. 'Bill' Halsey - Commander US Third Fleet at Leyte Gulf

The headstone over the mass grave for the men who were executed on Palawan Island by the Japanese.  The grave is at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

More than 200 American POWs are burned to death in a Palawan cave

American forces Liberate Cebu 

American Forces Liberate Philippine Islands

B-25 Flown by US MARINE - Zamboanga Mindanao

Japanese Tank formation enters MANILA BANZAI BANZAI 1942

Filipinos Americans Bataan Defender inside the FOXHOLES

Maragondon, Cavite

notable landmarks:
Parish Church of the Assumption of Our Lady
Pico de Loro point
Mt. Marami
Mt. Buntis
Parish Church of the Assumption of Our Lady (Maragondon, Cavite). The church was built in the early 18th century by the Jesuits, with later additions by the seculars and the Augustinian Recollects. Much of the church and belltower, and the lower portion of the convento is made of irregular river stones, indicative of the early level of technology operating at that time.

The intricately-carved retablos, pulpit and church doors (with galleons and floral designs) date from Jesuit times, while the hugely carved beams crossing the nave were installed by the seculars-- one of the beams even carries the name of the indio priest who commissioned them. The unusual horseshoe-shaped communion rail, with a flooring of inlaid wood of various colors, recalls that of San Sebastian Church, Manila, another Recollect construction.

This place is almost 15deg NE, ideal bearing for the paranormal beliefs of the japanese. pag nagtatago sila ng kanilang mga nakulimbat na yaman ng mga bansa. Ayon ng mga matatanda dito ay di kayang bilangin ang mga ssundalong hapon ang nangamatay sa dakong ito , meron silang mga hospital at mga training grounds sa area na ito. Ngayon Ang JICA isang grupo ng mga hapon , Bechtell isang american Firm at si Pangulong Arroyo kasama na ang mga lokal na pamahalaan ang nagsusulong na gawing lanfill ang area na ito. dati gwardyado ng grupo ni marcos ang dakong ito.Ngayon sila naman. until now balikatan joint forces still exercising in this area. ang world bank at si dating pangulong Ramos ay lagi ring nakamonitor sa lugar na ito. Walang ganyanan!
Jet7

1921 Olongapo Fire
Large building or barracks engulfed in fire. Card is posted Jan 14 1921
Olongapo Zambales to Independence Missouri. Sender also notes writng from Olongapo. Among the folks watching the blaze seems to be a US sailor.

American POW died at a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp on Mindanao Island, Philippines.
This photo shows the position in which a white man, emaciated, died while trying to get a drink of water. this was at the Davao Penal Colony Hospital.

1945 American Forces Bomb Corregidor Island

USS Flier (SS-250)
Lost on August 13 1944 with 78 US Navy Submariners killed
Sunk by Japanese Mine South of Palawan in Balabac Strait
(www.Balabac.COM)

USS Harder (SS-257)
Lost August 24 1944 with 74 US Navy Submariners killed.
Sunk by Japanese Luzon Coast Defense Vessel No.22
Off West Coast of Luzon - Philippine Islands


Real Sumatra Indonesian Gold Bars  999.99 Refine Gold  circa 1940s


Yamashita Treasures STONE MARKER


LOS BANOS RESCUE 1


Yamashita Treasures X Stone Marker

Sample Meaning of YamashitaTreasures  X



10 nice things to say about Marcos
On his 20th death anniversary
By Benjamin Pimentel

CALIFORNIA, United States—Imelda Marcos reportedly expressed hope that someday her late husband also would be honored in the same way, perhaps at a state funeral. Having grown up during, and survived, the Marcos regime, Imelda’s wackiness no longer surprises me. But her wish left me with a jaw-dropping realization: They haven’t buried that dictator!?! This month marks the 20th anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos’s death. He died in exile in Hawaii in September 1989, three years after being chased out of Malacanang. But the dictator’s remains are still lying in a refrigerated crypt somewhere up north. Someone should tell the dictator’s handlers that what he said was, “I do not intend to die,” not “I do not intend to be buried.” Still, in the spirit of reconciliation, and since we have just relived the glorious days of the People Power Revolution, bid farewell to Cory Aquino, and commemorated the martyrdom of Ninoy, it’s perhaps time to also focus on the positive side of the late strongman. Besides, it is also Marcos’s 92nd birthday (September 11) and the 37th anniversary of the imposition of Martial law (September 21). What can I say—September has really been an unlucky month for us. So allow me to present my list—and, believe me, I tried real hard to come up with these—of the 10 nice things one can say about Marcos.

 1. Marcos taught us to disdain bullies. Ferdinand Marcos was not the first, or the last, president to abuse his power. But, certainly, he set a seemingly unbreakable record. The nightmare of his 21 years in power still haunts us today, a powerful, constant reminder of a chapter in our history that must never be repeated.

2. Marcos taught us to disdain leaders who flaunt their wealth. Marcos and Imelda did not invent wealth-flaunting. The elites have been doing that for generations well before he came to power, and it’s still happening today, of course. But the Marcoses certainly took the brazen display of extreme affluence, in the face of extreme poverty, to a new low. I mean how can how one justify owning 3,000 pairs of shoes?

3. Marcos taught us to be suspicious of leaders who acquire wealth. The current president just ran into this problem, of course. And the last one too. Yes, politics is still widely-considered as an easy road to easy money, but too much greed is now generally accepted as dangerous to one’s political career. And we have to give credit to Marcos for this, for making Filipinos extremely suspicious of political leaders who suddenly get rich.

4. Marcos taught us to disdain politicians who brazenly cheat in elections. Now, I said “brazenly.” For yes, election Philippine-style is still dirty. But given our experience with Marcos, there’s a line, especially in national races, that I suspect candidates will not cross for fear of sparking a severe backlash. (Or maybe not.)

 5. Marcos taught us to be suspicious of leaders who warn the nation that because of some unspeakable danger to the country they simply must have more power. “Emergency powers” and “martial law” are two phrases any Philippine president must use with extreme caution nowadays. If not, you run the risk of facing ordinary Filipinos asking: “What was that again Mr./Madame President? You say the communists, the rightists, the terrorists are about to attack? Oh, and the Martians too, perhaps? And that’s why you need to throw all these people in jail, shut down all these newspapers and TV stations and kill those who say you’re a corrupt liar? Sir/Madame, I think we’ve seen this movie before. Napanood na ho ata naming ‘tong sineng ito.”

6. Marcos taught us that there is a big difference between discipline and fear. “Sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan, Disiplina ang Kailangan (For our nation to develop, we need discipline).” That was the regime’s slogan for Marcos’s New Society. It worked for a time, mainly because people knew that by discipline, the dictator meant, “Shut up and submit, or else.” It got so bad that one US official observed that the Philippines in the 70s and 80s had turned into a country of “40 million cowards and one SOB.” Well, Filipinos were willing to let that be the case only for so long.

7. Marcos showed that friendship with powerful world leaders is no guarantee that one can hold on to power indefinitely. Oh, Marcos and Imelda look so happy and proud in photographs with Ronald and Nancy Reagan. They were friends after all. Reagan even sent his Vice President George H.W. Bush to Manila to praise Marcos’ “adherence to democratic principles.” Well, a few years later, the dictator was gone after the Reagan White House finally realized he had turned into a liability.

8. Marcos taught us to be wary of leaders who try to glorify themselves in songs, slogans, or big, ugly monuments. I was actually thrilled when Marcos imposed Martial Law in 1972. I was eight years old when it happened, and for a few weeks I didn’t have to go to school and there was nothing on TV but cartoons. But then, once back in school, my schoolmates and I had to learn these new weird songs about the new order and how everything was great about the regime. And then there’s that gigantic bust up north. I’m glad nobody blew it up as some groups reportedly planned to do. For it stands as a powerful reminder of the twisted mind that once ruled our country.

9. Marcos taught us to be creative—in fighting back. Only in the Philippines could yellow confetti become a symbol of protest. And nuns praying the rosary in front of tanks—you just won’t find such an act of defiance in other places. But even before the People Power Revolt, during the darkest days of dictatorship, Filipinos were already coming up with creative ways to defy the regime. Students at the University of the Philippines used to launch lightning rallies, in which they march from one floor of Palma Hall to another, while yelling slogans and waving banners, and then quickly putting the banners away and dispersing before the cops showed up. Even the artists dared try new things. Take my old boss and drinking buddy, the poet Pete Lacaba, who wrote a seemingly harmless, apolitical poem titled “Prometheus Unbound.” When read vertically, the first letter of every line said, “Marcos, Hitler, Diktador, Tuta”—the famous anti-dictatorship slogan, “Marcos, Hitler, Dictator, Puppet.”

10. Marcos made us laugh and helped demonstrate that, even during dark times, Filipinos can still maintain a healthy sense of humor. Marcos and his crazy war medals. Imelda and her theory of a hole in the sky above the Philippines through which cosmic rays pass to protect the country from disaster. Admit it, Marcos and Imelda made us laugh. If it weren’t for all the people who died and suffered during the regime, we could look back to that time as funny and fun years. Marcos and Imelda jokes kept us entertained even as we endured tyranny. And we didn’t even have cell phones back then for speedy mass distribution. I distinctly remember a classic during one of the rallies after Ninoy’s assassination and Marcos’s face often looked swollen as he reportedly battled lupus. The protest poster read: “Mamaga sana ang mukha ng nagpapatay kay Ninoy. (I hope whoever had Ninoy killed gets a swollen face).” Well, it’s funnier in Tagalog. And without Marcos, what would have happened to Willie Nepomuceno, one of the most talented Filipino humorists ever? He was so good with his Marcos impersonation, that during the critical hours of the 1986 People Power Revolt, when the dictator appeared on TV to prove he was still in charge, there were those who believed it was a ploy—with the popular comedian in the starring role. Of course, Nepomuceno’s career faced a crisis when Marcos was kicked out of the country, and later died. But he quickly bounced back, doing other politicos, including former Presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada. Fortunately, like the late tyrant, Willie Nepomuceno did not intend to die. Not much of a list, but can you blame me? It’s tough to say anything nice about a dictator in a freezer. In any case, to Marcos supporters, let me say this: There may never be a grand funeral for the late dictator, with big adoring crowds, a military honor guard, 24/7 TV coverage, and flattering commentary in media. But don’t worry. We will never forget Marcos and what he did to our country. Ever.

ADDENDUM: I spoke too soon. Writer Krip Yuson informs me that someone did blow up the Marcos bust which was heavily damaged by the blast about seven years ago. Krip adds, "A Baguio friend rushed to the site and picked up a bayong of the rubble. I was given two precious pieces, which I keep."

* Jet was carrying eight crates (one ton) of gold during take-off.
* Each crate weighed 250 pounds.
* Value over US$10,000,000.
* This gold was recovered from a Mindanao treasure site.
MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR
MINDANAO ISLAND (Philippines) - An overloaded eight-seater plane owned by the Banco Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) crashed into a ravine at the Davao International Airport after a failed takeoff yesterday noon, injuring 12 passengers, two of them seriously.
The plane with body number RP C1980 was also carrying eight crates of gold and an undetermined amount of cash.
Philippine National Police (PNP) 7th Aviation Security Command (Ascom) chief Major Arturo Evangelista
said the plane was bound for Manila when it failed to take off at 11:55 a.m., forcing the pilot to manuever a
'break' and release the emergency brake.
But Evangelista said the emergency chute broke before it could stop the plane which fell into a ravine at the end of the 2.5-kilometer airport runway.
Seriously wounded were pilot Capt. Bienvenido Gorospe and co-pilot Teofilo Balinghasay.Also injured were chief mechanic Aquilino Lugo and passengers Victor Callejo; Cesar Callejo; Oscar Pimping, 50 and a resident of Fabie Subdivision, Paco, Metro Manila; Alfred Bonilla, 46, of Flores Subdivision, Moonwalk Village, Metro Manila; Leticia Fortun, 46; Andres Paulino, 34; Syvie Gorospe,
Dominic Gorospe, and one-year-old John Dominic Gorospe.
Evangelista said the rescue teams used a chainsaw to open the tail-end of the plane to pull out the passengers who were trapped inside.
Because of their condition, he said a rescue helicopter of the Composite Air Support Force (CASF) airlifted the passengers to the Davao Medical Center but chose to be transferred to San San Pedro Hospital. Except for one who was able to walk, all had to be carried in stretchers.
A hospital nurse said the victims appeared to be out of danger, except for the pilot and his co-pilot who are still being examined by doctors.
Meantime, Air Traffic Services chief Roland Vivar said an aircraft investigator from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board in Manila is expected to arrive anytime now to investigate the incident.
The jet broke in three places with its two landing gear some 10 meters from the body.The nose of the plane was found just a few meters from the residence of a certain Tiago Bacolcol.The twin-engined aircraft, according to ATO, arrived in Davao City at about 11:30 a.m. and was supposed to
leave Davao at 11:45 a.m.

Court orders Imelda to repay US$250,000 

MANILA: Imelda Marcos, the widow of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was ordered yesterday by an anti-corruption court to return about 11m pesos ($250,000) secretly taken from the state’s rice agency in the early 1980s.

The court, known as the Sandiganbayan, found the transfer of funds from the National Food Authority (NFA) to a Marcos account at a private bank in 1983 as “highly irregular and illegal”.

Imelda Marcos, infamous for her collection of jewellery and 1,200 pairs shoes found after her husband was overthrown and forced into exile in 1986, said she could not afford the payment.

“They have taken away everything from our family,” said Marcos, who won a seat in Congress at the May elections.

“The government has frozen all our assets. Where will I get that amount to pay the government back?” she told reporters.

The former first lady has rejected proposals to settle cases of ill-gotten wealth, confident that through litigation she can recover millions of dollars of assets seized by the state.

Ferdinand Marcos ruled for two decades before he was ousted in an army-backed popular uprising in 1986. He was accused of amassing more than $10bn while in office.

Hi, the legend is true because I have seen pictures of some of the treasure. A Filppina reporter has the photos and a video of the contains with one of three caves full of gold,Golden Buddhas, and diamonds. She and her friends are selling the gold and other contents. Many of the Japan’s secret advanced inventions were hidden in caves and bunkers.

