Life was getting pretty unbearable in the hold, after five days some of the men were suffering from diarrhoea. As we lay trying to sleep at night, the rats would become active, I felt one run over my face one night, which wasn't very pleasant. The monotony of the same diet didn't help either. Bill and I had decided to keep our tinned food that we had purchased in Changi until we needed a break from the pink soup.
Early one morning the ship turned into land and we came to the Mekong Delta with its mangrove islands. All this was learnt by groups of men forming a growing queue for the toilets. The ship cruised slowly towards Saigon, the heat and humidity was intense, the hottest place I'd ever been. We anchored off shore and could hear small boats or barges alongside. I saw people walking about in clean clothes on the quayside, making me feel more filthy that I actually was. After darkness we felt the motion of the ship and the air freshen as we sailed out to sea again.
Next day the condition of several men who were ill with stomach trouble worsened, there were no medicines or medical help whatsoever. The rice contained weevils and it was at this time that my mate Bill and I decided to start on our stock of tinned food, sharing one tin of herrings between us for one meal and keeping the tomato sauce for another, we had seven tins together. The convoy now consisted of four ships and two destroyers. The skies became overcast, instead of the constant blue sky, there were grey clouds and the air felt much cooler on deck.
The first man in our hold died, this was reported to the Japanese by our officer spokesman. The man was buried at sea the next day, with a Japanese Officer present and to which twelve prisoners were allowed to attend. These formalities were not continued with a Japanese Officer present as more deaths occurred.
After three days out at sea the weather had deteriorated, the sea became rougher and the skies were on blanket of cloud. Our Sergeants in charge were told ten men were needed from the hold to work in the stoke hold so asked for volunteers, ten of us went forward. Three men were duly called to so the shift. I spoke to one of them later and asked him how he fared. He told me he and his mates had been totally unprepared for events that occurred. The work was extremely hard, but when relieved by the Japanese stokers, they were taken to the hot showers given rice balls then left alone with no guard. There was lots of hot water and it was possible to do washing as no one had checked on them or bothered how long they had stayed.
The next day the Sergeant called out three names, mine being one of them, to go to the stoke hold. We were led to the centre of the ship and down steps where we came to what looked like a coal mine, the complete width and up the sides of the ship was coal. There was a bulkhead with large openings through which we could see men feeding coal into the ship's furnace. There were planks placed on the coal which sloped up to these openings. Two of us were to fill the barrows, the third man push them up the planks and deliver. We took turns wheeling and shovelling. Wheeling the loaded barrows was most difficult, the sea becoming rougher as the weather worsened, it was almost impossible to keep them upright as we struggled up the plank. On several occasions one of us would lose our balance and fall over, sliding with the coal and barrow down the sloping mound of coal.
The stokers were using it as fast as we could deliver and kept calling on us for more. It was a hard eight hours slog. We were eventually relieved by the Japanese crew and taken to the showers, each of us receiving our reward of two rice balls. These were pure white, nothing like the dirty looking weevil ridden rice that we were being dished up in the hold.
It was the first time I had looked in a mirror since leaving Singapore and I was shocked at my appearance. I resembled and felt like a dirty unkempt tramp. That shower felt pretty good after going for so long without a wash or shave, I was loathe to leave it. Being forewarned, we had come prepared with our change of clothing, I had my tropical long trousers to wear so was able to was the filthy ones I had taken off. As we opened the oval door to go on deck to return to our hold, the gale force wind hit us. It was howling through the rigging and whipping the spray from the huge waves, the rain coming in almost horizontally.
The waves rose higher than the ship as we went into a rough, the next minute we were plunging through the waves then riding high on a crest. The deck and toilets were deserted and as the ship momentarily leveled out, we ran for our hold. We hadn't realised how ferocious the weather had turned during the last eight hours. Being in the bowels of the ship we hadn't heard the roar of the sea and wind, we certainly felt the motion. After the fresh air, the stench and warmth of the hold hit us but after a time one became acclimatized. It was pleasant to feel clean once again, so settled down and enjoyed a smoke of the rough tobacco I had kept in an old sock from my prison days in Java. The men around me were just as pleased that I had hung onto it. Cigarette papers were hard to come by, so all types of paper was used, I had the tobacco so finding the paper wasn't my problem in the barter system.
