japanese mentality

[Lou Barron]

you have admire the japanese after the way they are going about the destructive earthquake the have just sufferedbut during the war it was a very different breedbeing a guest of them during the war we found them a very different type of people after their take over the best part of south east asia their aim was to lower the prestigeof the white man one of the things they use to do to us was to belitttle us in front of the native population the camp we was in was near a place called loyang and the jap navy was in charge one of the tricks they use to line us up into two rows facing another then the head jap would yell out ki o tsuke attention he would then tell us to hit the man in front of you then the guy had to hit you back if they thought you was not hitting hard enough thy would come and hit you harder they were other things they use to do to us to make the natives show who was the boss we had to learn to count in japanese also some of the language for tenko we had one of the yank seaman on roll call he use to say ichi -ni-san -san shi you son of a bitch but he ended up getting a hell of a hiding oh boy what world

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Loius
It must have been very hard on you Guys during that period,and also others that went through similar times!
We that didnt see or experience Wars and hardships are as lucky as hell,and i just sometimes wonder why some are so hell bent on trying to be nasty etc these days! (this isnt any reflection towards anyone here) just life as it is nowdays!

I have said this before and i realy mean this!

I salute and take my Hat off to ALL the Guys that were involved in the years of conflicts,be they Alive or deceased!
You one and all did a great Service for all mankind!

Why oh why cant some just try and give a little back!
Thank you!
Cheers

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi Louis, Hi Dr Vernon, You are right my next door neighbour for many years was a ex Jap P.O.W. a war hero by the name of Donny Owens' a great guy, he was a slave with many others british service man from Burma. in a mine in japan the place where the yanks dropped the H bomb The treatment { very little food} and beatings were common place to them ,all he wanted for many years was for the japenese emperor to say sorry!!! for his pain and suffering and all his dead comrades, but he never did? his life story was put in the south wales echo for V.J. day some years ago The H bomb could not kill him, he was underground the only one still alive after 30+ years, 3 days short of his 90 years birthday he died, he had a good send off, the church was full of his friends and family{ he had military honours at his funeral} I over the years have know a few british seaman who were at sea then, who were jap P.O.W. they were treated very bad , heroes' everyone of them R.I.P. Donny and all our shipmates.

[Rodney Mills]

Perhaps I've missed it but as a relatively new shipmate to this site, I would be very interested in knowing, how you were captured, why, when and your liberation. Like 'Castleman' I salute you Sir.

Regards, Rodney.

[Lou Barron]

hi rodney my story about me is in one of the posts on this site i was a16 year os seaman on the gloucester castle and on15th july 1942 we got sunk by the german raider in the south atlantic bound for capetown with a very heavy loss of life i was lucky to be one of the survivors to be picked up by the germans after spending a couple of months on the supply ship we went to singapore where fifty of us out of the large number of other seamen captured by the germans we was passed over to the japs we sent the rest of the war in different camps ending up in changi jail when the japs packed it in the the british navy cruiser hms sussex sent trucks to the jail and took a lot of rn and mn guys to the ship and when we got on board some of the crew took hold of us myself and another seaman off the gc was taken down to one of the mess decks the sailors really fussed over us they said the was going to give us a bloody good feed my mate said to me look at that loaf of bread on the mess table so i said to one of the sailors how about the bread and plum jam it was the first bread we had seen in nearly three and ahalf years it was lovely that was about 2 weks after the big bomb in the meantime the brits and aussies had landed medical teams being full of lice and other things they gaves a going over i was lucky to be on the first ship to leave singapore on the ss monawai the crew could not do enough for us it was one of the best trips i that i ever done

[Neil Morton]

At first on reading this post I paused, took a deep breath and pondered my response. Apart from my deep respect for your suffering and the stubborn toughness that enabled you to suvive, like all caring human beings with a family I ask the age old question; WHY do the politicians, financiers, arms manufacturers, religious nutters, continue to provoke these seemingly endless conflicts that cause so much suffering?
The 21st century should have produced a world of well being for all; however those nasty tyrants still promulgate their filth for the everlasting GREED that fires the human phsyche.
We can all sympathise with the poor and downtrodden of this world struggling for a "fair go" ( after 1945 many on this site needed a leg up), but it seems to me that once they get their feet on the ladder of future comfort and succour some politician or Mad Mahdi steps in and stuffs everthing up for the ordinary folk.
Ladies and Gents please forgive this out burst, I have no solution I just hope that my kids and grandchildren do not suffer the way Mr Barron has done.My respects sir,Neil "Mort" Morton.

[happy daze john in oz]

I saw some figures which shows more servicemen and women have died in conflict since WW2 than during it.
The good old USA always finds a fight somewhere in the world when their economy is going bad. Give work to the munition workers and keeps the troops employed.
There is sadly an inherant factor in man that will always make him consider conflict as the only way to win. It has been going on since the dawn of time and will in the end be the final nail in the coffin of planet Earth I fear. If the politicians were sent to fight the wars instead of the finest, youngest and fittest then maybe we would see an end to conflict.

[robpage]

Having become quite cynical over the years , when you think of where the World's troubles are located I cannot help but think that Oil is at root of a lot of the miseries in the land . I think that if Mugabwe was sat on oil , he might be ousted , Iraq , Falklands , Nigeria , Lybia , Angola , all these places are Oil producers , could shear greed be the driving force of the Evil that stalks the globe ?

[Captain Kong]

Hi Lou, do you know anuthing about the Japanese Dollar I have a $10 dollar note, I dont know where it came from, maybe worked onto me last time I was bevied in Japan.

Cheers
Brian.

I cannot rotate the picture, My new scanner is the opposite to my old one.

[robpage]

I have some of those Brian , my late father bought them back from Singapore , it is occupation dollars from war time singapore . I have a $1000 which was wortjh nothing in 1945 , or the old man would have spent it !!!