I think it is true especially at my place. There is an old church out there. The underground had a long tunnel and its exit passage is already near the port of the sea. It is located beside the river. Some news spreads out that one of the priest recovered gold bars from the tunnel and believe to have more treasures that are yet unseen. I don’t have the gadgets and tools or budget to look for them. But I am interested, It is adventure.

Jim Daniels said: Gentlemen,
As beach comber/coin hunter in Florida, of course I FIRMLY BELIEVE THE EXISTENCE OF YAMASHITA TREASURES !!! there are lots of write ups and websites have been written about these topic…in fact some of my florida based treasure hUnter friends are quite successful with it like Steve Morgan…who had gone to the Philippines to treasure hunt, succeeded to recover several treasure sites(with help of congressman in Albay) and came back to Florida a successful salvor and shipwrecK treasure hunter…am very2 much envius of those yamashita treasure hunters, i wish someday i will be at their level (cache hunter)…

asnahar said:

can you give m some advice to determine the buried treasure? in our place we found different bottles buried 10 + feet and 1 mexican coin dated 1872. pls. give us advice what to do.

fletch mortel said: Guys,
It is really true that their are yamashita treasures hidden in caves, tunnels, churches etc. here in the philippines. In fact, I’ve seen one of it, a solid cement box measuring 1m x 1m x 1m inside a man made cave on the side of a hill. There is also japanese notes written on the top front of the cement box, but sad to say guys that it was already opened only those gold bar marks were left. There are also big wires inside the tunnel

ODRACIRE said:

I think Yamashita treasure is true ’cause i saw markers at the mouth of a well also at a tunnel which we uncovered after painstakingly digging the hard cement covering the area, if this is myth who cemented the area to hide the tunnel with markings and who did the markings? and why before the war their were already Japanese nationals acting as fishermen in our town? and when the war broke actually they were Japanese officers soldier who immediately controlled the municipal hall after which controlled the entire town and scaring the town folks to evacuate ’cause bombing of the town is forthcoming and no bombs after all?

Alvin Daguio said:

To Jim Daniels;
Like you,I am very much interested of finding one.I had one safe/ secured location(treasure site) which I found it very intriguing after I had talks with an old man.My place(mindanao) might be intimidating(news?) but extremely interesting for stories of japs treasures.If we can establish an open line for both of us,who knows we’ll have one materialized.heres my add: alvin_daguio1960@yahoo.com. hope to hear from you soon Jim.

rey said:

Is the tunnel8 where they buried one the biggest volume of yamashita treasure in a province in region 2, in Luzon? Is it located between the boundary of two towns? The location was explored by many foreigners. one treasure hunter, posed to build a road in the area thru government bidding… in the middle of the project he pulled out without a trace leaving millions worth of heavy equipment behind during the height of typhoon yoyong… one treasure hunter had a site in the area but in a bridge crossing a big river… due to lack of finance divers he abandoned it… in a road widening project of the local governtment in the area, the backhoe operator accidentally hit an old japanese car. At night time, four men continued to dig up the car in the presence of some curious locals. they found the tool box and took it away.

There is a controversial hill in the area located at the foot of Mt. Palali in the Sierra Madre. Two of them and almost identical.There are japanese bamboo planted on top of each and carved stones.The southern hill was explored by a british hunter in early 2002. It was the western part that had digging where they found a 300 meter concrete slab. They pulled out in 2005.

The northern hill is a private property. some japanese did try to convince the owner to do some explorations but the owner refused until now. In between these two hills facing the east is an unexplored area, there is a water source where the spring is coming from waiting to be found. the area where the water source is claimed by the tenant, a farm worker who lived and took care of the property.

The owner of the southern hill died 3 years ago and it was sold to a prominent person known to be a TH also in that municipality. He is now building a resort in that hill which is 40 kilometers away from the town and bout 15 kilometers away from the main road. a group of japanese want to buy the property more triple the amount he bought it.

In the two hills. you can find world war two ammos by just walking or hiking in it. and the locals know that it is where you can find a certain stone that can be used to sharpen knives.A man found a jar with uncut stones… and similar stories is known to locals. Some of them still there. It was japanese garrison and 200 meters away is a japanese check-point back in WW2. The site is the old spanish road leading to the Villaverde trail from Sta. Fe to Kiangan.

As of this writing… there are 4 known big time TH operating in the area. One applied for a stewardship program, now he can own the about 50 acres of mountain land provided he will cultivate it and make it productive.

My grand father used to own a land in the area. He lost it to tenant farmers because of the land reform program. He was not a guerilla during the war, but he is a plain farmer who sold various farm products to the japanese. Before the japanese pulled out in the area his carabaos and cariton was borrowed by the japs during one of the nights. In the morning, he went looking for the and found in two different locations separated by a distance of 10 kilometers. The caritons has boxes in it and tied in the one of the carabaos neck is a sock. In it was uncut gems, small statues . Is it true..? I still have with me one of the turtle figure made of precious metal. He later sold the gems and bought more land to farm and our ancestral home in the main town. He said many japanese officers did hide some treasure of their own in the area… but the main volume is hidden somewhere in a tunnel in the hills or the mountain areas nearby. There, is waiting to be found.

dominic said:

i am from iloilo and my cousins accidentally digsome rocks hidden under a a big kapok tree which we believe a hundred or more years old. whats unique with what they dug is there are vintage bombs hidden under the stones.as of now they keep it as a secret since thy were afraid that people may know.could you please give me some explanation to this.is is possible that there are treasures hidden together with this bombs.thanks!

olfer said:

my uncle accidentaly found a gold at the mountain with a water falls they took 4 each of them they bought a motor boat they fix there house nd everything but then they got sick both of them died but i remember something they mention all the sign 2 me before nd now im looking a metal detector to buy im here abroad now im going home to fine a treasure hehehe

Ricky Ebrada said:

It,s not yamashita treasure but prince chibubu treasure, brother of emperor hirohito, he is the once in charge in hiding looted treasure during WW2. A friend of mine has recovered treasure twice in two location, first a 13 pieces gold bars in different sizes and the second is 402 pieces of gold bars each weigh 6.2 kilos

Document confirms germ warfare by Imperial Japanese Army

BY NOBUYUKI WATANABE STAFF WRITER

About the medal

The Congressional Gold Medal, awarded by Congress, is one of the nation's highest civilian awards. Recipients include George Washington, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo Code Talkers, the American Red Cross, Mother Teresa, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lama.

13,000+ Japanese-Americans who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team

6,000 Japanese-Americans who served in the Military Intelligence Service

110,000+ People of Japanese ancestry sent to internment camps during the war

800+ Honorees expected at the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony (330 veterans, widows and other next of kin of deceased veterans)

Source: National Veterans Network

The Medical Detachment, 124th Infantry Regiment, was awardedBattle Honors and a Presidential Unit Citation for its outstanding performance of duty in action in Mindanao, Philippine Islands, during the period 6 to 12 May 1945. This became known as the Battle of Colgan Woods, in honor of Catholic Chaplain Thomas A. Colgan, the Regimental Chaplain who was killed during the battle.

Above: The Battle of Colgan Woods by Jackson Walker. This painting depicts Chaplain Colgan braving Japanese gunfire to come to the aid wounded medic Robert Lee Evans. Evans and Colgan were both killed. (Photo provided by Marion Hess)

TO: Brigadier General Joseph C. Hutchison
        Commanding General, 3lst Infantry Division, United States Army
    
    CAPITULATION
    
    1. I, Lieutenant General Gyosaku Morozumi Acting Commanding
    General of the 35th Army and Commanding General of the 30th
    Division, hereby unconditionally surrender on this day all
    the officers and men, and all arms, military equipment,
    records and supplies under my command to the Commanding
    General, 31st Infantry Division, United States Army.
    
    2. I agree faithfully henceforth to obey the orders of the
    Commanding General, 31st Infantry Division, and to direct all
    members of my Command so to do.
    
    3. I will use all means that I possess to secure as early as
    possible the assembly of all troops under my command within
    Reception Centers established by the United States Army, and
    will take action as directed by you to establish liaison
    with units and individuals who have not yet surrendered.
    
    4. I will report all known locations of explosives and
    mines, both land and water, where presence is a hazard to
    life and property.
    
    The document Is signed by Gyosaku Morozumi
    Lieutenant General, Imperial Japanese Army,
    Commanding
    
    8 September 1945
    
    ACCEPTED
    
    Signed by Joseph C. Hutchison
    Brigadier General, United States Army
    Commanding

Bob Webber in Cagayan de Oro. There must have been time for more than church. I found this photo which shows Dad holding the reins of a horse-drawn cart. This photo is dated 26 February 1946 and contains this handwritten note: Local transportation in Cagayan - Bob

He also talked about the native Moro people of Mindanao:

They weren't the friendliest people. You had to be careful around them, but we got along OK and some of the Moros scouted for the company. They didn't like you fooling with their women - didn't even like you to look at them. One day I had to go on a patrol across a river, and we ran into the Little People. They were very short, wore only G-strings, and carried bows and arrows. The Moros stayed away from them - wouldn't even cross the river with the patrol, because they knew it was their land.

Archie Peers on Mindanao in August 1945, shortly after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. (Archie Peers)

Archie Peers was in F Company, 124th Infantry Regiment, and wrote the poem The Men of the One-Two-Four. I called him in Krum, Texas, in June 2001. He is 79 years old, a retired postmaster, and is active in the Elks organization. He does not remember my father, but when I mentioned my Dad's diary, he hurried to get his own and read a passage he had written about the casualities in F Company during the Battle of Colgan Woods. He was in the 4th platoon (the heavy weapons platoon) and still writes to his former platoon leader, Albert Francis Magone of Monongahela, Pennsylvania, whom he described as "a pure Italian." Archie said that he was arunner. He explained:

On Mindanao in 1945, we were on the offensive, and the Japanese were on the defensive. Our company would send out patrols, and the Japanese would wait in ambush. The guy on point usually "got it." There were lots of casualities. As a runner, I was sent back by Captain Goodman [F Company Commander] and Lt. Magone to get a machine gun squad, plus whatever they wanted from the mortar section, and bring it up to their position.

June 10-14 1945

Landed at Buga on North coast. Rode by trucks during day and slept by roadside at night - beautiful country - road very bad but it winds like a snake thru the mountains. Cold at nite. Passed thru Del Monte Plantation. Crawford - Owner.

Bob Webber and Massie Vanderbilt posing with pineapples and weapons. This photo was probably taken during their truck convoy stop at the Del Monte pineapple plantation in Bukidnon Province in northern Mindanao. Dad is holding a Browning automatic rifle, which must have been Vanderbilt's weapon. Vanderbilt is holding an M1 Garand rifle, which was Dad's weapon. "Buga" is Bugo, on the north coast of Mindanao, 15 kilometers east of Cagayan de Oro, on Macajalar Bay. The Del Monte pineapple plantation is 34 kilometers southeast of Cagayan de Oro, near Camp Philips. Mr. Crawford was the plantation manager. General Douglas MacArthur escaped from the Del Monte Airfield in a B-17 before thePhilippines fell in May 1942. Mom told me that Dad described how he and some of his buddies went into the pineapple fields to sample the fruit. After they had returned to the trucks, some local Filipinos asked, "Did the snakes bother you?" Here are photos of a

The initial M1918A1 version of the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was first used in combat by American soldiers during World War I, and many saw service in World War II. The BAR received high praise for its reliability under adverse conditions.

In 1940, the model M1918A2 was adopted. Unlike earlier models, it could only be fired in two automatic modes--slow (300 to 450 rpm) or fast (500 to 650 rpm)--but not in semiautomatic mode. Both versions were widely used in the second world war. The USMC preferred the semiautomatic mode in some tactical situations, and modified most of the M1918A2 guns to include that capability. A buffer spring in the butt greatly reduced recoil, to the advantage both of firing accuracy and shooter endurance

The M1918A2 also mounted its folding bipod (2.38 pounds!) on a special flash hider near the end of the barrel. Since the bipod could easily be detached in this model, it very frequently was! but not often in defensive positions, where it was very effective. The flash hider, which was the point of attachment for the bipod, was not usually removed. Hiding the flash from enemy troops when firing on them isn't the purpose of the hider, all automatic weapons are easily visible when fired at night. It blocks the muzzle flash from the vision of the shooter, maintaining his night vision. That's important!

The Army infantry squad of nine men was tactically organized around a single BAR. The Marine squad of thirteen men was organized around three fire-teams, each organized around a BAR. The much greater fire power of a Marine platoon with its nine BARs over the Army platoon with its four BARs was a great combat advantage.

truck convoy in mindanao island and a typical

snake-like mountain road on Mindanao in 1945. The Del Monte Pineapple Plantation in Bukidnon Province, Mindanao.

June 14, 1945

You might call this the beginning of my combat experience. Yesterday we finally reached the rear echelon of Co. F. We slept in a tent and got rained out. I've been sleeping on the ground for about a month now. This morning I had my first hot meal in 3 weeks. After breakfast we began a hike that I will never forget. Partly because of the physical torture I endured and partly from seeing Jap corpses all along the way. We are fighting in the mountains about 13 mi. from Malabalay [Malaybalay]. The night of the 14 we dug in (4 of us to a hole) each fellow taking a two hour watch. The fellows were pretty trigger happy. Today I saw two dead Japs and a dead collaborator. Dr. Tom Deas confirms that this was near Silae, in the mountains due east of Malaybalay. He said, "F Company was part of Second Battalion and was the factor that cleaned out those Japanese in the Silae area."

Pikit, Mindanao Island 1945

PFC ROBERT THOMAS WEBBER
36925893    U.S. ARMY
"F" COMPANY
124TH INFANTRY REGIMENT
31ST DIVISION
BUKIDNON PROVINCE
MISAMIS ORIENTAL
MINDANAO
PHILIPPINES
1945

June 15, 1945

Today we hiked as far as a field hospital over one of the worst mountain trails there are. In the valleys you go into mud up to your waist and the trail over the mountains are wet and slippery; so far we've carried packs and rifles.

