RESCUED PRISONERS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23078, 18 December 1944, Page 7

RESCUED PRISONERS

Sleepless And Nervy SYDNEY, Nov. 22. Mothers of some of the Australian prisoners of war who survived. the sinking of the Japanese prison ship in the western Pacific on September 12 say that their sons are suffering from a fear complex. They are nervous and sleepless, have erratic appetites, and seek meals at odd hours. One Sydney mother said: “The sudden change in conditions has been too much for my son. For over two years he has not slept on a decent bed. Each night now he goes to bed normally, but next morning we find him huddled on the floor. He had slept huddled on hard floors so long he is having difficulty in sleeping in a bed. Yet he tells us that he craved for white sheets and a soft bed while a prisoner.” She said her son had developed an enormous appetite after years of short rations. “He eats five big meals a day,” she said. “Sometimes he wakes hungry at 2 a.m., but we cook him a meal whenever he wakes. He regards every meal as a kind of miracle that food can be so good.” Another mother said her son preferred not to discuss his experiences. “He spends most of his time answering inquiries from relatives of men who are still prisoners,” she said. “I marvel at his tolerance and patience. He never refuses to answer any inquiry. Frequently he is able to give detailed information about their boys. We know how these people feel, because my husband is still a prisoner of the Japanese.” Waiting on Doorstep Another mother found her exprisoner son on the doorstep when she came home. When she received a telegram saying he was arriving she went to an Army discharge camp, believing he would arrive there. “At the discharge camp I was told he had been taken home by a staff car,” she said. “Scarcely able to restrain myself, I got a taxi home. When I got there the whole street was out to welcome him. The people stood back and let me go to him first. It was an enormously important moment.” She added her son was unsettled and nervy as a result of his experiences. “At night he walks the house unable to sleep. Sometimes he wakes crying out. We pretend to take no notice of it. He is always talking about General Bennett. He tells us that all the boys in Singapore know that Bennett did his utmost for them. They all say that Bennett did not let them down, but that he was let down.”