Guestbook

My granmothers younger brother was a POW in the ww2. I believe he was in Malaya. I have been trying to find out which camp he was in. I havn't been succesful yet. Can anyone tell me where to look for the names of soldiers in the camps? I've trolled through the govt sites to no avail.His name was Richiu Charles Stewart Abraham from Bull NSW Australia.

My grandfather was a POW ( still alive) . He was one that was captured
and was shipped to Burma to help build the BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI. He came down with beriberi but somehow survived. He has a plaque honoring him in Fredericksburg TX Nimitz museum.
He is not in the best health and recently went into a nursiing home facility. I know him as the best chocolate milkshake maker.

Thank you Peter inform me about the war as I was not born. I had an uncle James Thomas Downie 2/29 Bn, who was over there. If any one knows anything about him and what happened to him it would be appreciate most greatly.
my e mail is yangary @optusnet.com.au

my favourite uncle (in the UK) was John Everrett.
He spoke fluent japanese and was employed , by the RAF in espionage in Burma - where he was caught and tortured. would be grateful for any info regarding this period and subsequent periods of his life.

Thank you Peter for your excellent profile on Dr Alex White,who was the doctor who delivered me and was our family doctor until about 4 years before he died. I believe it was bowel cancer perhaps brought on by suffering amoebic dysentery whilst he was a POW.
I also saw the late great Dr Glyn White in action when I was undertaking midwifery nursing 25 years ago and read of his work on Death Railway.
The book of Ecclesiasticus chapter 10 sums up my feelings "their bodes are at peace ;but their name liveth for evermore".

I am trying to find out information relating to my grandfather who died in 1993, he was a Japanese POW from I believe 1942-45, his full name was Elwyn Charles Lloyd Rees, known as Charles or Charlie, he was from St Clears, Carmarthen, South West Wales.
He never spoke to my father or my grandmother about his experiences and I wish that I had the chance to ask him more as I got older. Is there anyway of finding out where he was stationed, are there any lists kept of the POWs? I would appreciate any help that you could offer. Many thanks, Kevin (19/03/08)

My father's cousin Lewis McFadden was a POW.
He was a gunner on the USS Houston who was captured after the ship sank in 1942. He never forgot how the Japanese treated him. My father was also a WWII vet but was fortunate enough to not be captured.

hey all im doing an assignment in school on the Japanese treatment of prisoners of war and i found that i have i am moved and touched by POW's stories i want to learn as much as i can about the trials and suffering of prisones of the japanese. I would really appreciate it if any one knew any websites or books that provide factual information on the lives of POW's in WW2. I am touched and deeply moved by the amazing tales of survival and suffering of past and present prisoners of war

Thanks for your website. Like so many people these days, I am trying to find out about our families' past. In my case it is my step-uncle, William G Gass of the 2/4th reserve motor transport company, POW of the Japanese April 1941 until September 1945. His military record has nothing for this period. He died only two years after he returned home - motor accident. Now 60 plus years later, I am trying to document his story. Where do I start??

My name is Chris Brown, I am a military and social historian (Ph.D., St. Andrews) and I am currently compiling information for an academic study of the day-to-day lives of POWs and Internees of the Japanese Captivity. I am anxious to hear from anyone - military or civillian - who would be willing to share their memories with me. I am perfectly happy to respect the confidence of anyone who - for whatever reason - might like to remain anonymous. If you feel you would like to take part in this project, please e-mail me at the address below.
Yours,
Chris Brown.

Really pleased to see that there are still those who respect the sacrifice made by so many.My Dad, who is 87 and still going strong, was captured at Singapore. After being at Changi, he was taken to the Thailand, to work on the railway. He was at Bampong, Kanburi,Tonchon, Tarsao and Tamarkan. He was taken back to Changi much later and sent in the hold of a ship to Japan. The ship was the Kachidoki Maru, which was sunk by the Americans, and after being in the sea for eight days, was picked up and taken to Japan, where he was put to work in the camp at Sakata. He was released in 1945 weighing less than six stone. As far as he is concerned, he has been living on borrowed time since the fall of Singapore, so has enjoyed every day he has had since then. Mt dad has always been able to talk about some of his experiences, but it is only in recent years he has talked about the more horrific things he witnessed or had done to him. I listen because he has to tell me, but it's not easy to hear what he has to say. He does not hate the Japanese butlike me , has no respect for a country that is still not able to acknowledge what they did to so many people from so may countries. He has long ago given up hope that the Japanese goverment will accept that they did anything wrong and offer him some compensation for his sufferring, but still hopes that they will be able to look at themselves and at least find some small amount of common human decency and say sorry. We all assume that they are labouring under the misapprehension that if they hold on until the last person who they damaged, dies, that they will have got away with it. They are seriously wrong, as the children and grandchildren of FEPOWs will not forget either. Thanks again for the site and keeping the memories alive.

Very good website. I am trying to find any info on my uncle Walter Paterson Dougherty from Glasgow. I was told he died in Burma on the railway. But am unable to find him on the War Graves site. He was tall and had red hair, I was told he suffered badly at the hands of his captors due to his height. Has anyone heard of him (probably in a Scottish Regiment)

Thanks Peter for including Dad's (Ian Campbell) information on your site. He would have loved to have his stories included here. Like many other returned soldiers he spoke little about his horrific experiences, never to us as children, and did not condone war . He would occasionally relate humorous POW incidents to us. Something that stood out for me, reading his diary, was how he, and the other young prisoners of war, became sicker much more frequently as the years went on. No wonder he did not complete writing his diary.

