While Peter was posted to Singapore, the Japanese invaded on 14 February 1942. They overran the whole of the peninsula, and the British capitulated, leaving thousands as prisoners of war (POW) to the Japanese. Peter was among these, and was a prisoner of war to the Japanese from 14 February 1942 to the end of August 1945. He survived the depravity inflicted on so many during the construction of the ‘death railway’ as it has become known. I cannot recount his experiences personally, as I never had the opportunity to hear this directly, however, it is possible to derive the life (if such you can call it) he must have led whilst a POW from third party evidence. When liberated, Peter weighed less than 5½ stone, after living on little more than a handful of fetid rice and some occasional vegetables a day for over 3 years.

Public records recount how brutal the Japanese were to their POWs. Although I have no personal recollection from Peter of this time, I was privileged to know some of the people who he knew at this time. One of those was a real gentleman - Humphrey Burkill.

At the end of the war, the survivors were asked to complete a British POW liberation questionnaire, but many did not. Peter apparently was one of those who did not; however Humphrey did complete this. Another person I knew who survived being a Japanese POW was Ben Morton - Ben also completed his return. Although Peter Ben and Humphrey knew each other, I  do not know that they followed exactly the same path as POWs. Ben and Humphrey’s returns however do provide an idea of the vulnerability that these men experienced.

These forms are very faint and difficult to read, but here is page 1  from Capt Ben Morton, the full form from Lieutenant Humphrey Burkill. Both were one-time friends and  fellow POWs  of Peter. As it was not mandatory  to complete these questionnaires, and I  believe my Father did not complete one, these provide the closest record as to where Peter was during this time.

Ben Morton's return shows five different camps where they stayed. On Humphrey’s return however, there are far more There is a significant crossover, which would suggest that Humphrey’s is perhaps simply more complete.

Notable on both, however, is the first camp - Changi. This was the base prison from where all the smaller railway camps were initially fed with slave labour.

As you can see from the above documents, they were there from 14 February 1942 (date of capture) until October/November 1942.

The Selerang Barracks incident

Although Humphrey Burkill's Liberation Questionnaire does not list Selerang on the front page list of camps, on page 4 he refers to Selerang, and this incident in particular.

Although The Selerang Barracks incident is just one well documented abhorrent act which happened in a prison camp, it shows the kind of pressures and stresses Japanese POWs lived under. Although there was overcrowding and it was totally insanitary, this was as nothing compared to the satellite camps along the railway construction site.

On 30 August 1942, the Japanese recaptured four POWs who had attempted an escape. To prevent such future attempts, the Japanese wanted all POWs to sign a pledge of non-escape, in contravention of the Geneva Convention, which gave POWs the right to attempt to escape. The prisoners refused to sign the pledge. To coerce them into signing, the Japanese crammed some 15,000 men, including the British POWs from the Changi camp, into Selarang Barracks, which was originally intended for 800 to 1,200 men.

The barracks buildings became so overcrowded that many had to live in makeshift tents in the square. The Japanese also cut off the water supply to the toilets, leaving the prisoners with no toilet facilities. The prisoners resorted to digging trenches in the parade grounds as latrines. Despite the heat, there were only two working taps with water, and each prisoner was limited to just under a litre of water, both for consumption and washing each day.

Conditions in the barracks continued to worsen with the lack of food, water and proper hygiene. The number of dysentery and diphtheria cases rose. The Japanese intensified their pressure with threats of cutting off the water supply completely, halving rations, and moving the Robert Barracks Hospital to the Selarang Barracks Square. The latter became the tipping point, as the move endangered the lives of gravely ill patients and led to the further spread of diseases. To prevent the more loss of lives, Colonel E. B. Holmes ordered the POWs to sign the documents of non-escape. This was done on 5 September 1942 and many of the prisoners signed under false names. All the prisoners were returned to their original barracks after that. It is interesting to note that Colonel Holmes’ name is detailed in the above return as Ben Morton’s commanding officer. Peter was inevitably a part of these events.

On 2 September 1942, the Japanese brought Holmes and other senior Allied officers to the Beting Kusah anti-aircraft practice ground to witness the execution of the four POWs who had attempted to escape. The four men were made to line up, three paces apart, with their backs facing the sea at Changi Beach. The POWs declined offers to be blindfolded. The firing squad, consisting of three Sikhs and an Indian officer, stood some 10 to 15 yards away. Corporal Breavington made a plea to the Japanese officers to execute him alone, but was rejected. After an exchange of salutes between the POWs and their senior officers, the firing squad opened fire. The shots wounded the four but did not kill them. Breavington asked to be finished off and more rounds of bullets were fired at the men. The remains of the soldiers were buried at the Kranji War Memorial. In remembrance of Breavington’s act of courage, the Breavington Award for policing excellence is presented annually in Australia.

