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Site History |
This site started its history when my father gave me an answer to a question I asked many years ago, and that question was "What did you do in the war daddy" My father who had been a Japanese Captive had not spoken about what happened, as many others had who had fought in that war. I was to find out why he and his comrades would not. It took me over thirty years a lot of heartaches and many tears a few laughs, but at last what had happened. After the surrender of Singapore my father and what remained of the British, Australian and New Zealand forces were taken in to Japanese Captivity. Not as Prisoners of War, but just as Captives. Thus acknowledging that the Japanese had NOT signed up to the "Geneva Conference of the Treatment of Prisoners of War." In other words they were not POWs in the civilised sense, but were the "Spoils of War" and as such could be used like the captured food, tools, materials and the defeated peoples of Singapore themselves. |
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And use them they did on the notorious "Death Railway" as satirised in the film "Bridge on the River Kwia" and in Tin and Coal mines in Korea, Japan and in factories in Manchuria as forced labour, beating them if they refused until they became senseless or they died, sometimes beheading them at their whim As for my father he was transported on one of the "Hell Ships" to a place called "Hoten" in Manchuria So you will find a mixture of stories about Special Operations Executive and my fathers involvement in it, and where it lead him till the end of the war. In some of the pages on this site I have drawn on sources for information both written and spoken, memories of old soldiers men and women who fought and won in Europe and the Far East, but most of all the voice of my father who I can still hear. That even now I am glad I asked all those years ago that simple question, I know of many that did not and now cannot. To read a full account of how I learned my fathers story click here. Maurice A Christie |
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