THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION:-

In January 1999, The Royal British Legion was invited by organisations representing the FEPOWs to co-ordinate a request for a special ex-gratia payment from the British Government in recognition of the hardship and suffering they experienced at the hands of the Japanese.

FEPOWs are represented by the National Federation of Far East Prisoner of War Clubs and Associations (NFFCA) and the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors Association (JLCSA) which has sought unsuccessfully further compensation through the Japanese Courts. Until now neither Association has claimed a special payment from the British Government, over and above the £76. paid to them in 1952.

However, with the continuing failure of the Court action against the Japanese, and evidence, which has only recently come to light, of the failure of previous British Governments to seek further compensation from the Japanese when it was possible to do so, the views of FEPOWs have changed.

In view of the now widespread practice of making large, retrospective compensation awards to various groups and individuals experiencing injury, hardship or even trauma as a result of an incident, they now believe that the time is long overdue for the British Government to review all previous decisions in this matter, with a view to offering FEPOWs a Special Gratuity .

Each FEPOW was paid £76 compensation in 1952 mainly out of sequestered Japanese assets in this country . It was said to represent the average wage of a Japanese male for twelve months at the end of the Second World War. When paid it would have represented about 11 to 12 weeks pay for an adult British male. This was obviously grossly inadequate for more than three and a half years of terrible suffering and horrific mental trauma.

FEPOWs took no part in negotiating or agreeing to the terms under which this compensation was paid by Japan under the San Francisco Treaty with Britain and other countries. As the Japanese have reiterated, only governments, not individuals, have the legal rights to negotiate under the Treaty. FEPOWs have been left to pursue claims with great difficulty at their own personal cost.

The British Government failed in its duty to obtain further compensation for FEPOWs when Lord Reading agreed on 26 May 1955 that HMG should not take advantage of Article 26 of the San Francisco Treaty which provided for further claims if Japan concluded agreements with other countries more advantageous than to the original signatory countries. His footnote saying 'We are at present unpopular enough with the Japanese without trying to exert further pressure which would be likely to cause the maximum resentment for the minimum advantage" appears on Foreign Office Document FJ1483/1 in the Public Record Office. It was further decided the decision should not be publicised, knowing that knowledge of the more advantageous terms of the treaties then recently concluded with Burma and Switzerland might give rise to action by FEPOWs for parity .

On 11 December 1998 the Canadian Government announced it would pay compensation to its FEPOWs at the rate of 18 dollars per day of captivity , subject to a maximum tax - free payment of $24,000. The two Canadian Ministers involved speak of "this issue having gone on too long, .now is the time to do the right thing; these payments are an expression of the gratitude which Canadians feel for these Veterans for their suffering and sacrifice"; "am pleased that the Government of Canada will repay as a debt of honour these Veterans." This is in addition to an original payment five times larger than the £76 received by British FEPOWs and a monthly pension for all Canadian FEPOWs in addition to disability pensions.

The United States Government in 1989 made payments of $20,000 as compensation to each of its citizens of Japanese origin interned under good conditions during the Second World War. It was for a similar sum that the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors Association brought its unsuccessful action in the Japanese Courts.

A Hong Kong War Memorial Pension has been paid since 1992 to former civilian internees and POWS and their widows and widowers who were members of mostly voluntary units during the hostilities in December 1941. It excludes members of UK forces on duty in Hong Kong. Payment of the pension of approximately £800 per month (£10,000 per annum) non-means - tested for a married person, is administered through the Crown Agents in London. The scheme was announced in the Government Gazette in 1992 and as Hong Kong was then a wholly governed colony the scheme can only have been authorised with the knowledge of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London.

In a letter to the Secretary General of The Royal British Legion dated 24 May 1999, Philip Barton, Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, commenting on the suggested Special Gratuity states:

"It has been the common policy implemented by successive British governments that financial compensation of this sort is not the best way to address such needs in this country . Rather the emphasis is on the maintenance of our health services and pensions to provide support to those citizens who are in need. There are no plans to change this policy."