The memoirs of a Japanese prisoner of The Second World War 1942-1945. By Frank Planton.
Friday 25 March 2011
11: To Japan by Sea, a Terrible Voyage - Part 2.
Friday 18 March 2011
11: To Japan by Sea, a Terrible Voyage - Part 1.
Shortly after this, we had our orders to be ready the next day. After breakfast we were collected together and marched down to the docks. When we arrived there were already a number of prisoners boarding a small merchantman of about four thousand tons, the Dai Nicchi Maru, so were kept on the quayside until it was our turn to board. I noticed the ship was not very high from the quay or in the water, so gathered it must be pretty well loaded already.
The queue of men on deck led to the rear hold, we slowly made our way watched closely by several guards. I came to the steps and went down to the first level of the hold where guards were closing us up so no space was wasted – when all the floor area had been filled the hatch cover when on. The hold was lit by a couple of light bulbs on a piece of flex. It was sweltering hot and when my eyes became accustomed to the gloom, I saw I was in the centre with my back against the bulk head. There was just enough space to lie down with our few belongings. The hold was piled high with ore almost to our level, which we thought to be tin ore from Malaya. The deck below was stacked with vehicle engines and gearboxes.
There was the usual hubub of noise as the men talked and sorted themselves out, when suddenly above the noise a parade ground voice said “Gentlemen, if we could have your attention please”. There was a sudden hush, everyone appear to stop in mid-sentence. It was a long time since we had been on a parade ground, but his voice had the authority that we remembered and responded to immediately. As we looked through the gloom, four Sergeants could be seen standing at the bottom of the steps leading to the deck. One of them spoke saying there needed to be some organisation and if we had no objections, they would be willing to take charge. We had no idea what to expect in the days ahead and agreed it would be better for us all to have someone to work out rotas of any duties that may have to be carried out. They then asked for the most Senior Officer in the hold to join them as our spokesman to the Japanese. A Flight Lieutenant then came forward and agreed to be C.O. of the hold. That business dealt with, the hubub resumed.
The hold had become terribly hot and humid and some of the men needed to go to the toilet. The guard at the top of the steps told them they would have to wait until more men needed to go, so I and others joined them. There were two rows of wooden cubicles at the stern which partly hung over the sea and didn't look too safe, one row on either side of the ship, one side for Japanese use, the other for ours. There was no washing facilities whatsoever.
I learnt later that there were a thousand prisoners on board, divided between the two holds at the stern. Whilst queuing for the toilets, I met up with some men from Bouie Glodok prison. They had left a fortnight after our departure and put directly on board the ship, and had been cramped in the other hold for four days before we boarded. I was glad I had volunteered to go, my predictions had come true.
We had been on board for about six hours, when some rice in two large wicker baskets and some buckets of a pink fishy smelling liquid were lowered into the hold. The Sergeants immediately appeared and stood by the food, informing us they would serve it. Whilst two did the serving, the other two saw to it that one section of the hold at a time got their share. They worked the amount out well will a little over, this was then shared round equally. I think we were all grateful to those Sergeants for their foresight and willingness to work to make things run smoothly.
We sailed about nine o’clock that night, the hold felt less humid so we settled down to sleep. There was a blackout on the ship, but our lights were left on. I slept well that night with the motion of the ship and the sound of the waves slapping against the hold.
The next day it became clear what our routine was to be, we had two meals each day, the same diet of rice and pink liquid for every meal, drinking water was obtained on deck, but only when going to the toilet. The worst part was not being able to wash ourselves. We had to wait until then men needed to use the toilet before being allowed on deck, so there was always a queue, this made it possible to stay on deck for a spell of fresh air. Needless to say the odour in the hold was unpleasant with so many unwashed bodies.