June 16, 1945

Today we added a 4.2 [inch] mortar shell to our load. (28 lbs)  We figured out that each guy was carrying 70 pounds now. My shoulders are raw from the pack straps. Going up the side of a mountain with such a load is just plain torture. You feel like your going to die from exaustion at any moment. 5 miles in these mountains is equivalent to a 20 mile hike with full field pack back in the states. Yesterday and today I saw dead Japs all along the way. Some were just bones, others just corpses by a few days. You can smell one coming up about 50 yards away. We've been drinking water from a fast flowing creek that is polluted by dead Japs. Today we waded knee deep in a swift mountain stream that nearly carried you away. (up stream.)  My feet have been wet for 3 days now.

I remember Dad telling me about this combat patrol. As the patrol hiked upstream, he and other new replacements drank from the stream, unaware that they would soon encounter the decomposing bodies of dead Japanese soldiers in the water. He described seeing maggots in the corpses and the skin peeling from their arms and hands. He also described the horrific realization of what was in the water he had been drinking.

June 16 [second entry]

We got to this place yesterday and have been resting all day. Our supplies are dropped by plane. A C-47 flies over every day and drops K rations. Ammo and Med supplies also dropped this way too. It's a damned queer feeling to be cut off from the rest of the world so completely.

June 17

Left the old Btn. hdqtrs. and head for F Co. which was on patrol in the mountains. Still have the mortar shells. Slept in an open field with a few dead Japs nearby.

June 18

Today we finally joined F Co. I'm now on one side of a river with the Japs on the other side. (just a swift stream). More physical endurance. Climbing the mountains. About noon a patrol brought in a Jap prisoner. They questioned him and then turned him over to the Guerillas. The Filipinos beat the hell out of him and then a couple of Replacements like myself shot him. I couldn't force myself to watch it and still feel like it was murder. However there was no possible way to get him back to a prison camp thru these mountains. After the boys pumped 30 slugs into him there wasn't much left of him. I feel that the guys that shot him did the wrong thing. They should have let the Filipinos finish him off. As I write now I'm in the dugout looking across the river. A few holes away on either side are 30 calibre heavies

[.30 caliber heavy machine gun]. We're dug in in a perimeter the only defense ever used at nite over here. Anybody that gets out of his hole from dark to dawn is a Jap. You shoot first and ask questions later. (or heave out a grenade)

Dad spoke of one soldier whose weapon was a Thompson Submachine Gun, who let him test fire the weapon. He described to me how the muzzle would rise up and to one side when firing a long burst. He later witnessed this soldier killing a Japanese POW with the weapon. It sickened him.

June 19

We were told that we were going back to Salay [Silae] to ambush 50 Japs. However when we got to Salay [Silae], we found that the Filipinos had taken care of the ones they found.

June 20, 1945

Today I was outpost guard on top of a high hill overlooking the Salay [Silae] valley. It's a former Jap observation post. Much to my surprise I found an old Catholic bell (Spanish) dated 1898. It had this inscription on it.

SAN YSIDOR LABRADOR
AÑO 1898

Saint Isidor Labrador in the year 1898. How it was ever brought up into these mountains is beyond me. They say that years ago a missionary traveled thru here.

My mother told me in May 2001 that Dad began smoking while in the Army in the Philippines. The Army provided cigarettes along with rations, and Dad told her that he sometimes smoked while on guard duty because "there was nothing else to do." He smoked cigarettes until 1953.

June 21

Today we marched back to the Palangy River. (where F Co. is located.)  Again we carried a 4.2 mortar shell back with us - I was really tired out when we got back. ["Palangy" is crossed out and rewritten as "Pulangi." It is marked for pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable.]

The Pulangi River is the name for northern reaches of the Mindanao River, east of Malaybalay. Silae is located west from the Pulangi River up Silae Creek.

June 22

Just layed around today. G company crossed the Palangy [Pulangi] on a patrol.

June 23

Today I crossed the River and we took over G Companies old perimeter. Although we sleep in dugouts, everybody is using Nylon sheets and covers. 4 of us got a red nylon 24 foot parachute that is used to drop ammo and medical supplies. Food is dropped without a chute. Each chute costs better than $150 - $200. However there is no way to get them out of the mountains, so the boys tear them up and use them.

June 24

I went on a 6 man security patrol up the river. Found a couple dead Japs killed by maching [machine] gun fire yesterday. No living Japs seen. This afternoon we came back over the river on a rubber raft.

June 25th

Back to Salay! [Silae]  We're finally going in.

June 26th

Layed around waiting C47 food drop.

June 27th

Went as far as hospital unit and supporting 105's. [105 mm howitzers]

June 28th

Got back to Malabalay [Malaybalay] at noon Thur. Had first hot meal.

Here is photo of a 124th Infantry mess hall in Malaybalay (Paul Tillery). Hot chow is always a favorite of any army in the field.

In October 1942 a group of 1700 prisoners from Java commenced work on the Burma end of the Death Railway, along with Major Green’s Force they were the first Australians to start work on the railway. The survivors of this group were to work for 15 long months, in some of the harshest and most disease ridden jungles in Asia. Most of the group were Australians however included in the party from Java were 111 Dutch and 190 Americans. Neil MacPherson from William’s force has supplied a map showing the journeys of three Hell Ship that these men endured to reach Burma. All of the prisoners that worked on the Burma end of the railway were transported by sea, unlike the Thailand work force who were transported by rail.

POW Hellship Yamagata Maru 3907 ton torpedoed 16th April 1944 off Mindanao loss 33 Japanese

Hundreds of the survivors from these three journeys, including Neil MacPherson were to survive a fourth Hell Ship journey on the Awa Maru, the last POW Hell Ship to survive the journey to Japan. Because over 10,000 POWs of the Japanese died through the sinking of Hell Ships in transit to Japan it was unusual for any prisoner to survive four journeys.

DUTCH POW'S SALUTE TO AN AUSSIE BUGLER     OTTO KREEFFT

The Bugler

Every night they came past our camp. A group of Aussies with their large felt hats, clearly visible in the bright moonlight. Their work was apparently further away than ours because they always passed well after we had retired to our sleeping mats, after our wash in the river and our meagre meal of rice with watery vegetable soup.
We could see their camp on a small hill on the other side of the railway embankment. Once the Aussies arrived on the top of the hill they did a roll call to make sure no one had been left en route. Dark silhouettes against the
moon-lit sky, commands sounded clear and crisp in the quiet Burman night. It was as if they were no exhausted POWs but a first draft of young conscripts. It was a prelude to a ritual they performed nearly every night. 
The Dutch POWs were full of astonishment and admiration for this level of discipline. They had respect for this close-knit and mentally undefeated group of men, who acted as if they still had to defend the honour of the British Empire.
After the roll call nothing happened for half an hour. The moon had climbed higher into the sky and was bathing the landscape in a light as if a strange sun had started a new day. The two huts on the hill appeared to have swallowed up all life and stood out unrealistically clear against the sky above the dark green jungle. You felt as if you were on another planet.
In the Dutch huts the men were patiently waiting for the rest of the ritual, which they already knew through and through but still wanted to witness again every time.
Then the bugler would play the Last Post.
In such a way that it sent shivers up your spine. As if he wanted to tell the Jap :
Listen.....we are not broken.....because we know for certain that eventually victory will be ours

In the camp you would hear a needle fall on the ground.
Everybody felt the same moral support of the bugler’s unspoken message.

JEEP ISLAND OFF SINGAPORE AUG-SEPT 1944

Many Australians who worked on the Burma Railway and who were selected for slave labour in Japan were first sent to River Valley Road Camp Singapore where they waited for transports to Japan.

In August 1944 several hundred of these prisoners were sent to an Island camp christened Jeep Island after the brutal guard in charge, some 400 yards off the main island of Singapore. Adjacent to the island was a Dry Dock under construction which was the work to which the prisoners were to be used, the map shown below was supplied by Tony Carter, author of Mick McCart

Red Star marks position of Island where we worked on the construction of a Dry Dock for the Japanese

In Rowley Richard’s book "A Doctor’s War" he covers the period we worked on the Dry Dock, and the brutality of the Jeep, his diary was hidden in the grave of Corporal Gorlic who died on the island.

The first group of these Australians were on the Rakuyo Maru which was torpedoed in the China Sea on the 12 September 1944, of these 543 lost their lives, 83 were rescued by the Japanese 92 by US submarines. In December 1944 I was one of the 525 remaining in River Valley Road camp that were shipped on the AWA Maru, the last Hell Ship to safely make the journey to Japan.

NEIL MACPHERSON

Some Death Railway Facts

NEIL MACPHERSON, WILLIAM’S FORCE, BURMA RAILWAY

Length of Railway 414.916 kilometres (257.9 Miles) Single line

Bridges 688 total, 680 timber, 8 Steel

Track Gauge 1 metre

Rails Southern part mainly 60lbs per yard (29.8kg/metre) 30-foot lengths

Rails Burma mostly 60 or 75lbs/Yd (29.8 or 37.2kg/metre 30 to 39 foot lengths

Rail Fastening Spiked direct to sleeper four per sleeper

Sleepers Hardwood 25 by 15 cm (10 by 6 Inches) 1400 to kilometre

Ballast Broken stone from local quarries and river bed gravel

Locomotives, Japanese C56

Gradients Highest point, 273.45 metres (897 feet) above sea level, Three Pagoda Pass

Gradients Second highest, Tampi 266.6 metres

Telegraphic Communication, Telegraph Line

Japanese Railway Regiments 5th Burma end & 9th Thailand

Work commenced in June 1942 at Non Pluduc, Thailand, and in October 1942 at Thanbuzayat in Burma, both ends were joined near Nikki 23rd October 1942

An Ex POW’s Daughter’s Story
DI ELLIOTT ADDRESS VJ DAY KANCHANABURI 2005

After 3 and a half years of captivity and deprivation, prisoners of war returned to the outside world: a world which had passed them by; a world that was completely and utterly alien; a world into which they were expected to re-enter and function, as if nothing had ever happened.

But how could that be? So much HAD happened.

For the prisoners, the memory of their families and life back home, a memory which had sustained them in their darkest hours, was not matched by reality. For the families, the men they had waited so long to see had changed irrevocably, physically and mentally.

Fathers came home to find the toddlers they said goodbye to were now at school; their older children, now adults. Their wives, having been forced to fend for themselves, were almost strangers.

For my brother, Dad's homecoming was a frightening time. Heading to the train station to meet someone he no longer remembered, he wondered if his father would remember HIM. Now aged 6, he was just a toddler when Dad left. When a soldier
stepped from the train, the nervousness and fears vanished, to be replaced by relief and pride. To his surprise, his father looked 'just like any other man'. I am sure it was also a time of great anxiety for Dad.

Born 3 years post-war, my early memories of Dad are of his drinking, the arguments this caused and his poor health when, wracked by malaria, he would lock himself away for days.

Whilst not happy memories, that was how it was. In my ignorance, I thought that was how all fathers were.

With the passing years the drinking and arguing ceased, but his poor health remained with him forever. My mother doted on him and cared for him tirelessly - without complaint.

I knew very little of Dad's war history. He told me once about the fighting and the men each side of him being killed. He had marks on his arms and back but I never knew what caused them. I knew he was at war with the Japanese as nothing 'made in Japan' was allowed in the house - Mum's orders.

About 15 years ago my sister found 27 weekly newspaper articles about World War 2 in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. They had been written by Dad in 1948. These articles gave me an insight to where he had been but I needed to know more, much more. It was from these stories that I now learned what the marks on his arms were - cigarette burns inflicted on him during a 3-day period of torture. And so my search began.

Thanks to people like the late Tom Morris and Rod Beattie, my quest to uncover the truth has been successful. I now know my father survived the Battle of Muar, during which his battalion was almost annihilated and his CO awarded the VC. He then survived the fighting on Singapore Island. I know as a POW he went to Burma as a member of A Force in 1942 and worked on aerodromes and roads, then on the Burma/Thai Railway; I know all the camps he was in throughout Burma and Thailand; I know the people he was with; I know that at Nakhom Pathon his mate Chris Guerin gave him a life saving donation of blood and I know he was too ill to go on the draft to Japan, which took the lives of so many when Rakuyo Maru was torpedoed; I know he travelled on the train through Hellfire Pass 5 times; I know he was with the Tunnel Party near the Burma border when the war ended; I know he was in Neike camp when released and eventually sent back to Singapore via Bangkok his very first plane trip. Whilst we tend to concentrate on the horror prisoners endured, we should also remember their families, especially wives and mothers.Husbands and sons returned home traumatised and in poor health. Having managed to survive imprisonment, without the support of their womenfolk many may not have survived freedom.There were years of adjustments ahead and it is to their credit that the majority made it - and without the kind of help they would be afforded today.

At times being the daughter of a prisoner of war was tough, but thanks to the help of Dad's friends, and mine, at least now I understand 'WHY'. Fred Howe, my father, died on 7th Aug 1975 - 30 years ago last week. 
I am enormously proud of him. 
I just wish I had the opportunity tell him so.

Finally, here is one more example of Rod’s depth of knowledge and access to official records. One of the projects I am working on is to record details of the 3000 Australians who reached Japan and spent time in Japanese camps.

267 Australians died in Japan, Korea and Hainan Island, however only 237 have graves in the Yokohama War Cemetery. Where are the other 30 graves?

The answer provided by Rod was this: At the end of the war many Australian POWs seized the ashes of their mates from the Japanese and carried them as far as Manila. The Australian Government has a long standing rule that their servicemen killed overseas (unlike the Americans, who repatriate their dead) must be buried in the area where they died, hence the number of Allied War Cemeteries overseas. Those ashes from Japan were confiscated and now have graves at the Labuan War Cemetery in Borneo and can be located on Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site – www.cwgc.org

All very well, but there remained another mystery - graves of three of the Australian POWs who died in Japan are not in Yokohama or Labuan - again Rod solved the mystery.

James Stewart Nicol, Charles Frederick Ward and William Thomas Leonard are buried in Section 82 Collective Grave Nos 1B, 1C and 1D, St Louis National Cemetery, USA.

All three died at Fukuoka No 1 Camp; because of a shortage of urns several lots of ashes were stored together in large urns. Because these Australian ashes were mixed with American ashes the US authorities insisted on their removal to America. by Rod Beattie

Rod’s immediate reply was:

A brief description of the parties of prisoners that were sent to the Burma Thailand Railway.