Every citizen in this country who is in need is entitled free of charge to the health and pension services referred to by Philip Barton. However effective and caring these services may be, they in no way provide any recompense for the three and a half years of suffering and trauma of FEPOWs. At current civilian award levels each FEPOW would probably be entitled to a six or seven figure award for psychological and physical injury. Under all present UK concepts of justice all FEPOWs irrespective of whether they receive or have sought a pension should be eligible as of right to this non-means-tested, tax - free Special Gratuity for their three and a half years of suffering and trauma.

We have progressively improved compensation and pensions to ex-servicemen and their treatment since the Second World War, including amending the Crown Proceedings Act in respect of compensation for service personnel on duty, and have not let historical precedent stand in the way. Great emphasis has been paid to post-traumatic stress and counselling unheard of in the second World War, the cost of which in many individual cases would be far greater than the proposed Special Gratuity If something is wrong it is a travesty to perpetuate it on the grounds that the practice of previous governments must continue to be followed.

Apart from helping to alleviate the intense feeling of FEPOWs and surviving widows of injustice and abandonment by successive governments, the payment of this special gratuity would provide what to many would be a valuable addition to the last years of their lives, and some recompense for all the years of suffering. Most are likely to die soon and it would be a comfort to them if they receive this Special Gratuity even at this very late stage to know that after they are gone this will help their widows.

25% of FEPOWs (12,433 out of 50,016) captured by the Japanese were killed or died in captivity compared with 5% (7,310 out of 142,319) captured by Germany and Italy.

From HMSO Cmd 6832 dated June 1946 it is apparent FEPOW deaths as a percentage of FEPOWs captured were the highest rate of all battle fronts involving British troops including the Normandy Landings, Burma Campaign and all other fronts where casualties in total were far below the 25% rate of FEPOWs who died or were killed in captivity. Of the UK Armed Forces total of 4,683,443 in June 1945 266,443 (5%) died.

FEPOWs suffered trauma 24 hours a day with the constant threat of death, disease, beatings, torture, starvation, seeing their comrades die around them, and taking part in burying them. Many never settled down after liberation and suicides occurred. It is doubtful that any other major group of our citizens in this century has suffered such trauma.

Many FEPOWs were told by their Japanese captors that they would be executed when the Allies landed in Japan, and some were made to dig their own graves in advance

They endured the full three and a half years on minimal rations with no proper medical attention, dressed in rags. Few if any Red Cross parcels reached them.

Almost all their families did not know whether they were alive or dead. There were virtually no mail facilities for correspondence, adding to the terrible feeling of isolation thousands of miles from home.

Their demobilisation entitlements at the end of the war were based on rank when captured and length of service. A private, for example, might have become a sergeant or been commissioned, and a lieutenant might have become a major under normal circumstances in three and a half years with enhanced entitlements appropriate to rank. Under this system a man who never left Britain or heard a shot or bomb dropped would more than likely have received a higher demobilisation gratuity .

For many years FEPOWs and their widows struggled to obtain benefits and had to bring up their young families on inadequate pensions, compounded with bitterness at the attitude of successive governments. Great effort had to be expended in wringing pensions and other benefits for FEPOWs from reluctant Governments.

According to the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors Association records, which include almost all National Federation of Far Eastern Prisoners of War Clubs and Associations members, the total number of FEPOWs eligible for the Special Gratuity is 7,335. Some may have died and some would not wish to claim the Special Gratuity. According to the War Pensions Agency the total number of FEPOWs in receipt of war pensions is 3,436 and 1,245 FEPOW widows. On the best available figures only 46.88% of FEPOWs and 37.7% of FEPOW widows are in receipt of a war pension. The rest receive the same benefits from the health and pension services as members of the general public. As computed the total number eligible for the Special Gratuity would be 10,639, comprising 7335 surviving FEPOWs and 3304 FEPOW widows.

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Following the above briefing; which took place", on the 29th JUNE, this year, a PRESS CONFERENCE took place on the 20th SEPTEMBER this year, to which Alec was invited and I reproduce, here, the Public STATEMENT which was made on that occasion and to which you might have found reference in your newspapers:-

FEPOW PRESS CONFERENCE 11:00 HRS, 20 SEPTEMBER 1999

Thank you all for coming here today to hear about the Legion campaign for a special gratuity for former prisoners of war of the Japanese during World War Two. A great deal has been said and written over the years about what they experienced, but so far very little indeed has been done either to officially recognise or make amends for their suffering.