The guards became more relaxed whilst at sea. One day whilst on deck I saw three ships in our little convoy escorted by a destroyer. The ships were not large so assumed there must be submarines in the area to need a destroyer escort. It was now about eleven months since America came into the war and they were probably becoming quite active in the area now. I was thinking we wouldn't stand much chance if we were unlucky enough to be torpedoed.
The queue of men on deck led to the rear hold, we slowly made our way watched closely by several guards. I came to the steps and went down to the first level of the hold where guards were closing us up so no space was wasted – when all the floor area had been filled the hatch cover when on. The hold was lit by a couple of light bulbs on a piece of flex. It was sweltering hot and when my eyes became accustomed to the gloom, I saw I was in the centre with my back against the bulk head. There was just enough space to lie down with our few belongings. The hold was piled high with ore almost to our level, which we thought to be tin ore from Malaya. The deck below was stacked with vehicle engines and gearboxes.
There was the usual hubub of noise as the men talked and sorted themselves out, when suddenly above the noise a parade ground voice said “Gentlemen, if we could have your attention please”. There was a sudden hush, everyone appear to stop in mid-sentence. It was a long time since we had been on a parade ground, but his voice had the authority that we remembered and responded to immediately. As we looked through the gloom, four Sergeants could be seen standing at the bottom of the steps leading to the deck. One of them spoke saying there needed to be some organisation and if we had no objections, they would be willing to take charge. We had no idea what to expect in the days ahead and agreed it would be better for us all to have someone to work out rotas of any duties that may have to be carried out. They then asked for the most Senior Officer in the hold to join them as our spokesman to the Japanese. A Flight Lieutenant then came forward and agreed to be C.O. of the hold. That business dealt with, the hubub resumed.
The hold had become terribly hot and humid and some of the men needed to go to the toilet. The guard at the top of the steps told them they would have to wait until more men needed to go, so I and others joined them. There were two rows of wooden cubicles at the stern which partly hung over the sea and didn't look too safe, one row on either side of the ship, one side for Japanese use, the other for ours. There was no washing facilities whatsoever.
I learnt later that there were a thousand prisoners on board, divided between the two holds at the stern. Whilst queuing for the toilets, I met up with some men from Bouie Glodok prison. They had left a fortnight after our departure and put directly on board the ship, and had been cramped in the other hold for four days before we boarded. I was glad I had volunteered to go, my predictions had come true.
We had been on board for about six hours, when some rice in two large wicker baskets and some buckets of a pink fishy smelling liquid were lowered into the hold. The Sergeants immediately appeared and stood by the food, informing us they would serve it. Whilst two did the serving, the other two saw to it that one section of the hold at a time got their share. They worked the amount out well will a little over, this was then shared round equally. I think we were all grateful to those Sergeants for their foresight and willingness to work to make things run smoothly.
We sailed about nine o’clock that night, the hold felt less humid so we settled down to sleep. There was a blackout on the ship, but our lights were left on. I slept well that night with the motion of the ship and the sound of the waves slapping against the hold.
The next day it became clear what our routine was to be, we had two meals each day, the same diet of rice and pink liquid for every meal, drinking water was obtained on deck, but only when going to the toilet. The worst part was not being able to wash ourselves. We had to wait until then men needed to use the toilet before being allowed on deck, so there was always a queue, this made it possible to stay on deck for a spell of fresh air. Needless to say the odour in the hold was unpleasant with so many unwashed bodies.
The guards became more relaxed whilst at sea. One day whilst on deck I saw three ships in our little convoy escorted by a destroyer. The ships were not large so assumed there must be submarines in the area to need a destroyer escort. It was now about eleven months since America came into the war and they were probably becoming quite active in the area now. I was thinking we wouldn't stand much chance if we were unlucky enough to be torpedoed.
