My dad was a POW in Japan

[hauxwell]

I think your great uncle did well to survive the brutalities that were inflicted upon them by the Japanese's. A very brave old soldier. I hope he lived to a good age.

 

Although my father was not a prisoner of war he was in the far east for five years, mainly in Burma and he said it was terrible. He suffered all the tropical diseases.

 

I have just found a card that he was given by his regiment and it was the name of the ship he was on when he was being posted to the far east. I think it says the name of the ship was The Lenenbank and destination just says Flashlight. I suppose they could not put the name of the country in case the ship was captured by the Japanese.

 

I do believe that soldiers who served in the far east were the forgotten army. It was good to see the 70th anniversary celebrations and all of those old soldiers who served in the Far East. There spirits were high as the old veterans made their way down Whitehall.

 

GOD BLESS THEM ALL.

[glennpickard]

The Japanese generations that turned Japan from civil to military control 1905-1931 had little regard for human life. They brainwashed their own soldiers (must die for the Emperor rather than surrender) and went on to plunder dozens of countries as well as starve and murder millions of civilians and POWs.

 

In my opinion the people that ordered and sanctioned this behavior were psychopaths & cowards with no conscience. Joe Stalin played a similar game !

 

Thankfully they are all gone and we have a new breed in Tokyo and Berlin.

[handypandy]

My ex father in law (one of the nicest blokes you could wish to meet) , when quizzed on the subject of being a Jap pow, would reply,"These things are best forgotten."

It was a pity that he never could, he suffered flashbacks and nightmares throughout the rest of his life.

 

 

 

.

[Fed-up]

He only lived till the mid 1950's. Died of lung cancer.

He was not too far from the Nagasaki bomb, so must have seen it.

 

I still have his ivory chopsticks from being a POW!

[hauxwell]

The Japanese generations that turned Japan from civil to military control 1905-1931 had little regard for human life. They brainwashed their own soldiers (must die for the Emperor rather than surrender) and went on to plunder dozens of countries as well as starve and murder millions of civilians and POWs.

 

In my opinion the people that ordered and sanctioned this behavior were psychopaths & cowards with no conscience. Joe Stalin played a similar game !

 

Thankfully they are all gone and we have a new breed in Tokyo and Berlin.

 

yes I quite agree with you.

[biker]

Respectfully, re-consider what you say.

 

Atrocities were committed in war.

 

The taking of prisoners means the captured men were not killed.

 

However, not every soldier became a POW. Soldiers were murdered in cold blood when captured and such acts were committed by our own finest.

 

Reality check.

 

Read the book "The forgotten Highlander" .

[darra]

The Japanese generations that turned Japan from civil to military control 1905-1931 had little regard for human life. They brainwashed their own soldiers (must die for the Emperor rather than surrender) and went on to plunder dozens of countries as well as starve and murder millions of civilians and POWs.

 

In my opinion the people that ordered and sanctioned this behavior were psychopaths & cowards with no conscience. Joe Stalin played a similar game !

 

Thankfully they are all gone and we have a new breed in Tokyo and Berlin.

 

It has to be remembered that according to the Japaneses if you surrended you were the lowest of the low and almost sub human. Surrender was not an option and it was more acceptable to commit suicide rather than surrender. Remember those japanese soldiers who spent many many years living in the jungle rather than surrender,not knowing the war had finished many years ago. Thjs was mentioned by someone,didn't catch his name, on the BBC coverage The treatment of POW's was horrendous,but I once read an article, many years ago, in which they asked the Japanese who had lived through the war. They said that the POW's were being treated in the same way as the Japanese workers were treated on the plantations etc i.e being given a bowl of rice and little else,being made to work long hours, living in shacks. I don't know if this is correct and if it's a reason to treat POW's in a similar fashion is right. I suspect not.

To go off topic my mother was a refugee from Poland and told us of some of the atrocities she saw mostly done by the Russians. She also told us that towards the end of the war her family had everything they owned in the world which wasn't much taken off them by a group of American G.I's. Not on a par maybe but the point is no one came out of the war squeaky clean. |There is a saying that the best way to cover up atrocities in a war is to win it

Edited August 23, 2015 by darra

[biker]

It has to be remembered that according to the Japaneses if you surrended you were the lowest of the low and almost sub human. Surrender was not an option and it was more acceptable to commit suicide rather than surrender. Remember those japanese soldiers who spent many many years living in the jungle rather than surrender,not knowing the war had finished many years ago. Thjs was mentioned by someone,didn't catch his name, on the BBC coverage The treatment of POW's was horrendous,but I once read an article, many years ago, in which they asked the Japanese who had lived through the war. They said that the POW's were being treated in the same way as the Japanese workers were treated on the plantations etc i.e being given a bowl of rice and little else,being made to work long hours, living in shacks. I don't know if this is correct and if it's a reason to treat POW's in a similar fashion is right. I suspect not.

To go off topic my mother was a refugee from Poland and told us of some of the atrocities she saw mostly done by the Russians. She also told us that towards the end of the war her family had everything they owned in the world which wasn't much taken off them by a group of American G.I's. Not on a par maybe but the point is no one came out of the war squeaky clean. |There is a saying that the best way to cover up atrocities in a war is to win it

 

Read the book The Forgotten Highlander by Alistair Urquhart who spent years as a POW of the Japanese. Its unbelievable how badly they were treated.Far worse than any German treatment and that was horrendous.The Japanese surrended after the war.So much for their never surrender attitude.Every Japanese person should read that book as many deny any ill treatment.The Allies played it down as they didn't want Japan to become Communist

[May Blob]

After what I've heard down the years of the barbarism of the Japanese in WWII I have no sympathy over the use of the atom bombs.

 

---------- Post added 24-08-2015 at 00:36 ----------

 

The Japanese generations that turned Japan from civil to military control 1905-1931 had little regard for human life. They brainwashed their own soldiers (must die for the Emperor rather than surrender) and went on to plunder dozens of countries as well as starve and murder millions of civilians and POWs.

 

In my opinion the people that ordered and sanctioned this behavior were psychopaths & cowards with no conscience. Joe Stalin played a similar game !

 

Thankfully they are all gone and we have a new breed in Tokyo and Berlin.

Japan did not sign the Geneva convention regarding treatment of P.O.Ws so in my mind what they got in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified.

[biker]

After what I've heard down the years of the barbarism of the Japanese in WWII I have no sympathy over the use of the atom bombs.

 

---------- Post added 24-08-2015 at 00:36 ----------

 

Japan did not sign the Geneva convention regarding treatment of P.O.Ws so in my mind what they got in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified.

 

If the atom bomb had not been used Russia would have invaded Japan and there would have been a massive loss of life as Stalin didn't care about losses.The Allies would not have been involved as they didn't want massive losses which is why they left Berlin to the Russians.Japan would have been a part of Russia.