When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, Lieutenant General Shimpei Fukuei (also spelt as Fukuye) was the first to be tried for war crimes. He was found guilty for ordering the execution of the four POWs. On 7 April 1946, he was executed by shooting, at the same spot where the four POWs died.

Death railway construction

Ben Morton arrived in Changi two days before Humphrey Burkill, and stayed about three weeks longer. From Changi the prisoners were sent to work on the Burmese railway construction, living in temproary 'camps' along the way. The death railway as it was known featured (highly inaccurately) in the film Bridge on the river Kwai. It is a 415-kilometre (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma, built by the Empire of Japan from 1940–1944 to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II, using slave labour - the POWs. This was to be a harsh and deadly time for these men. Between 180,000 and 250,000 Allied prisoners of war were subjected to forced labour during its construction. About 16,000 Allied prisoners died.

The railway had been surveyed in the 1900s by the British but the route was considered too difficult to construct due to the terrain of deep valleys and high mountains.

The Japanese army decided its construction was vital as it was too dangerous to ship armed forces, goods and materials by sea and run the risk of attack by US submarines.

The conditions were harsh and insanitary, and the guards were inhuman. During the course of construction, the POWs were moved from one camp to another, as shown in Humphrey’s and Ben's liberation questionnaires. Throughout three and a half years, between March 1942 and August 1945, Peter, Humphrey and Ben survived all the depravity and cruelty thrown at them. Peter was aged just 27 - 30 years of age - the time most of us now consider to be our strongest years.

The working conditions for POWs based at Lower Kanyu are known to have been some of the harshest on the railway. The excavation of Hellfire Pass was completed manually, using 'hammer and tap' methods and physical labour to clear the jungle. The working hours were exceptionally long during the 'Speedo' of mid-1943 and the Japanese treatment of their workforce was relentlessly harsh. The POWs' journey to and from the worksite was also exhausting. 

Tarsao camp

This is one of the camps which both Humphrey and Ben put on their liberation questionnaires. Ben declared that he had been there from 1942 to 1944, with Humphrey declaring July 1943 to April 1944. Looking at the declarations, I think that the latter was probably more accurate for both men, and therefore probably also my Father, Peter. 

I shudder when I think that here is being described how Humphrey, Ben and my Father lived for a year in this particular camp.

The Prisoner list has a website, in which excerpts like this can be found. There is also a very graphic short film about Reuben Kandler’s experience, which shows some of the true depravity experienced by all these prisoners. This can be found here: https://www.theprisonerlist.com/. 

Kanchanaburi camp

Also known as Kanburi. After the death railway had been completed, many POWs were brought to this camp. Both Humphrey and Ben list being here from January 1945. Ben stayed until July that year, and Humphrey until May.

In the same online article as this image was taken from, there is a detail of how someone who had been found with a radio was treated:

“The Kempeitai were horrible little bastards. My most vivid memory of them is being lined up outside a hut as they beat a bloke to death who’d been caught with a radio hidden in a tin of peanuts. We had to stand to attention and listen to his screaming. The beating lasted a long time. I can’t say how long but the bastards knew how to prolong this torture and didn’t want him to die too quickly.”

ww2today.com http://ww2today.com/10-december-1944-terror-of-the-kempeitai-in-kanchanaburi

In view of the fact that all items such as this, including any written documentation were strictly banned, it highlights just how dangerous the regimental list of prisoners my Father kept really was.

Had the war continued in a ‘conventional’ manner, this would have dictated the fate of all Japanese POWs.

However, on 6 August 1945 the United States of America detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, and then on 9 August dropped another, this time on Nagasaki. The scale of destruction was without any precedent, as was the scale of death and terrible injuries to civilians.

This brought unconditional surrender by Japan to the allies on 15 August 1945. This surrender then negated the kill order on the POWs, saving their lives, and enabling them to go home and have families of their own.

Even better, to have received the following letter, from Peter himself:

I know these are difficult to read in their original form, which is why I have transcribed them, but I think reading them in their original form has so much more impact.

The QAIMNS referred to in the above letter are the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service.

During World War II from 1939 to 1945 members of the QAIMNS served in many countries ranging from Africa, Burma, China, Egypt, France, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Malaya, Malta, Normandy, Palestine and Singapore.

Many of the QAIMNS nurses were themselves taken hostage by the Japanese. There are many stories of the exploits of these brave nurses on this website: https://www.qaranc.co.uk/qa_world_war_two_nursing.php