BY NEIL MACPHERSON 
Some of the research for this article was made possible with the generous assistance of Ron Taylor's FEPOW site Railway Parties see Links

Some statistics on the terrible toll taken by conditions imposed by a ruthless enemy are as follows:

These figures do not include the deaths of Railway workers moved to other locations and died from the treatment received while working on the railway.

Green, Ramsay & Anderson Forces and the British Battalion made up A Force under Brigadier Varley

GREEN FORCE under Major Green of the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion. This force started work on the Railway on the 1st October 1942, and were the first of No 3 Group to work on the Railway

RAMSAY FORCE Arrived at the 26 Kilo Camp 20th December 1942 on the 18th March 1943 they moved to the 75 Kilo Camp, then to 105 Kilo Camp on the 22 May 1943 where they were amalgamated with Black & Green Forces.

ANDERSON FORCE made up into Kumis of 50 men each, No 37 to 51, 750 men
Kumi 37 officers Kumi, 38 Warrant Officers Sergeants, arrived in Thanbyuzayat on the 5th October 1942. On 10th October only 710 marched to the first camp which was the 18-kilo camp ALEPAUK (Hlepauk) On the 3rd January 1943 this force moved to the 35-kilo camp Tanyin to join Williams Force, later became No 1 Mobile Force.

BRITISH SUMATRA BATTALION 498 British 2 Australians from Sumatra under Capt Apthorpe, including Australian surgeon Colonel Coates worked at the 18-kilo camp then joined the Americans under Capt Fiztsimmons, these were the only British prisoners working on the Burma end of the railway.

Java Parties

WILLIAMS FORCE under Lt Col John Williams C.O. of the 2/2nd Pioneers
made up of 884 men mainly 2/2 Pioneer Battalion, sailors of the Cruiser HMAS Perth. Arrived Thanbyuzayat late October 1942 and became part of 3 Group, moved to Tanyin 35 kilo camp first. Camp Commandant Lt Yamada was one of the best and tolerant Japanese Officers on the Railway who respected Col Williams, unfortunately he was later moved. The Medical Officer was Ear Nose & Throat Specialist Lt Col Eadie. In March 1943 with Anderson Force, moved back to the 26 Kilo camp Kunknikway, here they were to come under the control of the unpredictable and drunkard Lt Naito. On April 4th they commenced the work of laying the rails & sleepers through to where the two ends joined on 17 October 1943 known as No 1 Mobile Force. It should be noted that in all Australian camps on the Burma end of the Railway, Officers accompanied the men on the work parties and actively intervened to protect the men from punishment, often taking the bashing themselves. This was very much the rule in Williams and Anderson Forces where the Officers had won the respect of the men in action in Syria, Java & Malaya, Col Anderson won his Victoria Cross in the Malaya fighting.

BLACK FORCE Lt Col Chris Black included 610 Australians 190 Americans & 111 Dutch arrived Thanbyuzayat 30th October 1942 moved to 40 kilo camp Beke Taung Medical Officer was Australian Capt John Higgins, joined by Dutchman Dr Hekking In November the water supply failed and the force moved to the 26 kilo camp joining Ramsay Force, Padre Keith Matheson from the Cruiser HMAS Perth arrived to provide help for the sick.

NO 1 MOBILE FORCE. From the 26 Kilo point this group worked right through the wet season, staging through many of the camps laying the sleepers and rails also ballasting, hard and demanding work that took it’s toll of men. Dr Rowley Richards the Force Doctor accompanied the group right through to where the two ends were joined in October 1943, his book “the Survival Factor” graphically tells the story.

ALL DUTCH FORCE this force started work the 8 kilo camp Wagale, by the end of October 1942 it is estimated that 4600 Dutch POWs were working on the Burma end of the railway, believed to have come from Sumatra

NO 5 GROUP From Java 456 Americans 385 Australians, 159 Dutch, led by American Lt Col Thorp they left Singapore by train, 9th January 1943, at Penang they boarded the Hell Ship Moji Maru. 965 Dutch aboard the Nichimei Maru also left Penang in the same convoy On the 15th January the convoy was attacked by B24 Liberators, the Nishimei Maru was sunk with the loss of 40 Dutch prisoners, on the Moji Maru 25 prisoners were killed. On reaching Thanbyuzayat this group worked in the 18-kilo, 80-kilo and 100 Kilo camps. The death rate of 24% for the group was made up of 322 Dutch, 28%, 98 Americans 22%, 54 Australians 14%

Thailand Parties from Singapore

FIRST MAINLAND PARTY Under Major R.S.Sykes (later killed in air raid on 3rd December 1944) 3000 British left Singapore June 18, 20, 22, 24/26th 1942, their task initially was to build the housing camp at Non Pluduc to house future work parties en route for up country. These troops were also involved in building the railway through to Kanchanaburi, assisted by Thai workers.

K.L PARTY 401 British POWs left Kuala Lumpur Malaya on the 14th October 1942 for Ban Pong.

SIME ROAD PARTY 2600 British left Singapore in four train lots departing on the 17th 18th 20th and 22nd October 1942 for Ban Pong. Colonel Toosey led one party, the fictional British Colonel in the movie Bridge on the River Kwai was supposed to be fashioned on Toosey however nothing could be more opposite. Toosey was the leader responsible for the Prisoners at Tamarkan that built the two bridges over the Kwai he was most respected both by his men and the Japanese. Toosey tread a fine line between protecting his men and cooperating with the enemy.

Y PARTY Left Singapore for Ban Pong 24th October 1942 commanded by Major P.S.F.Jackson R.A. made up of 650 British from Adam Park;

LETTER PARTIES X, W, V, U, T, S, R. Lt Col C.E Morrison senior officer with six other Lt Colonels in charge of each Letter Party, 4550 British seven lots of 650 departed Singapore on the 25th, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31st October 1942

LETTER PARTIES Q, P, O, N, M, L, Lt Col D.R Thomas senior Officer with six other Lt Colonels travelling with each party, total number 3900, departed Singapore 1st, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6th November 1942 the combined Letter parties made up six separate train lots of 650.

Java Parties

DUNLOP FORCE Under the command of Lt Col Edward Dunlop a noted Australian surgeon, 895 made up of 15 Officers 12 WOs and 868 ORs left Bandoeng, they were joined before boarding the ship by other prisoners, Australian mainly with 159 Dutch, departed from Batavia, in January 1943 first by Hellship Usa Maru to Singapore then by rail to Non Pluduc. They were the first Australians to arrive in Thailand; they were transported by trucks to Konyu and later to Hintock where they remained for the duration of the construction, working on a particular difficult section involving cuttings and embankments. In February Dunlop commanded a force of 1873 prisoners including 623 Dutch. Cholera also took a huge toll of this force with 66 deaths, 84 cholera victims recovered due to a miracle of ingenuity when a distilling plant was manufactured from stolen copper piping. The saline fluid was injected directly into the patients to replace the rapid dehydration caused by the cholera. Initially Dunlop Force was housed at Hintock Jungle camp later Hintock River camp. The poem written by John Wisecap tells the story in graphic detail

JAVA PARTY 5, 6, 8 & 9 Made up of 16 train loads each of 625 they departed from Singapore during January and February 1943, consisting of 8750 Dutch and 1250 other nationalities.

JAVA PARTY 3000 Consisting of 2831 Dutch and 169 other Nationalities left Singapore in 5 train lots of 650 on 13th to 17th April 1943.

Singapore Parties

D FORCE Under joint command of British Lt Col G.G. Carpenter and Australian Lt Col Mc Eachern, 5000 POWs, 2780 British and 2220 Australian departed Changi 14th to 23rd March 1943 for Ban Pong The Australians were organised into three battalions, “S’ “T’ “U” commanded by Lt Col McEachern, Major E.J Quick and Capt Reg Newton This mixed force were spread over an area including Tarsao, Hintock, Konyu and Kinsayok and some worked on the notorious Hellfire Pass cutting

F. FORCE 7000 prisoners under the command of British Lt Col S.W.Harris, with Lt Col Dillon leader of the British and Lt Col Kappe Leader of the Australians, were sent by rail to Non Pluduc during the latter part of April 1943. Made up of 3666 Australians and 3334 British they were to suffer the highest casualties of any group. They remained under the control of the Malay Command, not the Thai-Burma Command so they suffered in the distribution of supplies. Another factor was the forced march of some 300 kilometres in shocking conditions to their work area
near the Burma border. The final disaster on top of over work, poor rations, and diseases rife in the area was the cholera epidemic, which struck during the wet season.
637 of F Force succumbed to Cholera up to September, 193 Australians, 444 British, 10% of F Force The final death toll for the British prisoners was 61.3% the Australians 29%. Of the 3336 British in F Force 2037 of them died, the Australians lost1060 men.

“H” FORCE Under British Lt Col H.R.Humphreys and Australian Lt Colonel Oakes the party of 3270 left Singapore in 6 train lots during the period 5th to the 17th May 1943. Consisting of 1141 British, 670 Australians, 588 Dutch, 26 Americans, Malay Volunteers and Indians made up the rest. A unique feature of H Force was an Officers Party made up of 260 Officers who worked as labourers. A number H Force were sick before departure, the last work party to leave for the railway their death rate was extremely high, like F Force they remained under the control of Singapore Command and suffered accordingly Initially this group went to Tonchan Camp 139 Kilometres north of Non Pluduc. The Australians under Lt Colonel Oakes with Major green 2/IC went to Konyu Camp 2 and worked on the Hellfire Pass Cutting, also the Three Tier Bridge, which took a deadly toll of the men. Living conditions were atrocious the only protection from then wet were 24 canvas tent flys (canvas sheets) The death rate in H Force was 27.4% or 885, of these 179 were Australians. Australian Medical Officers were Majors Ernie Marsden and Major Kevin Fagan. In August 1943 100 Australians were selected and force marched to Konkoita to join F Force on a cutting that was running behind time.

“K” FORCE Another medical part left Singapore 25th June 1943 under British Major E.E.D Crawford, made up of 230 medical staff 163 British, 55 Australian 11 Dutch and another National

“L” FORCE a medical party left Singapore on the 24th August 1943 led by British Lt Col H.C.B. Bebson R.A.M.C. made up of 42 British and 73 Australians

MEDICAL PARTY Made up of 28 Dutch and 2 other Nationalities left Singapore on the 87th February 1944 for Ban Pong. These people arrived four months after the railway Construction work was completed and were used to treat the sick prisoners.

The 26 Americans in H Force included 7 Merchant Navy Officers who were part of the Officers Work party in H.Force. 13 American prisoners initially worked on the Thailand end of the railway, on 5th May 1943, 19 American POW were sent up with H. Force, all were from the Thorpe’s Java party who were left in Singapore through sickness. Led by their only NCO Clayton S Gordon of S Battery 131 Artillery, they marched the 140 kilometres from Ban Pong to Hintock Camp, 6 were too sick to continue and remained in Kanchanaburi. At Hintock Mountain Camp they worked on the notorious “Three Tier Bridge at the 155 kilo point, four of this group died.

From Japanese Statistics: Horyo Saishu Ronkoku Fuzoku

Typical labouring scene- shows sue of chunkle, Jap Engineer and guard with labourers.
by Lt Fred "Smudger" Smith (Ransome Smith)

PHRA Pathom Chedi “Tallest Buhhdist Monument in the World” Monks and POWs in foreground.
by Lt Fred "Smudger" Smith (Ransome Smith)

Typical labouring scene. Shows Hammer and Tap, Embankment labouring, Timber felling and an excavated cutting.
by Lt Fred "Smudger" Smith (Ransome Smith)

Medical Evacuation On The Kwai Noi River 1943 
Drawing by Fred Ransome Smith (Lt Fred (Smudger) Smith- 5th Suffolks) and drawn 2006 from memory.

Medical Evacuation On The Kwai Noi River 1943
Drawing by Fred Ransome Smith (Lt Fred (Smudger) Smith- 5th Suffolks) and drawn 2006 from memory.

Remembrance Day Address Hellfire Pass 2007

As we stand here today, in silence, we remember those service men and women of the Malayan Campaign, who, in their defence of Australia died or were captured and made Prisoners of War and, in particular, those who suffered and died on this infamous Railway.

There is a perception in some minds that the Malayan campaign was a pushover for the Japanese. I would like to correct that impression. I would like to remind you that France was captured by the German army within 6 weeks, Greece was captured in 4 weeks a total of 10 weeks. It took the Japanese army 10 weeks to capture Singapore! The army was never defeated, but, those in charge capitulated to save the civilians from the inevitable.

In the campaign Japan used 125,000 troops and had 15,000 in reserve. The allies used 88,000 and of these some 15,000 were Australians. The Japanese were superior in the air having 530 modern Zero aeroplanes whereas the allies had only158 ancient Hudsons and Vilderbeests. The Japanese had 174 tanks, the allies had none. 2,500 Australians were either killed in action, missing or died of wounds. I have no record of the Japanese losses but I believe it to be very much greater.

When the Japanese met resistance they would halt and hold their position, meantime sending excess troops around the flanks to cut off and prevent an allied retreat. The allies would have to withdraw. This happened at Gemas when the Japanese advance was halted by the Australian 30th Battalion, and again at Muar where the 19th and 29th Australian battalions were involved.  In the Japanese records of the campaign it is recorded that the toughest resistance was when they were halted by the Australians.

For the record, I was a member of the 2/10 Aust Field Ambulance a medical unit made up of men mainly from Newcastle and the North coast.  The total strength of the unit was 292, which included a detachment sent to Rabaul. Of the 292 members of the unit who embarked, 131 returned. The remainder 161 were either killed in action or died as POW’s of the Japanese. Some died in the infamous Tol Massacre near Rabaul, others on the Sandakan march in Borneo, and others slaving in Japan and on this Railway.

A short time after capitulation the POW’s were ordered to Changi, where the Australians were to occupy the peace time barracks of the Gordon Highlanders, commodious for a battalion but very crowded for more than ten times that number. There was insufficient water and far too few toilet facilities. Sleeping accommodation on cement floors was crowded. Food was sparse and consisted almost wholly of rice.