At the end of last year, after running their own campaign very effectively for many years, largely directed at Japan, the main organisations representing the FEPOWs, the National Federation of Far East Prisoners of War Clubs and Associations, and the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors Association asked the Legion to co-ordinate a campaign aimed at the payment by the British Government of a Special Gratuity in recognition of their suffering, along the lines of the Canadian Government's decision to do the same late last year. The Legion considered their request and found no difficulty in acceding, looking on it as a debt of honour that must be paid.

After direct, but discreet approaches to the Prime Minister were turned down, we decided to enlist the support of as many politicians and public figures as possible, getting them to sign a declaration of support for the campaign. This we have done, with great success.

333 MPs and Peers have pledged their support for The Royal British Legion (RBL) urging the Government to recognise the sacrifice and suffering endured by British prisoners of war while they were held captive by Japan nearly 60 years ago.

The almost unprecedented display of cross-party agreement urging Mr Blair to intervene and end the years of delay and deception, ranges from two former Labour Defence Secretaries, Lord Healey and Lord Mason, to former Tory Home Secretary Michael Howard; from former Tory Ministers the Rt Hon Virginia Bottomley, Sir George Young and Christopher Soames to the joint vice-chairmen of the all-Party Japan group Lord Trenchard (Con) and Roger Godsiff MP (Lab) and joint secretary lan Davidson MP (Lab).

Peers endorsing the campaign range from the Bishop of Oxford to the former Chief Rabbi Lord Jakobovits. Other Peers read like a roll call of past military campaigns: Countess Mountbatten of Burma; Earl Haig; Earl Kitchener; Viscount Allenby and Lord Freyberg. They are joined by former Commons Speaker Lord Weatherill and former Tory Ministers Lord Prior, Lord Walker of Worcester and Lord Renton. Former Labour Ministers Lord Shore, Lord Morris of Manchester and Lord Walker of Doncaster have also signed.

Among Labour MPs, only back benchers were asked by the RBL to back the appeal (MPs on the Government payroll were excluded) and 148 have done so. In addition, the appeal has been signed by 62 Tory MPs, 39 Lib Dem MPs, 5 SNP MPs, 4 from Plaid Cymru and 7 Ulster Unionists which together with 3 independent members brings the total to 268 MPs and 65 Peers.

All 333 want the Government to grant a special one-off gratuity to some 10,000 former prisoners of war and their surviving widows to rectify the calculated decision of previous U K governments not to reopen negotiations with the Japanese Government to improve the £76 awarded to the Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOWs) under the 1951 peace treaty with Japan.

This follows recently revealed Foreign Office documents held at the Public Records Office which show that in 1955, the then British Government decided not to claim more compensation for our FEPOWs as they were fully entitled to under the terms of the peace treaty in case it harmed the rebuilding of Anglo-Japanese trade and diplomatic relations.

The Foreign Office papers unequivocally show that the 1955 Government decided to avoid offending Japan by taking no action under Article 26 of the San Francisco Treaty. This provided for further compensation if Japan concluded war claims settlements with other countries which were more advantageous than to the original signatory countries including the UK. It has subsequently been revealed that Japan reached such agreements with Burma and Switzerland in 1955.

These facts, together with the recent decision of the Canadian Government to give their FEPOWs "an extraordinary payment to extraordinary individuals who suffered extraordinary hardship while in captivity" so aroused the ire of the former Far East POWs that for the first time they asked the RBL to intervene with the Government on their behalf. Canadians held prisoner by Japan were given a special payment last December of £10,000 in recognition of their suffering and to repay a debt of Honour.

Some 25.47 per cent of FEPOWs held by the Japanese were killed or died in captivity and the survivors have fought an heroic, almost lone battle for justice through the Japanese courts since the 1960s.

Because this route has so far been unsuccessful, we are now seeking to break the stalemate by asking the Government to make an ex-gratia payment in recognition of the hardship and brutality they endured in the service of their country .

The Government should be impressed and moved not only by the level of support we have secured from both Houses of Parliament, but by the fact that in an opinion survey 71 per cent of people agreed with a special payment being made.