Friday 11 March 2011
Back to Singapore, Changi Army Barracks
The next morning I collected my few belongings together in my kitbag, along with my hoard of tobacco which I kept in an old worn out sock, my rice bowl and soup dish near the top just in case it was needed for a meal. When the working party had left we were called to parade ready to move, a last count and off we were marched and on our way to the docks, still wearing my bits of canvas boots.
We hadn't been told where we were heading for, but one of the guards said we were going where there was ice and snow and that could only mean Japan. My ideas and thoughts about going there were that we would be put in a proper P.O.W. camp, with perhaps the occasional letter from home and the odd Red Cross parcel, with good chance of surviving to see the end of the war. How naive of me. I was in for one big culture shock.
At the docks we boarded a merchant ship, about four hundred Airmen and Army personnel altogether, and put in the hold, it seemed no worse that our cells, the toilets were situated aft of the ship. We sorted ourselves out ad weren't too crowded, the hold covers were left off and the sun shone down giving us plenty of light.
Our meals were lowered down the hold in baskets, rice and soup twice each day, at 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. We were able to get drinking water from the tap on deck and allowed to wash with sea water. When on deck, I noticed there were no escorting ships and there seemed to be no other soldiers, other than the guards watching over us. As we sailed along we passed small islands of waving palms and sandy beaches, which looked so tranquil.
The war seemed unreal and just didn't fit in with the scenery. All this was observed on trips to the toilet, the only time were were allowed to move out of the hold. After three days, we arrived at Singapore and told to disembark. We were marched to Changi Army Barracks, a huge place that had been divided into fenced off sections, there was a gate in each section which led into the open areas, were manned machine gun post and searchlights. The boundary was surrounded by a twenty feet high fence.
My pal Bill and I with others, were put into a barrack block in one of the sections which was fairly crowded, the beds were gone so it meant sleeping on a concrete floor again. There were no guards here except for the occasional one passing through. If for any reason we needed to go to another section, we would have to wait until about ten men had collected, then wait for a guard to escort us across. It seemed like a holiday camp after the suffering I had witnesses and experienced for the last six months.
The rice for our meals was supplied by the Japanese with some vegetables, other food such as tinned meat and fish by the army N.C.O’s from huge stores. I was told a ten thousand ton Red Cross ship had docked with enough food, clothing and medical supplies to supply all the needs of the prisoners for the next six months. They had all been issued with Red Cross parcels before our arrival, all were being issued with English cigarettes, we as ‘visitors’ passing through weren’t given any. The ship had docked three months before our arrival, so I visited the store to see if I could get a pair of boots, but was told I was too late, there weren’t any. We asked some of the camp residents what work they were put to and were told there was no organised work. When labour was required for jobs inside or outside the camp, the N.C.O's would supply the necessary number of men.
I heard there was an Army dentist in another section of the camp, so applied for permission to visit him, deciding it would be a good idea to have a check-up by a British dentist whilst the opportunity was there. It was about twelve months since my previous check-up and knew we would be moving on as soon as a ship was available. When arriving at the dentist, I must confess when I saw the equipment he was using, I wasn't looking forward to any treatment that might be necessary. The drill, with a cable drive, was on an upright machine which had a treadle worked by an Army medial assistant, I had never seen anything like it before.
On examining my teeth, the dentist told me one needed filling and another would have to be taken out, which he said but for his limited supplied and equipment, could have been saved under different circumstances. The drilling was painful, but I kept telling myself it would be far worse if a Jap was doing it. I had cocaine for the tooth extraction and didn't feel it come out, but heard the tooth hit the bottom of the enamel bucket standing by the chair with some bloody water covering the bottom, probably so the patients didn't see the extracted teeth. I then realised why the chaps thought I was completely mad when telling them I was going to visit the dentist for a check-up. In spite of all this he did a very good job, I suffered no dental problems in the remaining two years and ten months of my captivity.
One of the permanent prisoners who had been given new boots gave me his worn out pair. The soles were almost through, so I cut my Javanese paid to make inner soles to fit them. One morning I was detailed to go with a working party and taken in a Japanese truck to a large hospital, where we were given small hand scythes and told to cut the grass. We just hacked away at the grass with no one working particularly hard. There were guards with us but they gave no orders.
