pow days

[Lou Barron]

Back in LO YANG again after my spell in SELERANG the guy who was a ex rubber plantation manager he could talk japanese pretty good some said that he was a white russian any how the japs wanted a couple of guys to work in their cookhouse just like a galley boy so TIBBY thats what we called this guy said to me would i like to do the job so i said ok .Myself and two other guys got the job we got the job of getting wood for the fires also cleaning out the cookhouse it was not all beer and skittles the japs was on our backs all the time the only thing about it we did get a little extra food and also the odd cigarette if the japs was in a good mood but it was dawn till dusk but it was better than some of the other working partys . But a time went on the health of the guys was getting worse malaria a beri beri plus dysentery was starting to take effect but we had no deaths uptil now but the guys still had a lot of ticker this was getting into 1944 little did we know what lay ahead of us

[Lou Barron]

In my last story about being a galley boy for the japs i must mention that they had to cook for about 300 to 400 japanese sailors so it kept us pretty busy they had some strange food not that they gave us any all we got was the left over rice (how i hate the stuff )but in them days it was ok it was better rice than or mates was getting in their cook house there was one instant that happened they use to have a big boiler with a fire underneath i was suppose to keep the fire going one of the nips (thats what we called them)got a bucket of water out of the boiler as i went to put more wood on the fire i knocked the bucket over did the jap go berko then he took to me but it was nothing much but our days was numbered and we was to shift to Changi Jail and that was not to be very pleasant

[Lou Barron]

Back again it must have been about September the Japanese inform us that we was going to be able to send a message to our family back home it with a limit of twenty four word only (i still have the card ) it was to be the first news they got of what happened to us after the sinking gf the Gloucester Castle as we had been notified missing presumed drowned it was over two years before (my mother told me when i got home she and a few of neighbourswent to the pub and got tiddly )It was the only thing that the japs let us do we never recieved any red cross parcels The japs was in full control of us and they really let us know in past post i mention how they took a great delight in belittle us in front of the locals some of the things i cannot mention but some of our guys was getting a bit on edge it took a lot of will power for some of the guys not to have a go at the japs it did happen not in our camp but i believe it did happenin other camps you can imaginewhat happen to them but we use to watch the jap warships coming in the Johore Straits and we could see they were badly damaged so things was turning a wee bit It was early in October 1944 that they shifted us toChangi Jail

[Dennis McGuckin]

Looking forward to your next post Charles.
Interesting stuff.
Thanks mate.
Den.

[Jim Brady]

Hi Lou,I've been reading your stories they prompted me to go to the FEPOW site to see if any photos had been posted yet of the Pier Head memorial.Anyway I came across this,The prison List, it's a book written by the son of a guy that was a FEPOW,short film ,reading and the man himself giving an interview to his son on camera.You may find it interesting and so may any other members who are interested.www.theprisonerlist/the-film.html If you just google the prison list it will come up lots of other stuff on there also.
Regards.
Jim.B.
I just tried that www.did'nt take me to it found it easier just ggogleing the prisoner list.


Hi Jim
Hope you dont mind but i have put the full Link in for you and of course others!
Cheers
Doc
http://www.theprisonerlist.com/watch-the-film.html

[Lou Barron]

Hi Jim thanks for info about the pow book and pictures will have a look i got the ones of the Pier Head i did send a message back the Pier Head looks great a lot cleaner i also sent to you a pm message a couple of days ago keep in touch regards lou

---------- Post added at 11:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 PM ----------

October 1944 the japs had decided to move nearly all the pows to Changi Jail if things was bad before we moved to the jail we was due for a bloody good awaken as some of you guys have read stories of the jail It was built for 600 hundred prisoners the japs crammed 6000 into the jail it self and around the jail about another 6000 these was mostly aussies and army officers - For us guys it was C Block floor three and six in a cell the cell had a raised concrete slab in the middle wih a gap on each side also there was a squat down toilet that did not work The floor 3 consisted of merchant seamen royal navy and a few air force guys luggage was no problem as we had very little So as we sorted our selves out i think that our six was Tommy Davies George Doyle Tommy Foy Paddy Boland barry lane and my self i got into one of the gaps as a bed no show of falling out of bed i think we had a straw filled sack as a matress we did not need any coverings as it was very hot and stickyso our days was to start in Changi Jail

[Lou Barron]

I just dont remember how many cells there was on the top floor but bithink it could have been about 30 0dd on each side (maybe some of you guys might have seen pictures of them .}Any how they were all full and around the walk there were guys sleeping and through the centre of the floor was a very heavy wire netting that was also used as beds but it was not the HILTON CHANGI.On the other hand there were a lot of pows worse than us in other camps If by any chance you had dysentery from floor 3 to the court-yard where the bore holes (toilets)was a bloody long way so there were alot of accidents on the way so they got buckets around the floor to use we had to take turns each on s*****t parade as we called it to empty them .Hygiene was to be one of bad things {but about that later on }We had some guy in charge of the floor i just cannot remember who it was .One thing about it we never seen any japs it was only on working parties that we had the Japs,Koreans and indians

[Tony Wilding]

HI, great stories Charles, amazing what you went through , and for so long, it seems each move was a move for the worse, must have been soul destroying, but you came back, got on with your life and went to sea again, no trauma councelling in those days, one style of life just surviving on a daily basis, then back in the world of semi normality, found this looking through my photos, you will remember her, Empire Austen. Tony W.EMPIRE_AUSTEN.jpg

[Lou Barron]

One thing the pow days brings out is the best and the worst of human behaviour it takes some beliving to what they did there was one story i did not know these guys but what happened this guy and one of his mates got their evening meal(rice )the guy had to go in a hurry to the bore hole and while he was away his mate ate his mates rice when mate got back the guy told him he had ate his rice now you can knock s****t out of me there a lot of things went that i did not know about but i must say they was mostly a very close comradeship among us .The ingenuity was amazing having no matches most of us had a tinder box with a flint stone for us smokes when we got some tobacco java weed we called it(got by the black market more of that later).We use to roll the tobacco in news paper or better still pages out the bible strike the flint stone with another stone and get a spark going in the tinder box {it hard for me to explainhow it works ) But itwas amazing what the some of the guys made things out nothing it made life a little bit easier for us .For instance the Concert Party that was started in SELERANG between the Brits and the Aussies and brought into Changi Jail was something tobehold i believe it started with about 30 guys and with the consent of the japanese administration it was something that made life a little bit easier



)

[Keith Tindell]

Hi Charles,
I have been following your story with great interest, and while watching Antiques Roadshow here in the uk last night, a guy came in with a story and drawings from Changi, where his mother and father had been during the war. He had a newspaper, hand printed and circulated within the prison by prisoners, and drawings of the situation within the prison. Pretty horrific stuff, anyway keep the story coming please, regards Keith Tindell