Soon various groups were sent off to work for the Japanese. Some were sent into Singapore to load goods from the various warehouses onto ships to send to Japan. I was the medical officer for one of these groups. Two groups named C Force and J Force were sent to Japan to work in the coal mines and in the naval dockyards. B Force, which included most of my unit, the 2/10 Field Ambulance., was sent to Borneo to build an aerodrome. A Force was sent by boat to Burma to work at that end of the infamous Railway. Together with the remainder of my unit I was sent on F Force to work up from the South.

It is not my intention today to dwell on the horror trip from Singapore to Thailand in the overcrowded steel trucks, nor on the 300 odd Km march at night to the top end of the railway, under frightful conditions of rain and mud, on difficult jungle tracks, as I am sure you are familiar with both.  However I would like to describe the conditions at Banpong the town at the end of the rail journey in Thailand, and the start point of the march. My main recollection is of mud, a ground fowled with faeces from over flowing latrines, discarded packs, personal clothing and other goods all scattered in dumps over the camp area. In Singapore we had been told we were to go to a country overflowing with milk and honey and to take all our possessions with us. We did, but on arrival we were told we would have to carry all our personal goods for a 300 km march. Hence the mess!

I would like to relate to you an interesting sidelight to this. I had purchased a pewter mug before the war, which I had intended as a gift on my return home. One of my unit had engraved it with some tropical scenes, my name, my unit, and the date 24th May 1942 which the older of you will remember as Empire Day. Naturally, to my great sorrow, I decided to discard it in Banpong. Some weeks later at Songkurai the so called death camp at the top end of the railway, when the personal goods of a dead soldier were being examined, there was the mug. I brought it home and it remains as a momento, not only of those horrible days, but also of mans folly.

Nor is it my intention to discuss the horrid diseases Dysentry, BeriBeri, Malaria, Tropical Ulcers and Cholera to which the malnourished and overworked troops were subjected, nor the crowded unhygienic huts in which they were housed, nor the mud and slush in which the huts were situated nor the lack of medicine all of which you are all undoubtedly familiar, but I will end this address with the reasons I believe so many were able to survive.

Firstly: Mateship! An Australian icon!  It was said that without a mate you would be lucky to survive. He looked after you when things were bad and vice versa. I have seen sick men, themselves at the point of exhaustion, carry the gear of a mate as well their own because he couldn’t. Men survived because their mate fed them and tendered them when they were ill.

Secondly: The medical orderlies. These men, often with little nursing experience, would care for the sick with tender loving care. They would carry the sick to the latrines, bathe them, wash them, and if they were too sick, bring them a bedpan made of bamboo. They would bathe their tropical ulcers and dress them with bandages made out of dead mans clothing, wash and boil them again and again. Finally encourage them to eat and feed them, even though they would resist. Doctors got much praise for their attention to the sick, but the medical orderlies disserved just as much praise or more. I feel privileged and honoured to have worked with them!  

Thirdly and finally - the best of all medicines – Laughter. I would like to end this address with a story. Knowing the value of making a patient laugh, I, together with some of the more musical members of my unit arranged concerts for the sick.

For example, one of the themes was Hawaiian. We would dress up in palm frond hula –hula skirts with coconut halves for boobs and, without any music, sing Hawaiian songs such as “To you sweetheart “halloa – halloa” from the bottom of my heart” and so on.

An Australian soldier wrote a book on his experiences on the Railway. He wrote that at one time he was at the point of despair. He was hungry, sick and exhausted. He had lost all his mates and was so depressed that he lay down in the mud to die. I quote. “The Medical Officer who ran the hospital came to pick me up. I refused to move, all I wanted to do was die. He had me carried to the hospital ward against my will. Soon after my arrival the MO and his staff began a concert. It was so stupid that I started to laugh. I never looked back.” 

Lest we Forget

Written by Captain (Medical Officer) Peter Hendry NX35147 2/10 Field Ambulance 
“F” Force at Songkurai POW Camp near the Burma border                 October 2007

I feel greatly honoured to have been invited to give this address today.
 
What better day than today, Remembrance Day, to remember some real heroes, I refer of course to the Doctors who were on the Burma Thailand Railway.  These men, who to paraphrase Winston Churchill "did so much to help so many when they were so few."

There were 43 Australian doctors, even more British doctors, numerous Dutch, two Americans and a Canadian on the Burma Thailand Railway.  I could not mention them all.  I must acknowledge that present here today there are five members of the family of British doctor Major Vincent Bennett and the step-daughter and son-in-law of Australian doctor Captain John Lindsey Taylor MC.

I would like to mention 5 doctors with whom I had some personal involvement.  First and foremost was Dr Roy Mills, the Medical Officer with Pond's Party, part of the larger "F" Force at Taimonta and Konkoita.  Roy was a gentle, mild mannered soul who was unlucky enough to come under the control of one of the most brutal Japanese Camp Commanders on the line, Capt. Muryama, a big brutal, sadistic ex Military Policeman who was later tried as a War Criminal and was. sentenced to death.  The sentence was later commuted.

Captain Mills suffered many bashings at the hands of Muryama and his henchmen in trying to save sick men being forced out to work.  As a large number of my Unit, 8th Division Signals, were with Pond's Party he was later made an Honorary member of our Unit Association.

When I went down with dysentery I was transferred to Nikke Camp where I met Dr Peter Hendry.  In his own words Peter said he tried to accommodate the Japs demands for "workers", as the men would have been forced out to work regardless.  So he had the unenviable task of selecting the fittest of the sick to fill the work quotas.

While at Nikki I was also infected with Malaria and as the line was completed down as far as Nikki from the Burma end I was, along with many others, sent by train to the Tan Baya Sick Camp in Burma.  About 1,900 "F" force men were sent to Tan Baya around August 1943 and by year's end 671 had died.

At Tan Baya Hospital Camp I met Doctors Major Bruce Hunt, Captain Frank Cahill  and an Indian Medical Service doctor, Dr Patrick Wolfe.  Bruce Hunt, who was in charge, was a strict disciplinarian and on our return to Singapore suffered some criticism for his methods.  But he brought "order out of chaos" and did a magnificent job controlling that Camp.

Having recovered from dysentery and malaria I offered my services as a voluntary medical orderly and was "put to work" in the combined Ulcer/Dysentery Ward.  Not the most salubrious of places in which to work.

On some mornings I would have to accompany Dr Wolfe, a small but very happy man, to conduct a "dawn patrol" to see how many patients had died during the night and arrange for the bodies to be taken to the cremation area.  As was traditional at that time all the British and Australian doctors were accorded the rank of at least Captain but Dr Wolfe of the Indian Army Medical Service, despite being a fully qualified doctor, was only accorded the rank of Sergeant Major.

If my memory serves me right, there were some 40 amputations performed at Tan Baya and Dr Frank Cahill, being the only surgeon there, did them all.  Working with only the most basic items of equipment, some scalpels, some forceps and a wood saw that was also used for cutting wood for the kitchen and the funeral pyre and then had to be sterilized in boiling water before being used to saw through the bones.  On one or two occasions I was present with an empty rice sack to collect the amputated limb and take it to the cremation area.  Unfortunately only four amputees survived as most were too debilitated to withstand the shock of the operation 

These courageous and dedicated doctors will always hold a place of honour in the memory of all those to whom they ministered during those dark days.  It is fortunate that Don Wall published his book "Heroes of "F" Force".  In conclusion, we should acknowledge the efforts of all the doctors and the others who helped their mates.  They are all truly "unsung heroes".  

Signaller Norman Anderton 1941

(This address was originally made at Thanbyuzayat 1 May 2003 and has been modified to apply generally to the Burma Thailand Railway)

We gather today to remember and honour all those who slaved, and those who died, on the Burma Thailand Railway as Prisoners of War of the Japanese over 60 years ago. We also remember those who have since died as a result of their experience.

Over 61,000 Allied POWS were sent by the Japanese to slave on this railway, together with over 200,000 Asian conscripted labourers (Coolies). Over 13,000 Allied POWs died on the railway and it is estimated that over 90,000 Coolies also died.

I pay special tribute to the Australians who were in my care and who died in spite of the TLC (tender loving care) given by my dedicated and compassionate Medical Orderlies and my own best efforts. The Medical Officers received kudos which rightly belonged to the Medical orderlies – they were the ones who did the hard work.

I admire those men for the ANZAC qualities they demonstrated – mateship, courage and bravery, indomitable spirit and determination, sense of humour, ability to improvise, and their never-ending hope and optimism.

Their mateship was legendary – I never once saw a sick Australian who did not have somebody to care for him.

They faced the terrors of cholera, dysentery, malaria, malnutrition, starvation and other tropical diseases, together with brutality and bashings, with remarkable courage and bravery.

They never lost their spirit to survive, their sense of humour and they never lost their hope of returning home to their loved-ones.

I have many, many memories of life, and death, on the Railway. One that stands out is our experience with the dreaded cholera which exemplified those qualities.

In May 1943 we moved into Taunzan at the 60 kilometre peg from Thanbyuzayat to find a filthy, muddy and dilapidated camp below a native Burmese camp and about 100 metres from a native Burmese cemetery with 150 to 200 open graves. Anderson Force shared this camp with Williams Force which I had also looked after while their Regimental Medical Officer, Lt Colonel Eadie, was away. On his return I took over the establishment and running of the isolation “hospital”

The entry in my diary of 12 May 1943 expresses the horror I felt:
“Dead Burmese all over the place. Cause of death - ?Cholera, ?Smallpox, ?Plague”.
The entry on 27 May 1943 gives the answer:
“Cholera has commenced! 3 days ago a Nip died in this camp. This AM D…. died and S…. looks like dying. Also one from Williams Force. Nip took rectal smears of both.
Established isolation”.

For once we had cooperation from the Japanese, for they feared cholera as much as we did.

A special squad under Sgt Wilstencroft, an 8 Div Engineer, was detailed to convert a disused cattle pen into an isolation hospital. It was complete with fireplaces, latrines, and a series of separate decks, each carrying four to six patients at intervals of three or four metres. They were arranged so that patients with cholera, suspected cholera, dysentery, and severe diarrhoea could be formed into small groups, making for ease in isolation when any were found to be bacteriologically or clinically positive cases of cholera. There was no shortage of volunteer medical orderlies from both Anderson and Williams Forces to staff the isolation hospital.

This demonstrated the benefit of our previous training in hygiene discipline such as sterilizing the dixies before and after eating, the men’s ability to improvise, courage in facing the dreaded disease and true mateship in action.

The outcome – There were only four deaths from cholera in Anderson Force during the first four days followed by two further cases in July and three in September/ October, the latter being complicated by dysentery and malaria. The experience in Williams Force was similar but very different from that of some other forces.

On behalf of all the Allied Prisoners of War, and their families, I thank all who are responsible for assisting us to preserve the memories of these men. The cemeteries at Thanbyuzayat, Chungkai and Kanchanaburi are testimony to the release from suffering of so many. This area at Hellfire Pass is a representative symbol of the railway, without being able to depict the actual deplorable conditions suffered.

May they rest in peace.

Rowley, ex-POW, December 1945

 Note from Lt Col Winstanley – In 2005 Rowley Richards published his story in a book titled “A Doctor’s War” ISBN 0 7322 8009 5. It is recommended.

Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15 February 1942 and around 100,000 allied troops became POWs in the Singapore region. Early April 1943 the Japanese demanded 7000 allied prisoners of war from the Changi area, to be sent north to a camp where there would be better food and no work. Accordingly light sick could be included. The make up of the party would be about half British and half Australian and was known as “F” Force.

My name is Vanessa Wade and I am the daughter of John Parkes, here present today together with fellow ex POWs - Bill Lawson from the UK , Bill Haskell (Perth), Fred Hodel (Queensland), Cyril Gilbert (Queensland), Bill Flowers (Victoria) and Roy Whitecross (New South Wales). This is John’s story in his own words.

It is generally conceded that “F” Force suffered most of all the groups sent to labour on the Railway. Certainly, the mere stats of the deaths would suggest that. 61% of the British and 28% of the Australians died in the time they were on the “line”.

The first party of F Force to leave Singapore was known as Pond’s Party, a group of 700 fit and semi fit men. After we left Singapore Pond’s Party had no permanent contact with the rest of F Force.

On 17th April 1943 we left Changi early morning arriving at Singapore railway station at daybreak. It was obvious from the start that it was not going to be a pleasure trip. The train was ready at the station. It consisted of nothing more than metal rice trucks and an engine and nothing more. The guards were yelling and screaming, waving sticks and cramming about 30 men into each truck.

The train trip lasted 4 nights and 5 days. Food and water were scarce and if you wanted to go to the toilet someone had to hold your arms whilst you hung out the open door. 
Some were forced to stand, some squatted or sat on the floor and few were able to lie down. Invariably when the train stopped, it stopped alongside a swamp. We were not allowed off the train. The mosquitoes fed well on us.

Finally we arrived at Ban Pong in Thailand. There we discovered that we had to march about 300 kilometres to the region of the Burma border. We stayed overnight in a filthy camp and for the next 17 days we walked by night along a narrow jungle track with no light to guide our steps. We slept by day, if we could. The day temperature was over 40 degrees and the monsoon rains were just starting

On the second night we arrived at Kanchanaburi or Kanburi as we knew it, on Anzac Day 1943. The town was small then and on the edge of a dense jungle. We left the next night and walked through more jungle under similar harsh conditions. We had little food and water. Some nights we walked for hours with no water or food. It was a dreadful walk.

We moved north and passed through Koncoita. This was about 260 Kilometres from our start point. We stayed there one night and moved on to Teimonta. We had hardly any time to settle into our accommodation of huts with no roofs, when we were put to work pile driving. After this we started work building embankments. Initially the quota for moving soil was 200 baskets per day for 3 men and after you had reached the quota you could return to camp. This arrangement didn’t last long because the quota was fairly easy to meet. The Japanese decided to up the quota and it rose gradually and finally got up to 700 baskets per day per 3 men. This was a nearly impossible task, men were struggling to achieve this and we had to stay there until the quota was filled even if this meant that you worked on into the night, working under the light of bamboo flares. We never saw our beds in daylight, as we were up before dawn for sick parade, a bowl of rice and then off to walk the 2 kilometres or so to the work site.

