1372 DAYS INTERNED

Grey River Argus, 26 June 1946, Page 7

1372 DAYS INTERNED

JAPANESE PRISONER NX Mining Engineer's Experience (Copyright). Mr. L. S. Jones A.0.5.M., now of Waiuta, was working as a mining engineer in Thailand when the Japanese invaded the country. He was taken prisoner, first by the Thai police and later by the Japanese. The following extracts are taken from his diary, though at his request, the names mentioned are not the real names of the people involved. The last instalment ended with Mr Jones and his fellow prisoners about to leave Taiping. We pulled out of Taiping about 9 a.m. on July 3, and after a very wearying journey, arrived at the Kuala Lampur station at about 1 a.m. on July 4. We then had to turn to ami unload all the Nip’s' gear-— furniture, Bren guns, anti-tank rifles, a refrigerator, etc. Having done that we then had to march about two miles io the Pudu Gaol. We arrived absolutely flat out. I rolled on to a concrete slab and slept until 3 o’clock that afternoon. We started work again—cutting the grass around the warders’ houses, and with the few cents thus obtained, managed to buy a little food to help out our meagre diet. About a week before we left, the Nips segregated the civilians and we were housed in the guard house. The following night an escape party left the prison via the postern gate, .the key of which they had managed to pinch. Two of them were captured almost immediately, and I have since heard that the others were taken a few days later. One who was injured was left at a hospital, and the remaining five returned ,t.o Pudu. I am told that after we left these five were marched the cemetery, shots' were heard, and they were never! seen again. On August 16 we were again put on a train. The rest of the train comprised trucks of scrap—old cars, machinery, a bombed-out Bren-gun carrier, and an armoured car that had been knocked out 1 by an antitank shell. The last two still had their crews plastered round their interiors. • We passed through Singapore, and eventually came to the famous Changi Gaol. We had arrived. With modern, reinforced concrete buildings, Changi is a model gaol. Its' capacity is 650 convicts, 3500 civilians, or 5000 troops. We were marched inside, and after the customary search for concealed field guns, wireless stations, and Bren-gun carriers, were allowed to greet our own people. THE GANG After I had been in Changi for about a week, I joined the ‘Tar Boilers’ Association.’ There were three of us in it, and we had the job of stopping leaks in the roof, which was, of concrete, pav-ed with flat tiles set in tar. We used to spend most of our time up on the roof boiling up tar, and very occasionally putting some of it on the roof. Our stocks were limited, and we had to keep the job open. We had a marvellous view, being able to see right out to sea, the Singapore roads, and the approach to the Naval base. The three of us got the names of unprincipled scroungers, and woe betide any one who crossed the gang. To insult one was to insult three. Other prisoners were amazed how we kept together, as we seemed to spend the whole day insulting each other. The partnership lasted until after the ‘double tenth,’ when I went sick and was put into the food catering department by way of a change. During the latter part of 1942 I had one bad cold after another, and after an operation on my nose, got yet another seat of colds'. In three ‘months my .weight went down from 1451b5. to ilsbs.

DOUBLE TENTH The Nips had a radio in the, camp, which gave us their version of the news every night at about 10 p.m. We did not have to rely on this however, as 1 we had sets of our own, and the 8.8. C. news was circulated through the camp' every day. The Nips must have known this, as we had a suspicion that they had agents living among us as alleged interned Eurasians. Two Nip-Eurasians were released just before double tenth. Prior to October,. 1943, the Nips had been losing quite a number of ships in Singapore waters. They consequently thought we might be responsible for getting information to our forces, and thought it time they made sure one way or another. On October 10 (double tenth) they suddenly surrounded the gaol with troops and sent in their secret police to comb the place out. They went through the prison with a fine tooth comb and arrested about 40 persons and took them off to Singapore. During the next few days more people were taken away till the total number was about 50. They- found no transmitting; set, as there was none to find. They found two receiving sets, only after they got to work on some of the chaps and were shown where they _ were hidden. On the big day one of these sets was right under’ their noses-, but they did not find it. It was clamped under- the table in our front office. The Nips had pushed all the papers off the table, but had not thought of looking underneath. It was dismantled and buried, but later had to be handed over as, by mediaeval torture, the Nips got the information as to its whereabouts from the chaps concerned. Of those taken away, many returned to the camp after only a short period. Others- returned after months of incarceration under indescribable conditions, and five came back only after the Nips' surrendered late in August, 1945. Fifteen never came back. At a trumped up trial one was sentenced to be shot, and was executed about the middle of 1944. The others died due to the treatment and disease. The method of questioning was this: —The prisoner was made to stand in .the middle of a room with his thumbs crossed. A rope from the ceiling was then made fast to his crossed thumbs and drawn tight, until he could take the weight off his

thumbs only by standing on tip-toe. If his questioners did not like his answers, he was hit with anything that happened to be handy. Sticks, swordf, belts, and chairs were all equally handy. They might push lighted cigarettes into his flesh. If he passed out, he was revived with a bucket of cold water thrown over him. When he was finished with, he was thrown back into the cells, where he was crowded with many others of all nationalities. Three women were out at various times’. They were not, however, subjected to the terrible gruellings some of the men had to undergo. They were put into the same cells as the men, however—cells where the only water supply for 16 persons was the Y/.C. These women all returned to camp broken in health, but not in spirit. They- certainly could take it. (To be Continued). ■