Coconuts

[Lou Barron]

Watching a documentry in Malay about Coconuts and what they get out of them it brought back a incident that happened in a pow camp (loyang ) one of our guys Lofty Cooper was caught with a coconut he had got when on a working party .The Japs accused him ofstealing it so the made him stand out in the hot sun holding the nut above his head till he collapsed it must have been a long time standing there some of our guys went and brought him in to the hut and gave him water it was a long time before he was completly he came right

[j.sabourn]

Louis dont know if you revisited Loyang when you were back in Singapore. I knew pretty well as is now a supply boat base for the offshore Industry. A lot of the laid up old type tonnage usually lying at the Eastern Anchorage was brought into Loyang and I used to pick up some of these heaps and bring down to Australia on a bareboat Charter and take back after use. There is also a yacht club in Loyang. A lot of the tonnage I knew from North Sea days and was discarded as under powered years ago. On a previous post re. Unions and shipping, I cant see the unions of the old days letting such tonnage to work here as would certainly have been doubtful years ago. Cheers John Sabourn.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Thanks k.

[Tony Wilding]

hi lou, we got a green coconut today, put the juice and jelly in the fridge then drink it cold, delicious. Very refreshing. Have heard some bad stories of japanese cruelty and torture here in cebu, many japanese come here, i think most are unaware of there wartime treatment of the philippine people., especially the women. Some of the stories i have been told i could not repeat.

[Lou Barron]

No John i would have liked to have gone to Loyang but we did not seem to have the time but i suppose it would have change a lot since i was there .Was the big jetty still there it was partly destroyed and all the barracks we did get to the jail and the museum and a replica of the church that was inthe jail .We also went to Kranji cemetery but Singapore is a very lot different than in the war than it is today

[robpage]

my late father ex Royal Marine , re taking of Singapore after the Japanese surrender , the day after I believe , did a lot of work via his local British Legion branch , with , ex far East Prisoners of the Javanese , I went with him to visit one guy one Sunday morning as the guy had gone berserk and smashed up the lounge , and nobody knew why . The Old Man solved it within five minutes , the guy's son in law had bought him a Hitachi Video recorder and he would have nothing Japanese in the house . We sat with old Jimmy for an hour or two whilst dad calmed him down , and he related a few stories , one stuck in my mind , he had scrounged a Japanese cigarette from a guard , ho was friendly ( ish ) lit it , told the guard it was **** , stubbed it out with his bare foot , and took a really severe beating , I did not get it , and asked why , I thought you would cultivate the friendly guards , but , he said no , I just liked to show them they could beat me but never would they own me .the next three years broke him totally , but I often think men like Jimmy Litherland , had something that I for one have not got , and very few have . pure guts with a Union Jack right through them . The shell that wa sleft after countless beatings was a testimony to the cruelty , but he was determined to fight on , he died in his seventies , thirty years ago , but I will never forget him nor the countless others that were with him

[Evan Lewis]

Glad you're settled in well at Cebu.
Visited it a couple times.

Noticed the Bars round the Robinson's area, appeared to be Jap owned. Credited by the local press as part of the Yakuzi connections.
Have A Filipina lady friend,recalls the Family story, of a sister Born very close to the roadside where one of the notorious Death Marches near Bacolog City was in progress.Thankfully not discovered by the guards.

Have You ever visited,in Metro Manila.near U.Nations Avenue.The Cells where many U.S. perspnnel, and possibly Filipino Scouts too were held/ The set-up there was at hightide the Sea from the Bay overtook their cells With the obvious result.
A visit to the American cemetery , Near Metro.reveals to what extent the mainly U,S servicemen and Filipino Scouts were involved.
On a lighter note. There''s a Tidy ,was Norwegian bar-Hotel., Just up the Hill ,{via the Guadalupe Jeepney. at Robinsons Sq.}Also a
Little Sari-sari almost opposite it. For the local San Miguel or Tanduhay ,if you like a Drink.

All best.!

[Captain Kong]

I have been to the `old city ` in Manila where they drowned the POWs in their cells as the tide came up. a very sad place. and the big American Cemetery where there are many thousands buried again a sad place, a big Memeorial there. I believe One hundred thousand , Pilipinos and Americans died at the battle of Manila.
Kranji in Singapore another sad and lonely place, but again also impressive.
Just seen the big cemetery in Pearl Harbor, a couple of weeks ago, again a sad and lonely place full of young men,
Pity they are not full of Politicians,
They should make All Politicians sleep on the ground in those War Cemeteries. They might, just might, get an idea what war is about. not just flag waving at the end.
Cheers
Brian.

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Over the years I have come across a few british ex seaman who were Japanese P.O.W. all had awful tales to tell and serious heatlh probelms due to the inhuman treatment they had , My next door neighbour of many years "Donny owen" was a p.O.W. in japan who was in a mine, not far from Horoshma one of many ex british serviceman who were slave labour underground in a pit /mine when one of the nuclear bombs was dropped so lived to tell about it, he lived till he was allmost 90 yrs, miss his birthday by 4 days, His funeral the medals were on the coffin, and all the flags/ and his comrades were there , a great send off for a war hero.

[Tony Wilding]

hI Evan, so far i have only visited Cebu and surrounding areas, but hopefully will go to Bataan, have been here 6 months now, rent a real nice house now, have bought all we need, not bad going on a pension plus a small private one, arrived here with a couple of hundred pounds, and my laptop, in 4 weeks i get a Yamaha Scooter, will be all paid for, one year old, a finance repossession, less than half the new price, hopefully by end of july i will get my Suzuki Multicab, so touch wood all going well here.YAMAHA MIO SPORTY 115CC.jpgPICK UP WITH CANOPY.jpg