It was at Teimonta that cholera stuck. It was the start of the monsoon and the rain did not stop until we finished work several months later at Takanoon. We were working, eating and sleeping in the rain much of the time. A separate cholera tent was set up and the medical staff led by Dr Roy Mills and George Beecham did their best to treat the victims of cholera for whom there was little hope. Men were dying every day and we had to cremate bodies every day. Dr Mills tried to treat men with intravenous injections (IVI), but it was almost hopeless and very few survived. He was unable to cope with the workload on his own and trained his medical orderlies in the IVI procedures. The cholera continued to strike right through the rainy season from Teimonta to Nikke and down to Takanoon. Approximately 56 from Pond’s Party died of cholera.

The Japanese wanted 300 reasonably fit men to go to Nikke. Many of these so called “fit” men were quite sick and some were later sent on to the hospital camp at Tanbaya in Burma, along with our well respected Signals Captain, Fred Stahl. A third of the men sent to Burma died there.

At Nikke there were a lot of Burmese bullocks loose on the edge of the jungle and it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss to have some beef. In the 9 days we were there, we acquired and killed 23 bullocks. The first night we sat up all night eating, the meat was tough and stringy and it didn’t do our digestive system much good, but it filled our stomachs.

We returned to Teimonta and joined the rest of Pond’s Party and walked and worked our way back 70 kilomteres down to Takanoon, carrying all our stretcher cases, cooking gear and tools. Whenever we moved the guards made us carry heavy bundles of tools up to 10 to 15 kilometres before we could return to the camp for something to eat. As soon as we were out of sight of the guards we tossed some of the tools away into the jungle and retied the bundles as before. The guards never once found out what we had been doing. We were lucky as other parties were dealt with severely for losing tools etc. This went on whenever Pond’s Party moved.

Once again, when we arrived at Takanoon there were no huts and we had to establish a cookhouse and dig latrines whilst sleeping at night under old tents. Some of us built our own humpies with whatever materials we could scrounge. The camp was built on what was essentially a mud heap on the edge of the jungle. The tents leaked most of the time and men were stacked in like sardines and lying in the mud. We lived under these conditions for 5 months.

During this time 150 of us fitter men were sent 4 kilometres north to work on building embankments. One morning a party of Japanese arrived with rifles and bayonets and they marched us out to a ledge on the side of the river. We were made to line up and they ordered us to remove the few clothes we had on, including the bandages covering ulcers. We had to line up against a wall naked and it looked a bit like the end. We really believed that we were going to be shot. We said goodbye and shook hands with one another. The guards searched through our clothes and we were puzzled to find later that they had also gone through our meagre belongings back at camp, though we couldn’t imagine what they thought they would find.

During our time at Taknoon, our rations were cut. The Japanese said that as sick people couldn’t work their rations were cut to one meal a day. Those who were working all agreed to give some of their rations to the sick to help them survive. That enabled everyone to have at least 2 meals per day.

The only food available from the jungle was wild bananas, about the size of your finger and full of black seeds, the young leaves of the banana palms, the red banana flowers and bamboo shoots. Our rations per day for the month of May 1943 were 537 grams rice, 12grams onion, 1 gram towgay, 1 gram dried whitebait and 1 gram of beef per man. Hardly sufficient to maintain anyone let alone men working up to 16 hours a day.

From Takanoon we went back up 70 km to Teimonta to the place where the railway line ultimately joined up. We then had to walk another 20 km back up the line to catch the train, even though it was going right past our camp at Teimonta. A ridiculous waste of time and effort for us and a ludicrous organizational effort by the Japanese.

During the 9 months we were in Thailand we were on the move all the time. We never had the opportunity of developing a campsite with improved facilities. We were continually setting up camps, carrying the sick from one place to another and transporting all our tools, cooking gear and our tents. An increasingly heavy burden was that we became more malnourished and sick.

For the 9 months we were on the line approximately 50% of F Force died, two thirds British and one third Australian and in Pond’s Party similar statistics prevailed. Without the efforts of our wonderful doctor, Roy Mills and his medics I believe it would have been worse. He and the medical staff worked day and night to try to help the sick with limited or no medicine or medical equipment. Roy Mills himself had been ill all the time he was with us. He carried shrapnel in his shoulder from the defence of Singapore until he managed to have a British Medical Officer remove it on 18 October near Koncoita. Unfortunately Dr Mills contracted TB and on his return to Australia, was unable to work and spent 2 years in hospital.

The sense of humour displayed when times were bad and the mateship amongst the men of Pond’s Party were I believe important factors for survival and an important part of what got us through the experience. For many of us, the friendships made then have lasted over 60 years and continue today.

Lest we forget

Sig CJ (John) Parkes
NX 72917
8th Division Signals- Malaya,Singapore,Thailand.- 11 November 2005

It seems incredible that sixty years have passed since we laboured on the railway to Burma, by which name we knew it at the time. Often in those dreadful days you would not have given yourself a chance of surviving for a few days let alone sixty years. It is therefore with a sense of deep gratitude that I recall the unswerving dedication of all medical staff and the abiding friendship of wonderful mates who made survival possible in a universe of madness and suffering. When you are bereft of everything, save perhaps a loin cloth or a tattered pair of shorts the only thing we could offer each other was a helping hand and encouragement to battle on towards better times. In January 1943 as a member of a force known as Dunlop Force, commanded by Lt. Col. “Weary Dunlop” we moved up from Java into the Konyu Hintok area to commence work on the railway. Fortunately it was during the dry season and we were transported most of the way from Bam Pong in open trucks. What a great advantage this gave us over our comrades of the various forces who were compelled to march in monsoonal rain and slush to such camps as Songkurai, Nikki and other hell holes.

Our initial job was to construct the Konyu River Camp and clear the rail trace. We then moved across to Hintok Road Camp and began working in earnest. Our work area embraced the three major cuttings after Hellfire Pass culminating in the compressor cutting. It also included the curved seven metre embankment, the three tier trestle bridge and numerous smaller trestle bridges that linked knoll to knoll. Circumstances also made us available to work on the fallen Pack of Cards Bridge that was mainly built by Tamil labourers.

No matter where you worked the job was arduous in the extreme, particularly for the many men who had to work barefooted. In common with every POW camp food was at a premium. Rice, of course, was the staple diet, but there was little enough of it. For the evening meal it was served with a very watery soup, with sometimes a smidgen of meat or dried fish known as “Modern Girls”. The Japanese were merciless task masters and bludgeoned men into long hours of soul-destroying work. During one of the wettest monsoons on record there were 114 wet days and our camp was worked for 92 days straight without a break. This has come to be known as the speedo period. The huge embankment was built by scraping dirt garnered between rocks into double handled baskets which were passed along a man made chain. Often the spoil was carried away in tankas – a rice sack strung between two bamboo poles. Japanese, strategically placed, bashed anybody they thought might be slacking. In their weakened condition men often collapsed under a rain of savage blows and kicks.

The construction of the numerous cuttings probably contributed most to the ruination of so many men. The work would have been hard for men in good physical shape, but was an absolute disaster for men battling recurrent disease on starvation diets. Most of the cuttings were put in by men working with hammer and tap. One man held the drill while his mate belted it with a sledge hammer. Drilling quotas were set by the Japanese and the drilled holes were primed with gelignite and fired twice a day. After firing the clearers moved in to clear the floor for the next drilling. Clearing was an awful job universally detested. The blasting left razor sharp edges which tore bare feet to shreds. The loose rock was carried away in tankas and emptied over the side. Blasting was indiscriminate and men were frequently clobbered by falling stones. The cuttings were a sweat box from the radiated heat and the workers suffered great thirst. We were only allowed one army bottle of water a day. Many of our strongest men broke down, often doing too much to protect a sick mate. The Japanese made no concessions for sick men and often used them as an excuse for handing out more bashings. Building the three tier bridge presented all sorts of difficulties. It was a giant of a structure about 25 metres high and 250 metres long. The timber for it and all other bridges was cut from the surrounding jungle and hauled to the site by prisoners. There it was prepared and erected under the supervision of the Japanese engineers. The sergeant in charge was a sadist of the first order who delighted in throwing tools and pieces of wood at unsuspecting prisoners working below.

The long working hours, the intense harassment on the job, the lack of footwear and the starvation diet affected men’s health to a point where they became absolute sitters for all the tropical diseases that were indigenous to the area. Malaria and dysentery were their constant companions. There was little quinine available to control malaria and nothing with which to treat amoebic dysentery. With the monsoonal rain the camp became a quagmire and going to the toilet at night became an almost insuperable problem for debilitated men racked with abdominal pain.

A lack of vitamins in the diet soon brought on all sorts of complaints ranging from beri-beri to red raw mouths, tongues and throats. Beri-beri caused gross swelling of the limbs and stomach, making walking in itself very difficult, let alone having to get out to the rail trace and work when you got there. Cuts and wounds on the legs and feet generally became infected due to the absence of antiseptics, disinfectants and bandages. Many lesions soon turned into tropical ulcers which often as not became gangrenous. Hundreds of men had limbs amputated as a last resort.

Perhaps the greatest scourge of all was cholera visited on our camp by passing Asian labourers who unfortunately were denied any sort of treatment whatsoever. Cholera rapidly dehydrates the body through purging and vomiting. As the fluid leaves the body so do the body salts thus inducing severe cramp in all muscles. Cholera claimed many lives in our camp before a still was manufactured from salvaged material, enabling the production of pure distilled water to be turned into a saline solution for intravenous injection into comatose patients. This procedure was marvelously successful resulting in the saving of 60% of all cholera patients.

When we look back over those troubled times is it any wonder that we thank the Good Lord for his provision of steadfast mates and above all for the doctors and medical staff who overcame incredible difficulties to return so many men to their loved ones at home

In February 1942, 3000 Australians, the vanguard of the 7th Division, returning to Australia from the Middle East on the SS Orcades, were diverted to help slow the invaders sweeping all in front of them towards Australia. On the 15th February an attempt to land the two fighting units, Pioneers and Machine Gunners at Oosthaven Sumatra was aborted when on landing it was found that the enemy was only 12 miles away. The force next day disembarked at Batavia, their places aboard the Orcades taken by the evacuating Wavell’s Headquarter staff. In Java despite lack of air and sea support our lightly equipped force inflicted severe losses on the invaders but at a cost. In my company alone we lost our Company C.O. two platoon officers and many others.

On the 8th March the Dutch authorities surrendered the island along with all allied forces. At 19 years of age I became a prisoner of a cruel and brutal enemy and joined over 22,000 fellow Australians in captivity. Of these over 8,000 or 36%, were to pay the supreme sacrifice. Most were to suffer an intolerable cruel and lingering death.

In September 1942 under the command of our legendary Pioneer C.O. Lt Colonel Williams, 1800 prisoners from Java were shipped to Burma in conditions that today we would not allow sheep to travel. This involved three separate journeys, in three Hell Ships. Arriving in Thanbyuzayat in October 1942, we joined the first of Brigadier Varley’s A Force of Australians just arrived from Tavoy, with them we were the first Australians to start work on the Burma Thailand railway. The next Australians to arrive in Burma, in January 1943, also from Java, No 5 Group. The first Australians to commence work on the Thailand end were also from Java, Dunlop Force in January 1943.

The following 15 months were to test the metal, the morale, and the Anzac spirit of the Australian prisoners in Burma. We labored on a starvation diet of a hand full of rice and watery usually meatless stew, clearing the jungle, on embankments, on cuttings, on bridges. In the heat of the dry, and the misery and slush of the wet. Then, we survivors, along with Anderson Force, were selected as No 1 Mobile Force, to carry out the arduous and demanding task of laying the sleepers and rails, along our previously worked ground. We worked continually through the wet, from Thanbyuzayat right through into Thailand where the two ends were joined on 17th October 1943. Our clothes and footwear, long destroyed in the fetid jungle, left our only protection from the burning heat and the rain, a loin cloth. Bed bugs and lice left by native workers made for harrowing and restless nights. From the start deaths were continuous and as our numbers dwindled so our work hours grew With no drugs whatsoever, malaria, dysentery, beri beri, pellagra, tropical ulcers, smallpox, and finally cholera took its toll. The dedicated Doctors and medical staff were supermen. Working with make-shift instruments and few drugs, without their efforts our losses would have doubled. Our torment continued till January 1944 when the survivors, wrecks of men, in rags, staggered out of their jungle camps to be transported to the well organised better-equipped camps in Tamarkan & Kanburi (Kanchanaburi).

Despite a continuing death rate from the results of our ordeal, after six months of improved food and lighter work we survivors regained some semblance of health, little did we know that this was part of a well designed plan by our captors.

Thousands of Railway workers, Australians in a majority were selected for shipment to Japan as slave labour, to work in mines, factories and on the docks. Thousands of them were to die in Hell Ships sunk by US submarines. My luck as a survivor continued, I was on the last ship, the Awa Maru, my fourth Hell Ship, to successfully make the journey. We arrived in Japan in January 1945, the coldest winter Japan experienced in 40 years, to spend the remaining months working in a coalmine.

An unknown author described conditions on board these Hell Ships thus
“Crowded onto cramped platforms, with barely enough space to turn around, a mass of unwashed bodies struggling to survive in a sea of sweat and revolting smells in the stifling heat of the holds. Initially in the tropical heat near the equator, but the ensuing month was to see us making our way across snow covered decks for our l toilet functions”

Today we remember those who paid the supreme sacrifice, some of them rest in this well kept garden setting. But we must also remember those survivors who returned home. They took up life where they left off, brought up families, helped build a great nation, most drew a curtain on the horrors through which they had lived. But for many the hidden horrors surfaced in the unguarded hours of sleep, and to this day many still suffer the trauma of repeated night mares along with the ravages of the diseases they suffered.

Now, what were the positives that came out of our experiences, we the lucky ones, the survivors, discovered the will to survive, we discovered mate ship, we discovered compassion, a caring and a bond for our fellow prisoners that transcends that, and is different to that we have for the opposite sex. For us teenagers, and there were many of us, just walk along the line of graves here and read the ages, we matured quickly, we adapted, we found a maturity far above our age, we learned self discipline, most importantly we discovered mate ship.