I noticed there was a great number of wounded Japanese soldiers there and many of them had lost limbs. Most of the seemed to want to converse with the prisoners, the guards making no attempts to stop this. During the day two of them made their way across to me, one of them had lost a leg below the knee, caused by shell fire he said. He could speak a little English and told me his friend was blind. He asked me, “Was I in the RAF”, which I affirmed, he then said his friend was driving a truck when attacked by a RAF fighter, he was the only survivor and asked could he touch my face. Feeling apprehensive and half expecting my eyes to be gouged out, I replied yes. He felt my forehead, my eyes, down my face to my chin, he then put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me to him holding me for a short while. He then asked if he could have my RAF hat badge, which I gave him. They then gave me some cigarettes and said goodbye. That episode left me feeling rather bewildered and perplexed by the totally unexpected behaviour from these Japanese soldiers, it was so unreal after all the brutality and privation of recent months.
I lay awake for quite a while that night, thinking of the lack of hate that I had expected from them due to their injuries from which they would never fully recover. I felt that they were trying to tell me that we were no longer enemies fighting each other, our particular war had ended. I remembered hearing about and seeing pictures of their war with China and thinking what a cold brutal nation they must be, which sentiments had been borne out since being taken prisoner.
The next surprise in Changi camp was that they had a shop selling food for pound notes, US dollars and Straits dollars. Bill and I still had some straits dollars so brought some tins of herrings in tomato sauce and some tinned sausages, which we thought we might need when moved on.
We hadn't been told where we were heading for, but one of the guards said we were going where there was ice and snow and that could only mean Japan. My ideas and thoughts about going there were that we would be put in a proper P.O.W. camp, with perhaps the occasional letter from home and the odd Red Cross parcel, with good chance of surviving to see the end of the war. How naive of me. I was in for one big culture shock.
At the docks we boarded a merchant ship, about four hundred Airmen and Army personnel altogether, and put in the hold, it seemed no worse that our cells, the toilets were situated aft of the ship. We sorted ourselves out ad weren't too crowded, the hold covers were left off and the sun shone down giving us plenty of light.
Our meals were lowered down the hold in baskets, rice and soup twice each day, at 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. We were able to get drinking water from the tap on deck and allowed to wash with sea water. When on deck, I noticed there were no escorting ships and there seemed to be no other soldiers, other than the guards watching over us. As we sailed along we passed small islands of waving palms and sandy beaches, which looked so tranquil.
The war seemed unreal and just didn't fit in with the scenery. All this was observed on trips to the toilet, the only time were were allowed to move out of the hold. After three days, we arrived at Singapore and told to disembark. We were marched to Changi Army Barracks, a huge place that had been divided into fenced off sections, there was a gate in each section which led into the open areas, were manned machine gun post and searchlights. The boundary was surrounded by a twenty feet high fence.
My pal Bill and I with others, were put into a barrack block in one of the sections which was fairly crowded, the beds were gone so it meant sleeping on a concrete floor again. There were no guards here except for the occasional one passing through. If for any reason we needed to go to another section, we would have to wait until about ten men had collected, then wait for a guard to escort us across. It seemed like a holiday camp after the suffering I had witnesses and experienced for the last six months.
The rice for our meals was supplied by the Japanese with some vegetables, other food such as tinned meat and fish by the army N.C.O’s from huge stores. I was told a ten thousand ton Red Cross ship had docked with enough food, clothing and medical supplies to supply all the needs of the prisoners for the next six months. They had all been issued with Red Cross parcels before our arrival, all were being issued with English cigarettes, we as ‘visitors’ passing through weren’t given any. The ship had docked three months before our arrival, so I visited the store to see if I could get a pair of boots, but was told I was too late, there weren’t any. We asked some of the camp residents what work they were put to and were told there was no organised work. When labour was required for jobs inside or outside the camp, the N.C.O's would supply the necessary number of men.