There have been instances of compensation payments in recent years which provide precedents for the Government approving a retrospective payment to recognise this special case. However, it says it would rather help the FEPOWs by providing support to those who are in current need, through health services and pensions. But these are services that every UK citizen is entitled to and do nothing to mark the debt we all owe these people and in no way provide any recompense for nearly four years of suffering and trauma undergone by the FEPOWs, only 47 per cent of whom we estimate are getting a war disability pension.

You may be wondering what we are going to do to further the campaign:-

For a start, former FEPOWs will be going to the Conservative and Labour party conferences in Blackpool and Bournemouth to lobby delegates and hand out information sheets about this campaign.

On 20th October, FEPOWs will be conducting a mass lobby of their MPs at Westminster and next week I will be writing to the Prime Minister to ask him to receive on the same day, a Legion-led delegation at 1O Downing Street to discuss the matter .

As you will see from their press release, which we have distributed to you here, we are also working closely with the All Party POW Group of MPs and they are aiming to call a meeting of MPs to brief them further, early in the new Parliamentary session.

Eric Lomax, who is quoted in the press release we have issued this morning is here with us, together with Alf Hunt. Along with Arthur Titherington and Steven Cairns who are sitting here with me, not forgetting Keith Martin and his colleague from the Association of British Civilian Internees - Far East Region, they can all give fuller details of what they experienced and I hope you will talk to them once the formal proceedings are over.

I think that that is enough from me. I hope that what you have heard here this morning will convince you that it is high time that something meaningful must be done, even after all the years and before the passage of time makes the problem go away. The survivors are not getting any younger and it is time for action before it is too late.

We will now be pleased to take any questions you may have. Please state what publication or organisation you represent and also to whom your question is directed, if you have a preference.

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Following on this Press Conference, Channel 4 presented a programme relating to the medical miracles which happened every day in the camps and the amazing ingenuity of both prisoners and doctors in fabricating or substituting every-day articles into specialised items which saved many lives and enabled badly damaged FEPOWs to return home either with all their limbs or with very serviceable substitutes. I reproduce the "write up" the next morning from the critic of the Daily Express.

THE BURMA Railway has become a byword, not just for man's capacity for inhumanity towards his fellow beings but also for remarkable courage and fortitude in the face of quite unspeakable hardship. For that reason, its story is one that can't be told too often, and it was told again last night in

SECRET HISTORY (CHANNEL FOUR)

The episode focused on the amazing ingenuity shown by the Allied prisoners of war who acted as doctors and orderlies in the hospital camps set up for those too sick to work on the railway. Working under almost impossible conditions, they were still able to save lives;

At Chungkai, one of the largest of such camps, about 150 orderlies and 50 doctors attempted to tend to more than 7,000 sick and dying men. The patients arrived on barges after a four-day river journey" We were bags of bones," said Jack Chalker, a veteran who had been a patient there.

In the early days of Chungkai, the death rate was high. The camp was laughably under-equipped with medicine and surgical instruments and the men were ravaged by tropical diseases - malaria, dysentery,diphtheria, cholera, dengue fever. Even bamboo was a potential menace, scratches from the plant's barbs quickly turning to Ulcers.

Jack Donovan, a former patient, recalled getting a scratch that within days had turned to a gaping,pus-filled wound. The pain was excruciating, he said, so much so that when the surgeon told him his leg would have to come off, he felt more relief than fear He was anaesthetised from the waist down and the operation was performed with a butcher's knife and saw; Afterwards, he was just glad to be alive still.

As time went on, the Allied POWs showed themselves masters of innovation. They rigged up a centrifuge from an old bike, which they used to separate serum from red blood cells to help diphtheria sufferers. Army issue knives, forks and spoons were adapted into surgical instruments and they also knocked up saline drips, artificial limbs and even a retractable dentist's chair.

By the end of the war, more than 15,000 Allied prisoners of war had died building the railway - about a third of those who'd worked on it. But had it not been for the resourcefulness of the hard-pressed medical men, the numbers would undoubtedly have been far higher. Jack Donovan was just one of many who owed their life to them. "I'm only here because of them," he said. "God bless them."

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