In his old age Dad struggled to receive a war pension. His comment about 'the shrapnel in his head being a war wound' expressed his sarcasm in response to previous letters from government bodies that said his ill health was not a result of his POW experiences.

Thanks again Peter.

CONGRATULATIONS, PETER, ON A WONDERFUL CONCEPT
. IT IS GREAT THAT YOU HAVE RESEARCHED THE EXPERIENCES OF THE POW'S ON THE RAILWAY SO EXTENSIVELY AND IN SUCH DETAIL

I have just been advised about your great website. I am trying to find out about my grand parents and father. My grandfather and his wife, George & Anne Clifford and their daughter Jo, who where in the Japanese POW camp in Borneo. They were planters in Malaya. Also looking for details on my father Major John Clifford who was with the British Army in Force 136 who was dropped into the jungle with 6 others to recruit villagers to train and fight the Japanese. I have some information and I'm looking for more places I can look or details that your readers may have. Can anybody assist? Thanks in advance. Terence Clifford.

My father Henry Charles Riches was a Staff SGT in RAMC. He was awarded BEM for his devotion to duty in Tonchan cholera outbreak in 1943.He was also in River Valley RD. WAMPO,KINSAIYO,NAKONPATON,MERGUI RD,
He was in 9th Coast Reg, 125 anti tank,Indian Medical.
its a long shot but if anyone has any information I would be grateful
I also thank Peter Winstanley for his much appreciated help.

Thankyou Peter for this web site.My grans brother James b Miller-Kelly











































Just want to remember my grans brother
James b Miller-Kelly who died in japanese capitivity 31/10/1942 in Sumatra we dont even have the name of the camp.Thankyou Peter for this web siteOur families have never recieved an apology from the Japanese govt on the pows Time has not been a good healer.

This website and the research it is based on will ensure that the suffering that allied POWS endured will remain on the public record indefinitely, and thereby confer a form of immortality on these men and women. Having now made two visits to the sites of the Burma Railway in Thailand I am more than ever in awe of the endurance and strength displayed by Australian and other Allied prisoners. I am also increasingly angry at the poor strategic and operational decisions made by politicians and senior commanders which led to so many of our people becoming prisoners of the Japanese.

I would like to establish contact with any former POW who was in Camp 26 in Fukuoka. (Aso Yoshikuma coal mine)

Great to stumble on your informative website. I am seeking information on my uncle, Max Dudley Smith (NX29700) of the 8th Div. Sigs. He worked on the Thai-Burma Railway but died at Kanburi on 7.10.43. He was in F Force, Ponds Party with Dr Roy Mills at medico. This a found out after reading Roy Mills book and I was very excited to read my uncle name in his list of medical records, the first direct reference to Max Smith which I have found. His only relatives back in Australia were a brother (Frank Graeme Smith - my father, now deceased) and a sister living in Brisbane. Both Maxs parents had died before him and so it is ut to me, his niece, who never met him, to search for information. Also could someone please give me the address or website for VicEddy, the magazine of 8th Div. Sigs. I dont know much about my uncles movements in Singapore or Thailand. He was a strong Christian and apparently belonged to a group of Christians in Changi know as the "Rabid non-conformists". Does this ring a bell for anyone. Any information would be most helpful.

Peter, your web site and its content - words fail me in attempting say how wonderful and informative it is. I was a survivor from the USS Houston, and met many wonderful Aussies, English and Dutch as a Japanese POW. Itruly enjoyed your guestbook and comments. I saw many familar names. Thank you, David Flynn

Keeping their memorary alive will eventually lead to a greater understanding of what the AIF achieved in their endeavours to defend the Malay Penninsula against the odds that were stacked against them

I was only 8 moths old when my oldest brother left for Malaya as a reinforcement for the 2/19 Bn. The scars of the campaign can still be felt today - my family was lucky - my brother was to return home and share in our family life for many years. Many other families were not so lucky and it is only by good hearted people researching the massive material that is now surfacing that many answers will be found. You have created a great site to visit and to research... thank you so much for you contribution to our history.

Thank you Peter for all the information you have given me. I wonder if there is anyone out there who remembers Harry Stewart Gardiner (Jazz) who was in the 8 Div. Provost Corps. He is my mothers brother and as I am researching our family I would like some more information about Uncle Harry. From what I can gather he was on the Thai Burma Railway and then sent to Japan where he was in the mines at Omuta Fukuoka Camp 17, when the A bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. If anyone remembers him, or his name has come up could you please email me. Thank you again, your web site is a truly marvellous endeavour. Keep up the good work.

My late husband, James Craven, joined the British Army (Royal Army Medical Corps) in 1935. After serving in Britain and India he was later sent to Malaya and Singapore (commissioned into the RIASC). He was captured by the Japanese and sent to Changi. From there he went, in June 1942, to work on the Burma Railway. He actually volunteered thinking he could maybe have a better chance of escaping, and was in the first group to be sent to work on the railway. He recorded many of his trials, and those of the other POWs, enabling me to write about his war years. ("A Kind of Destiny" by Eve Karslake Craven - now out of print.) Thank you, Peter, for keeping this history alive.