I heard there was an Army dentist in another section of the camp, so applied for permission to visit him, deciding it would be a good idea to have a check-up by a British dentist whilst the opportunity was there. It was about twelve months since my previous check-up and knew we would be moving on as soon as a ship was available. When arriving at the dentist, I must confess when I saw the equipment he was using, I wasn't looking forward to any treatment that might be necessary. The drill, with a cable drive, was on an upright machine which had a treadle worked by an Army medial assistant, I had never seen anything like it before.
On examining my teeth, the dentist told me one needed filling and another would have to be taken out, which he said but for his limited supplied and equipment, could have been saved under different circumstances. The drilling was painful, but I kept telling myself it would be far worse if a Jap was doing it. I had cocaine for the tooth extraction and didn't feel it come out, but heard the tooth hit the bottom of the enamel bucket standing by the chair with some bloody water covering the bottom, probably so the patients didn't see the extracted teeth. I then realised why the chaps thought I was completely mad when telling them I was going to visit the dentist for a check-up. In spite of all this he did a very good job, I suffered no dental problems in the remaining two years and ten months of my captivity.
One of the permanent prisoners who had been given new boots gave me his worn out pair. The soles were almost through, so I cut my Javanese paid to make inner soles to fit them. One morning I was detailed to go with a working party and taken in a Japanese truck to a large hospital, where we were given small hand scythes and told to cut the grass. We just hacked away at the grass with no one working particularly hard. There were guards with us but they gave no orders.
I noticed there was a great number of wounded Japanese soldiers there and many of them had lost limbs. Most of the seemed to want to converse with the prisoners, the guards making no attempts to stop this. During the day two of them made their way across to me, one of them had lost a leg below the knee, caused by shell fire he said. He could speak a little English and told me his friend was blind. He asked me, “Was I in the RAF”, which I affirmed, he then said his friend was driving a truck when attacked by a RAF fighter, he was the only survivor and asked could he touch my face. Feeling apprehensive and half expecting my eyes to be gouged out, I replied yes. He felt my forehead, my eyes, down my face to my chin, he then put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me to him holding me for a short while. He then asked if he could have my RAF hat badge, which I gave him. They then gave me some cigarettes and said goodbye. That episode left me feeling rather bewildered and perplexed by the totally unexpected behaviour from these Japanese soldiers, it was so unreal after all the brutality and privation of recent months.
I lay awake for quite a while that night, thinking of the lack of hate that I had expected from them due to their injuries from which they would never fully recover. I felt that they were trying to tell me that we were no longer enemies fighting each other, our particular war had ended. I remembered hearing about and seeing pictures of their war with China and thinking what a cold brutal nation they must be, which sentiments had been borne out since being taken prisoner.
The next surprise in Changi camp was that they had a shop selling food for pound notes, US dollars and Straits dollars. Bill and I still had some straits dollars so brought some tins of herrings in tomato sauce and some tinned sausages, which we thought we might need when moved on.
Friday 4 March 2011
9: Gardening - Part 2.
There were two Javanese serving prison sentences in charge of us. I was given a plot of land, a mattock and some peanuts to plant, this was easy work compared with what I had been doing. The Japanese guard would disappear shortly after taking us to work, on some occasions he would stay for a longer period, as soon as he had left the two Javanese would go missing but would always be back before the guard returned.
The papaya trees had ripe fruit but were just out of reach, so one of us had to climb up and just take one or two so they wouldn't be missed, these we shared between the ten of us. On one occasion as I climbed, giant red ants swarmed all over me, they had a very nasty nip. when picking papayas, one leaf would come away with each fruit leaving a diamond shape mark on the drunk, so great care had to be taken as to where they were harvested. We had to take even greater care when picking bananas, they were a fruit immensely favoured by the Japanese, to take any ripe fruit would be asking for trouble. When possible, I would pick a green bunch and hide it under the prison garden rubbish, where it soon ripened.