“No prisoner on the railway survived who did not have a mate” I can best illustrate that special mate ship between Australian POWs by reciting a poem written by an Australian ex POW, Duncan Butler 2/12th Field Ambulance.

MATES

I've travelled down some lonely roads
Both crooked tracks and straight
An' I've learned life's noblest creed
Summed up in one word "Mate"

I’m thinking back across the years,
(A thing I do of late)
An’ this word sticks between my ears
You’ve got to have a mate

Someone who'll take you as you are.
Regardless of your state
An' stand as firm as Ayers Rock
Because "e" is your mate

Me mind goes back to 43,
To slavery an' ate,
When man's one chance to stay alive
Depended on 'is mate.

With bamboo for a billie-can
An' bamboo for a plate,
A bamboo paradise for bugs,
Was bed for me and me mate.

You'd slip and slither through the mud
An' curse your rotten fate:
But then you’d hear a quiet word:
“Don’t drop your bundle mate.”

An' though it's all so long ago
This truth I ave to state:
A man don't know what lonely means,
Til 'e ‘as lost ‘is mate

If there's a life that follers this,
If there's a "Golden Gate"
The welcome that I want to hear
Is just: "Good on y mate"

An so to all who ask us why
We keep these special Dates
Like Anzac day, I answer: "Why"
We're thinking of our mates

An when I've left the drivers seat
An handed in me plates,
I'll tell old Peter at the door:
"I’ve come to join me….MATES”...

General Nagatano who supervised the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway vowed “to build it over the dead bodies of his captives.” (Quoted Big Weekend April 25th, 1998). Following Pearl Harbour the Japanese found that the long sea-route to supply their Armies in Burma was becoming too costly due to attacks from carrier and land based aircraft, surface ships and submarines. Their High Command decided to extend the railway in Thailand to link up with Burma and send their reinforcements and supplies via land, leaving only the well protected South China Sea to cross. There was a huge supply of labour available. This included thousands of prisoners of war, rather despised by the Japs at that stage in their out-of-date Samurai way of thinking, and a practically unlimited number of Asian labourers.

The route for the line had been surveyed about 1902 or 1903. With tunnelling and the difficult terrain, the estimate for construction had been 6 ½ years. The Japanese decided to do it in 18 months. Then at a tremendous cost in misery, suffering and death they did it in 12 months.

The railway was the biggest engineering feat of World War II. It was 421 km or 263 miles long. It involved the building of 4,000,000 cubic metres of earth embankments, shifting 3,000,000 cubic metres of rock and building 688 bridges (680 timber and 8 concrete & steel). In total there was 14 km of bridgework.

Then there was the laying of the line itself. There were practically no machines. There were a few elephants. The work force was about 330,000; 61,000 POWs and 270,000 Asians and practically everything was done by hand. The deaths in 12 months have variously been estimated at 100,000 to 130,000. Add the sick and crippled to this and I doubt if anyone came through unscathed. Physical hurts could be seen but the mental strain and stress was ever present, in some cases driving men to suicide.

As a reasonable example of what happened on this infamous railway I will deal mainly with the experiences of our section of “H” Force at Kanyu No. 2 Camp, later known as Malayan Hamlet. “H” Force, 3,270 men, left Singapore early in May 1943. Our section numbered 750; there were 500 Australians and 250 British. In this Kanyu No. 2 Camp our losses were 43% dead in six months.

Both “F” and “H” Forces had the double misfortune to have been “loaned” by Japanese Malayan Command to Thailand Command instead of being transferred as was the usual practice. The jealousy between Japanese Commands resulted in our being neglected in every way, especially regarding food and medical supplies. Those workers on the line under Thai Command had more and better food than we had and some medicines. Our other misfortune was that “F” and “H” were in the central or primeval jungle sections of the line.

Our party arrived at Bam Pong on 12th May. It was filthy and fouled by the prior transit of many large groups and tropical storms (monsoons). The men were besieged by local Thais eager to sell food. On the journey from Singapore we were given only five meagre meals during the four days and nights. The ravenous men traded clothes, hats and even boots for food. It was to cost them dearly.

We arrived at Kanyu No. 2 Camp early in the afternoon of May 21st. It was not really a Camp. It was a small area of felled bamboo with the stumps sticking up everywhere. We were given one day to establish our Camp. Then it was straight out to work on the railway .

When work was commenced on the cutting, I was allocated to the night shift and remained on it until the Cutting was completed on August 24th. The only break to my continuous night shift was for about ten days on the day shift at the end. The work was relentless. In one of the wettest seasons ever, the rain never ceased. Our rations were meagre, I think about 20½ ozs per day, later reduced to 15½ , mainly rice and sea-weed. More and more men fell ill from dysentery, malaria, beri-beri, pellagra, tropical ulcers, pneumonia and practically every skin affliction known. The Japanese went into the sick mens’ tents and ordered seriously ill men to go out to work. These men had to be helped to walk, then could only sit down and hold the chisel while another man belted it with a sledge hammer.

There were some shocking cases of cruelty. 33 men were beaten to death in the Cutting. Three of them were in my party. One man fainted and the Jap thought he was malingering so he thrust his wire knout (about 20 or 30 lengths of wire bound at one end used to clean the drill holes before the explosives were put in) into the fire. When the ends were red hot he thrust them onto the man’s feet. The smell of burning flesh was awful. The faint was genuine, the man’s body only twitched violently. He died shortly after.

Another man who hadn’t been able to keep up battled to get down into the cutting. The Jap guard drew us up strictly to attention and waited – perhaps ten minutes in an awful silence. Then with a roar he pounced on the weak, emaciated man and punched him unmercifully, then kicked him and finally seized the man’s bamboo staff and beat him so brutally that he died a few days later.

One incident I have often recalled is that of a small weak man deliberately going up to one of our most brutal guards and hitting him. Suicidal? In three or four minutes seven Japs were on to him, hitting and kicking. They beat him to a pulp and he died shortly after. I have often wondered why he did it. I have a feeling that he had decided to give up but go down fighting the enemy. Whatever his motive, I think of him as a brave little man – a hero.

As more men became too sick to work the Japs drove those on the job harder and longer and the shifts went from twelve to fourteen, then sixteen and finally eighteen hours. Then cholera hit our Camp.

The men had been warned repeatedly to drink only water that had been boiled and was readily available from the cook-house. Many ignored this and filled their water bottles from the clear creek near the Camp.

One evening before we went out on the night shift, everyone who was able was called on to parade. The Adjutant called us to attention, then addressed us. “I want you all to listen to that man screaming. He is in agony. He has cholera. Before he got into his present state he informed us that he had been drinking water from the creek. Also, that many of you have been doing so. It is my awful duty to tell you that within a month many of you will be dead. May God help you.” This sounds callous, but I think it was the most severe warning he could give to stop the practice of drinking unboiled water.

We on the night shift had a bad time. There was no labour in Camp. Everyone was working in the Cutting so in the afternoons we were called out to carry back bags of rice and other items from the barge landing or cremate the bodies of the cholera victims. Cholera dehydrates the body which burns up. Some were so light they could be picked up with one hand. After a week or so the Japs objected to the smell and ordered that we bury the bodies. One afternoon we buried eighteen.

One Sunday I was ordered to take a party to an Asian camp to dispose of bodies. At the entrance to the Camp was a man standing on a stump. He had defecated between the tents, no doubt driven to do so by dysentery. The Japs had beaten him, rubbed his head and face in his discharge, tied his hands and stood him on the stump. The flies covered his face and head like a black balaclava. Inhuman.

We collected bodies around the camp. Four of us to a mat and we took eight each time, ordered by the Japs to throw them away like garbage. These were human beings who had suffered along side us, experiencing the same brutalities, same starvation, same illnesses, same over-work, lack of sleep and awful stress. The expression so often quoted “man’s inhumanity to man” was never more evident.

The Cutting was finished on August 24. Then the Japs ordered 100 men to be sent further north to continue working on the railway. Only 83 could be mustered, the fittest of the unfit. We went by rail to the Konkoita area to work on bridge building. I alone was sent to an all officers camp at South Konkoita. I entered that camp a stranger and do not know the fate of the other 82 of my original group.

My new Camp was an all-Officers working one and we hauled teak logs together with elephants. The huge logs were cut high up on the mountain, trimmed, then sent thundering down to bury themselves in the river bank. They were hauled out by 100 or 200 men on ropes plus two or three elephants.

To conclude, I would like to say how grateful we were to our Doctors who all did a wonderful job. Our Doctor, Major Kevin Fagan was so dedicated that he nearly died from his efforts to help the sick and wounded. Also, the great spirit of friendship where we helped each other to endure the hardships.

There were a few despicable incidents.

We can all thank with pride and reverence the brave men who suffered so much and gave their lives for our freedom. We should also remember in our prayers the thousands of Asian workers who suffered and died as slaves of a cruel and implacable enemy.

In the 20th century we were all reduced to total slavery by the Japanese, where a 2nd or 3rd class Private could beat a man to death with impunity.

History will record to Japan’s eternal shame, and never to be erased, the awful atrocities committed on the Railway of Death.

In 1983 he prepared a speech to be given after the Anzac Day march and service. The following is an extract from that speech-

“Today, we particularly remember those of them who gave their lives that we might enjoy our present freedom. I suppose each one of us during the two minutes silence was recalling some particular moment. For me, it was on an occasion sitting in a leaky tent in Siam in teeming monsoonal rains and surrounded by mud, holding the hand of a nineteen year old soldier, whilst he died from the effects of haemorrhage complicating severe dysentery, knowing that given the tools I could have saved his life. My heart was filled with hatred and I was cursing our captors – those little yellow bastards who by starvation, brutality and neglect had murdered this boy and many others of his companions just assuredly as they had murdered our nurses with their machine guns on the beach at ….”.

Ewan Corlette never displayed outward hate for his captors, but it appears that he felt it inwardly.

Tons Tons of  Saddam Gold Treasures Found by US Army

Saddam Gold

Rubber and Tin
It should be stated, however that most of the unofficial Europeans were engaged, directly or indirectly in the rubber and tin industries which, by order of the Home Government, were working at maximum pressure. Bearing this fact in mind, Malaya, taken as a whole, shouldered its responsibility as war approached in the same loyal spirit as was evident elsewhere in the Commonwealth.
The bulk of the Asiatic population consisted of Malays and Chinese in approximately equal proportions. In general, the Chinese were to be found in the towns and larger villages while the Malays inhabited the country districts and the sea-boards. The reason for this was that the Chinese, being more industrious by nature and more commercially minded, had gained control of a great deal of the business of the country while the Malays, a more easy going and less ambitious race, were content to live on the natural products of the soil.

Chinese Divided
The Chinese themselves were of two categories – those who were and those who were not British subjects. For practical purposes the political sympathies of the Chinese population could be divided into four groups: -
(a) The pro-Kuomintang. This was probably the most powerful group.
(b) The pro-Wang Chingwei, i.e., those who were in sympathy with Japanese aims. A small and not dangerous group.
(c) The pro-Communists, predominately Chinese of the working classes. The most active and vocal group.
(d) The pro-British and Independents, the former being genuinely loyal adherents of the British Empire, and the latter those who wished to be left alone in the pursuit of fortune and their own self-interest. This group formed the large majority but unfortunately was only too prone to dragooning by (a) and (c) above.
The temporary reconciliation between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party following the invasion of Russia by Germany resulted in the formation in Malaya of a “United Front” which on the outbreak of war with Japan, absorbed all Chinese with the exception of Group (b).
As will by readily understood from the above summary, the Chinese population taken as a whole lacked homogeneity and centralised leadership.

The Malays
The Malays were divided into four classes, i.e., the Ruling class of Malay Nobles, the “Intelligentsia”, the artisan and clerical class, and the peasant. The Ruling Classes naturally felt that there should be an ever-widening control by the Sultans. Among the “Intelligentsia” were signs of a movement towards Nationalism. The other two classes were not in the broad sense politically minded.
The remainder of the Asiatic population totalling less than 20 percent of the whole consisted of Indians, Eurasians, Japanese, etc. The Indians, the great majority of whom were Hindu by religion with an active proportion of Sikhs were divided politically into: -
(a) Indian Nationalists who, through the Central Indian Association of Malaya, were bidding for control of the Indian population of the country on a strongly nationalist basis.
(b) The general mass of Indians, normally a peaceful but ignorant section of the population which was mainly interested in the quiet pursuit of its livelihood but was becoming an easy prey to the agitator.
(c) Indians who were whole heartedly British in their loyalty.

The Eurasians
The Eurasians were to be found mainly in the Colony and particularly in Singapore. The community as a whole was loyal and presented no political problem. It was not politically active. There were a number of Japanese in Malaya and, as all foreigners were treated alike, no special restrictions had up to 1941 been imposed on their activities. They were located mainly –
(a) In Singapore City, where there were large business houses, stores, hairdressing and photographic establishments, etc.
(b) In Johore, where they owned rubber and other estates and iron ore mines
(c) In Trengganu and Kelantan where they owned large iron ore mines.
(d) In Penang where they carried on similar activities to those in Singapore.
To sum up, the majority of the Asiatic population were enjoying the benefits which British occupation had brought to Malaya. They had so long been immune from danger that, even when that danger threatened, they found difficulty in appreciating its reality and in bringing themselves to believe that the even tenor of their lives might in fact be disturbed.
As will be appreciated from this brief review of the civil population of Malaya, the sense of citizenship was not strong nor, when it came to the test, was the feeling that this was a war for home and country.
Perhaps more might have been done by the Government in pre-war days to develop a sense of responsibility for service to the State in return for the benefits received from membership of the British Empire.

