pow days

[Lou Barron]

The japs told us we was going to a camp not far from CHANGI JAIL it was a ex British naval base where they had a lot of barracks that was built well off the ground with a ground floor underneath they was very good . They was a big wharehouse that the navy had used as storing mines and alot of other gear . the rest of the barracks was taken over by the japanese navy the japs mustered all of the pows in seletar that would be about 170 guys that would be merchant navy and navy guys so it looked good but we was surrounded by japs .The place was was not far from a mangrove swamp they was also a big jetty that had been blown up halfway down it went into the Johore Straitswhat the japs wanted us to do was get the mine laying plant back into working order we said no so the japs said no work no food so we had no option the accomadation was not bad we also had showers that was very good the only thing wrong was the bloody mosquito and the japs the plce had a big wire fence around it they must have been about a dozen of these barracks and a few big houses that the jap officers took over but the food was no improvement but the japs had some of the local poeple working in the place but we was not suppose to mix with them but we did sometimes and would give us a bit of info on what to eat that grew wild around the place so we tried to get use to it but it was for a start it was not to bad little did we know what it would be like later on

[Jacyn Wade]

Hi Lou, another good story. I'm wondering, how were you able to communicate with them? Did some of them speak English or was it more sort of "sign" language, or did they just use their weapons to get their point across? I hope you don't mind my questions.

Cheers!

[Lou Barron]

I dont mind you ask these questions Jacyn did you mean the japs or the local people with the japs i doubt very much if some of the japs had ever seen a european before but on the other hand some of the japs could speak a bit of english we started to learn a bit of japanese as it did help to save us from getting bashed up but us pows did pick up a fair bit of the jap language some of the jap officers could speak very good english i forgot to mention that this camp was called LO YANG the japs started to give us a hard time but it was not to bad we had to follow the same routine as the jap navy that is roll call [tenko] and salute [keirei]the jap flag in the morning then given our orders for the working day if you tried to say that you was sick [byoki ]it did not make much difference they would still get you to work we would have one break [yasum]in the morning and one in the afternoon if you wanted to goto the toilet [benjo] we would have to be very quick as the ljaps would sing out speedo speedobut the food did improve a we bit with a bit meat what kind we never asked also a bit of fish mostly shark plus a few vegies but the rice was bloody terrible full of weevils we had our own cooking kitchen underneath the barracks and our own cooks but more of what we eat later on imust mention that the japs gave us shorts and a shirt also a [fundoshi ] it was a linen g string that is what we wore mostly because it was that hot more later

[Jacyn Wade]

Interesting, Lou. I was thinking after I asked the question that maybe some of the jap officers went to school abroad before the war and learned English; maybe they did that on purpose so they'd have officers who knew the language for strategic reasons, sort of like the Arabs (or whoever they were) came to North America to learn how to fly jets before flying into the World Trade Centre on Sept 11. I can't imagine having to eat anything with weevils but I suppose if one is hungry enough, you'll eat anything. You continue to make me realize how lucky I am. Thank you, Lou.

[Lou Barron]

The time we was in LO YANG was not to to what we was to get later on at least we could have a shower also go for a swim [with my shorts on ) but we had to work long hours i remember one time the japs lined us up and one of their officers said tha one of the high ranking officers was to inspect the camp so we had to clean it up a bit one of the jobs was to cut all the under growth around the camp they must have been a dozen of us they gave us a scythenot the big one this had a short handle with a about a 12inch blade any away we go after awhile this screams out we all stopped it was a navy guy i think he was of HMS REPULSE called Dutchy Holland what had happened was a centipedehad crawled up his leg he paniced andtried to take it off with the scythy he got it off okwith a fairly big hunk of flesh the japs took him away and we found out later on they had taken him to SELERANG that we was the pow hospital it was not very far away DUTCHYwas back with us a few days later centipedes and scorpions and a few snakes was around the camp but DUTCHYwas the only to get threatened by one

[Jacyn Wade]

It must have been awfully tempting to use those scythes on the japs instead of the undergrowth... another good story, Lou, thanks.

[Lou Barron]

Yes Jacyn there was many the time i would have liked to take to the japs but it would have been suicidal .to carry on withmy story it was not the japs that gave us some strifeit was the mosquitoswe had no nets like the japs and one morning i woke up i could hardly see out of my eyes the mossies really got to me some of the other guys got it too they were like dive bombersit was later on that i got dengue fever i cannot remember much they took me to the pow hospital in SELERANG iwas very sick for a couple of weeks we had our own doctors but they had little medicines to work with but it was amazingwhat they did in them days one thing it kept me off the working details .i had lost weight at that stage i think i was about 7 stone my pre pow days i was just on 10 stone but it was to get worse but in the meantime things was not to bad i think i mentioned in one of my earlier post about how the japs use to humiliate us specially in front of the locals but we use to try and ignore it it was bloody hard with some of our guys who got abit agro so at night we would have a singsong it did help us a bit we had our funny moments like the time we chased a big lizard about four foot long it was in a mosoon drain these drains ran all around the camp and into the swamp any it was caught and one of the YANKS said we will eat it it was just like chicken

[Tony Wilding]

goodday charles, i was in Trinidad for a month, out in a country area, we had big iguana lizards sometimes in the garden, can run so fast, one day a neighbour invited us to dinner, it was iguana, you are correct it does taste like chicken, i was worried about the food they eat in the phillipines when i go there, but my lady friend says they eat lots of fish, chicken and pork, well i love fish, so it sounds good to me, hope to catch some myself, its good fishing there, never thought i would end up living in a country that was once occupied by the japanese, was lots of cruel treatment there, especially in manila and bataan, yet all seems forgotten there now, amazing how u survived denghi fever, it still kills people now, even with modern drugs, was in india for 7 months 3 years ago, about dusk every evening the mossies used to attack my legs and ankles really bad, the indians had little coils theu used to smoke when lit, that helped to keep mossies away, but did not smell nice, i got very sick in india by eating bad food, amazing how quick u go downhill when u have the runs, but an indian doctor gave me 1 tablet, green in colour, said to drink lots of green coconut water, soon recovered, best wishes, Tony.

[Lou Barron]

Hi Tony i would just like to wish you a happy future in your life in the PHILIPPINESit sure will be a lot warmer than where you are living now best of luck

[Tony Wilding]

Hi, thanks for your kind words, well last night it was minus 5 degrees, its now minus 6, never known it so cold, thankfully i wont experience another winter, counting the days now, its a crazy world, i pay almost £15, 00p. for a 50 gram pouch of tobacco here, in cebu my rent for 1 week is about 1 pound more a week, looking forward to more stories from you, was thinking about what you said," the japs just disappeared, " expect at first you could not believe it, did anyone realise they were leaving, must have been a strange experience, to suddenly be free and no more torture, to be able to relax,must have thought you were dreaming, 2 am here now, time fr bed, best wishes, Tony.