One of the gun posts on the prison wall, overlooked part of our garden, so someone had to keep watch whilst this was being executed. We were not searched when going back to the prison as was the custom when returning from the airport, so I was able to smuggle in a couple of bananas now and again. These could be traded for a tobacco issue from a non-smoker. The tobacco had a low value because of the poor quality and was not easy to exchange, but I thought it was worth getting a stock in before the issue dried up. My allotted plot of land had to be kept weeded and after a fortnight, there were only one or two peanut shoots growing, so I scraped some of the soil away and found the peanuts intact, so when no one was about I'd eat some.
My fellow gardeners and I always kept up with the work as we were loathe to lose the job. My toes began to heal, I had tied rags round them and managed to keep them fairly clean, they certainly felt more comfortable.
One evening we received a visit from our Wing Commander, who informed us that the work at the airfield was almost complete, so some men were to be moved. He had worked out the ratio of men required from each cell, the number from ours would be twenty. It was left to us to decide who should go. He would be returning the next day for the names of the twenty men. I was in favour of going, my reason being that as some of us were to be moved now, the others would certainly follow later. By that time America would be regaining her strength in the Pacific, making it far more hazardous to leave at a later date. I could see no reason why we would be moved to another area in Java and felt certain we would be shipped somewhere and thought it better to go sooner rather than later, there being less likelihood of being bombed or sunk on the way. My pal Bill was not keen to make the move and said he would stay, but the next evening when I gave my name, he decided to join me. All twenty required from our cell volunteered, so there were no problems. I continued working in the garden until told, together with several others, not to go to work one morning. We were taken in groups into the Japanese building, given a medical check, a glass tube put up our backsides and an injection, then sent back to our cells. A few days later we were told we would be moving the next day.
The papaya trees had ripe fruit but were just out of reach, so one of us had to climb up and just take one or two so they wouldn't be missed, these we shared between the ten of us. On one occasion as I climbed, giant red ants swarmed all over me, they had a very nasty nip. when picking papayas, one leaf would come away with each fruit leaving a diamond shape mark on the drunk, so great care had to be taken as to where they were harvested. We had to take even greater care when picking bananas, they were a fruit immensely favoured by the Japanese, to take any ripe fruit would be asking for trouble. When possible, I would pick a green bunch and hide it under the prison garden rubbish, where it soon ripened.
One of the gun posts on the prison wall, overlooked part of our garden, so someone had to keep watch whilst this was being executed. We were not searched when going back to the prison as was the custom when returning from the airport, so I was able to smuggle in a couple of bananas now and again. These could be traded for a tobacco issue from a non-smoker. The tobacco had a low value because of the poor quality and was not easy to exchange, but I thought it was worth getting a stock in before the issue dried up. My allotted plot of land had to be kept weeded and after a fortnight, there were only one or two peanut shoots growing, so I scraped some of the soil away and found the peanuts intact, so when no one was about I'd eat some.
My fellow gardeners and I always kept up with the work as we were loathe to lose the job. My toes began to heal, I had tied rags round them and managed to keep them fairly clean, they certainly felt more comfortable.
One evening we received a visit from our Wing Commander, who informed us that the work at the airfield was almost complete, so some men were to be moved. He had worked out the ratio of men required from each cell, the number from ours would be twenty. It was left to us to decide who should go. He would be returning the next day for the names of the twenty men. I was in favour of going, my reason being that as some of us were to be moved now, the others would certainly follow later. By that time America would be regaining her strength in the Pacific, making it far more hazardous to leave at a later date. I could see no reason why we would be moved to another area in Java and felt certain we would be shipped somewhere and thought it better to go sooner rather than later, there being less likelihood of being bombed or sunk on the way. My pal Bill was not keen to make the move and said he would stay, but the next evening when I gave my name, he decided to join me. All twenty required from our cell volunteered, so there were no problems. I continued working in the garden until told, together with several others, not to go to work one morning. We were taken in groups into the Japanese building, given a medical check, a glass tube put up our backsides and an injection, then sent back to our cells. A few days later we were told we would be moving the next day.
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