Malaya’s Charter
Prior to the outbreak of war with Japan Malaya had been given a charter for its participation in World War 11. It was to produce the greatest possible quantities of rubber and tin for the use of the Allies. This was a factor which had considerable influence on its preparations for war.
The subject of the proper utilisation of the available manpower had been carefully examined in peace-time. There was no leisured or retired class in Malaya which could be called upon for wartime expansion.
Soon after the outbreak of World War 11 the Governor and High commissioner, under the powers conferred upon him, ordered that all European males resident in Malaya should between certain ages be liable for service in one of the local volunteer corps.
At Singapore a Controller of Man-Power was appointed in place of the Man-Power Sub-Committee and in each Colony and State Man-Power Boards, on which both civil and military interests were represented, were set up to consider and give decisions on claims for exemption. Many exemptions had to be granted, even after allowing for the fact that in many cases Government and business could be carried on temporarily with reduced staffs. No liability to military service was imposed upon the Asiatic population.
Many of the Asiatics were of a type unsuitable for training as Soldiers and the difficulties of nationality, of registration and of selection would have been great. Moreover, as already stated, there were no rifles or other arms available with which to equip Asiatic units.
There was, however, great difficulty in filling the Chinese sub-units in the existing Volunteer organisation. This was in no way due to lack of available material or to lack of effort on the part of the military authorities. It was due chiefly to the lack of unity and of forceful leadership which existed among the Chinese population.

At the Ford Factory
In reply to the above I notified him of the decision to cease hostilities. In the afternoon the deputation returned with instructions that I was to proceed personally with my staff to a given rendezvous. The meeting with the Japanese Commander (Lt. – Gen. Yamashita) took place in the Ford Factory north of Bukit Timah Village. There is not, and never has been, any copy of the terms of surrender in my possession.
As far as my recollection goes, only one copy was produced by the Japanese and this was retained by them. Certainly no copy was handed to me. The actual terms of surrender cannot therefore be recorded accurately. 
The main conditions were as far as my memory goes, as under: -
There must be an unconditional surrender of all Military Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) in the Singapore area.
Hostilities to cease at 8:30 p.m. British time, i.e. 10 p.m. Japanese time.
All troops to remain in positions occupied at the time of cessation of hostilities pending further orders.
All weapons, military equipment, ships, aeroplanes and secret documents to be handed over to the Japanese Army intact:
In order to prevent looting and other disorders in Singapore town during the temporary withdrawal of all armed forces, a force of 100 British armed men to be left temporarily in the Town area until relieved by the Japanese.
As regards paragraph (d) above I informed the Japanese Commander that there were no ships or aeroplanes in the Singapore area, and that the heavier types of weapons and some of the military equipment and all secret documents had already been destroyed under my orders.
This he accepted.

Cessation Ordered
Orders for the cessation of hostilities were issued to all formation Commanders soon after 7 p.m. Hostilities finally ceased at 8:30 p.m. February 15 British time.
The general line of our foremost positions at the cessation of hostilities was from right to left as under: -
All inclusive the Kallang Aerodrome (Civil Airport) – The Tariat Air Strip – The Junction of Braddell and Thomson roads – the Broadcasting Station – Bukit Brown – Adam road – Raffles College area – Tyersall area – Tanglin area – Mount Echo – the Biscuit Factory – The Alexandra ammunition Magazine – Mount Washington – The eastern end of the Keppel Golf Links.
We also held Blakang Mati, Pulau Brani, Tekong and the Pengerang area. Japanese troops entered Singapore town on the morning of February 16. There was a military demonstration in which 175 Medium and Light Tanks took part. The majority of the Japanese troops, however, were retained outside the Town area.
After the cessation of hostilities it was five-and-a-half days with engineers and water parties working at full pressure before water again reached the lower areas of Singapore town which had been deprived of it and the first floor of buildings in the lowest areas. It was 10 days before water again reached the General Hospital and many other buildings on higher levels.

Numbers Employed
On the basis of 20,000 men per division and 150 tanks per regiment, I estimate that the Japanese employed a minimum of 150,000 men and 300 tanks in the Malayan campaign.
Against this we had on the outbreak of hostilities the equivalent of 3 ½ divisions with Fixed and Anti-Aircraft Defences but no tanks. Later we received as reinforcements about the equivalent of another two divisions and one squadron of obsolescent light tanks. The total number of officers and men who took part in the campaign on the British side was a little over 125,000, though the strength in Malaya at any one time was considerably less than this. This number included a high proportion of Command, Base and Lines of Communication troops, many of whom belonged to non-combatant units or were unarmed owing to shortage of personal weapons,
The initial attack on Singapore Island was carried out by three Japanese divisions. There were two and possibly three divisions in reserve. Two of the reserve divisions had recently arrived in Malaya and it may be assumed that they were at full strength. Some of the others may have been at less than full strength. On this basis I estimate that there were at the cessation of hostilities a minimum of 100,000 Japanese troops on Singapore Island or in South Malaya.
There is evidence to show that at least 23,000 crossed on the first day of the attack. There were also a minimum of 175 Japanese medium and light tanks on Singapore Island at the cessation of hostilities.
The total of the British forces in the Singapore fortress area at the same time was in the neighbourhood of 85,000. This figure included a large number of non-combatant troops i.e., Medical Services, Pioneer and Labour units, etc., of troops for whom no arms were available owing to a general shortage of personal weapons, and of sick and wounded. Probably about 70,000 of these men were armed and equipped, but many of them belonged to Base and other administrative units and were very inadequately trained. There was one squadron of obsolescent light tanks.

Jap Strategy
In the final section of his despatch Gen. Percival makes this assessment of Japanese strategy: This Japanese attack on Malaya was very carefully planned and there is now no doubt that preparations had been going on for a very long time before hostilities actually started. The Japanese themselves admitted that the terrain of Malaya, our battle methods and our equipment were all carefully studied for years before the outbreak of war. The Commander-in-Chief of the 25th Japanese Army detailed for the Malayan campaign had spent six months in Germany before taking over command. He was given the best possible senior staff officers. Japanese divisions employed in Malaya are known to have been among the best in the Japanese Army.

Pre-war Preparations
The Japanese in commenting on the Malayan campaign, have attributed their success to their pre-war preparations, to the fact that this campaign was the centre of interest throughout their whole Army to the fact that their commanders, senior staff officers and troops were officially selected, and to the fact that their land operations were closely supported by their Navy and by their Army and Navy Air Forces.
The policy for the defence of Singapore Fortress area necessitated weak forward defences and inadequate reserve. The Japanese were able to concentrate their forces for an attack on a selected portion of our defences. By doing so they affected a landing and made a deep penetration in spite of severe losses.
The Japanese in accordance with their strategy of a vigorous offensive invariably attacked with the least possible delay. They seldom made frontal attacks. Their usual tactics were to probe the front and search for flanks. Having found the flanks they would then push mobile forces round to an attack on our communications, which usually followed a single road. They also employed widely infiltration tactics by individuals and small parties of men as a means of creating alarm; the use of trees as fire positions and the use of noise i.e. fireworks and crackers resembling machineguns in action as a weapon of war.
There is no evidence to show that there was an extensive fifth column organization in Malaya, but there is no doubt whatever that the Japanese obtained considerable assistance at times from local inhabitants. On many occasions, arrows indicating the position of headquarters or other important targets were found on the ground.
It stands to the credit of all ranks that in many critical situations which developed in the course of the long withdrawal down the peninsula the enemy, in spite of the great advantages which he enjoyed, was never able to effect a complete breakthrough, an occurrence, which, in view of the lack of reserves with which to meet such a situation, would have spelt immediate and irreparable disaster.

WW II submariner survived scuttling and more than three years in Japanese POW camps

Marcia McInerney | courtesy to The Bellingham Herald - A typical sight was a POW sitting in the courtyard with his pillow to soften contact points. Pipe is drainage and not heat and food drying in window is a POW delicacy, the Hoshi cake. This was made from the (Japanese) medicinal pills plus water and some flavoring if available set out to dry in the sun. Final results usually gave maker a dose of the 'runs' but did help to stave off hunger pangs to a minor degree.

• Marcia McInerney | courtesy to The Bellingham Herald - Kenneth Schacht

Snakes caught and cooked in the bush added some proteins to a man's diet. Snakes, snails, frogs, toads, hornet-nests, anything to supplement the diet.–Marcia McInerney|courtesy to The Bellingham Herald

The 'First Egg' ceremony. In 1944 we were advised we would receive one egg approximately every 45 days. Actually about half the camp received these eggs before this policy was changed. An egg for Xmas per prisoner was the only other individual issue of eggs received as a POW while in Zentsuji. Occasionally 60 or 80 eggs were put in to the stew for 700 men but their presence was not tasted. Some had access to eggs through our black market but these were few and far between.–Marcia McInerney|courtesy to The Bellingham Herald

Bellingham flier survived crash, capture in jungles of Asia

Bellingham retiree helped U.S. bulldoze to victory against Japan in WW II

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Philippines Issues Gold Tax Compliance Regulations

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

 April 29, 2013

The Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has recently issued two Revenue Regulations (RRs) – on sales of jewelry, gold and other precious metals, particularly to non-resident foreign individuals or corporations; and of shares of stock of domestic corporations not traded in the local stock exchange – to improve the collection of taxes.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima welcomed the regulations as further increasing the transparency of the business environment, in addition to curbing tax evasion. "These RRs are important because they allow the BIR to account for a wider scope of economic activity in the country. With these issuances, the government is more empowered to collect the taxes due from transactions that used to be hard to spot," he said.

In April 2012, the BIR issued RR No. 6-2012, which imposed excise, value added and income taxes on the sale of gold and other metallic minerals to other persons or entities, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The BIR has observed, however, that in order to avoid taxation, many parties have chosen to sell their gold to non-BSP buyers that do not impose the taxes, thereby avoiding taxation.

Under new RR No. 5-2013, sellers of jewelry, gold and other metallic minerals are now required to pay the appropriate taxes in advance through the BIR Revenue District Office (RDO) having jurisdiction over the place where the transaction occurs. Once the tax has been paid, the transaction will be validated by the issuance of an official revenue receipt.

The advance tax payments will, subsequently, be credited against the actual business tax and income tax due from sellers for the taxable period in which such advance payments were remitted to the BIR.

In addition to the regulations on advance tax payments, owners and operators of venues where organized meetings for sale of gold take place are required to provide RDOs with identification information on foreign individual or corporate buyers, including their names, nationality and passport numbers.

On the other hand, RR No. 6-2013 amends the rules for the sale, barter, exchange or other disposition of the shares of domestic corporations not traded on the local stock exchange. The RR provides that non-publicly traded shares shall be assessed at their fair market value for capital gains tax purposes.

28 gold ingots found in India farm field

As many as 28 gold ingots were unearthed while two farmers were digging a well at Toduru Gunagiwada village in Karwar taluk on Saturday.

Digambar Gunagi and Umakanth Gunagi were surprised to find that the box contained several gold ingots. Eight of them carried imprints of Lord Shiva, goddess Parvathi and god Jainbeera. 

The revenue inspector who arrived at the field, on receiving the information, seized the ingots. “The blocks will be handed over to the State Treasury,” he said.

Tahsildar Sajid Mulla who accompanied the revenue inspector, said: “We are unable to identify the period the gold blocks belong to. We shall write to the Department of Archaeology to conduct further research.

YAMASHITA

IN GAOLAWAITING TRIAL

MANILA, Tuesday. Sept 5 1945

General Yamashita and his party have been taken to theNew Bilibid prison where afew months ago his military  police ill-treated captives". Ma-nila newspapers are demandinghis trial and execution as a warcriminal.    

Yamashita's cell contains a cot, atable and two chairs, while two win-dows, which overlook the courtyardwhich is filled with members of hisbeaten force, are barred and  screened.

In the same block of cells are sixother Jap generals.

At the surrender ceremony, Lieut.General Wainwright quietly observed"Retribution, has come. It is a greatgratification to me and all officersand men who served under my com-mand." 

ARRESTS ORDERED OF AUTHORS

OF PEARL HARBOUR , COLLABORATORS AND MORE
SEPTEMBER 13 1945

TOKYO. Wedneday.  

Prompt action is being taken by General MacArthurto ensure the punishment of Japan's war criminals andhe has ordered the arrest of Cabinet Ministers at the time  of the Pearl Harbour attack as well as that of army gene-rals and puppet administrators. The German Ambassa-dor (Stahmer) is included in the list of 39 arrests which

have been ordered.

The Cabinet Ministers comprise  Shigenori Tojo (Foreign Minister),  Okinori Kaya, a centre representative    who served under Prince Konoye, Admiral Shimada (Minister forthe Navy), Rear-Admiral Terashima( Minister for Communications), Miichiyo Iwamura, Nobusuke Kishi,Kunihiko Hashida, Hiroya Ino, Chi-kahiko Kozumu and Sadaichi Suzuki.
Others include:

Lieut. General Homma -  commander of the Jap forces inthe Philippines, who was responsible  

for the death march from Bataan,
President Laurel -  puppet president of thePhilippines
 
Benigno Aquino - President of the puppet Philippine National Assembly
and
Dr Maung - puppet ambassador to Japan,  

Colonel Josef Meisenger , police at-tache at the German Embassy, whois already in custody. He was theformer Gestapo chief at Warsaw.

Wathakan Wichit, the ThailandAmbassador in Japan;

Lieut-General Shigenori Kuroda, the Jap commander in the Philippines during the Occupation

Colonel Kira Tagahamacommander of the gendarmerie in the

Philippines, who is alleged to be re-  sponsible for the tortures at FortSantiago,

Lieut-Colonel Seiichi Ohto,who is wanted for atrocities in Manila
 Dr. Tokuda, who is declared responsible for medical experiments onprisoners of war

and Colonel Suzukiwho commanded the Shimagaw prison and was responsible for atrocities.

Certain guards and officials arealso charged with atrocities.

Among those whose arrests wereordered, is on American civilian,

'named' 'Streeter who was' employed'on Wake Island -when it was takenby the Japanese.

Although the Australian Govern-ment compiled, an extensive reporton the atrocities committed by Japanese forces in the South-West Pa-cific against Australians,' ' no actionhave so far been taken to-ensure thearrest and punishment of those re-sponsible, and there is no mention inthe list of war. criminals ' of the'South Pacific. ?

It  is presumed -here that Aus-tralian forces will be called on to as-sist in the apprehension of war criminalsin areas under their control andthat further lists will be issued.

Arrest of Major Cousens. Ordered

Lt  General MacArthur also ordered

the arrest of Major Charles Cousens,who broadcast regularly over Tokyoradio, and John Holland, an Australian also known" as David Lester,who broadcast  on Shanghai radioand later transferred to Tokyo.