Corp0ral Punishment

[Lou Barron]

Corporal punishment is a thing of the past in the British Forces and it could be in the Japanese forces but during the ww2 when I was a pow in Singapore in one camp I was in a place called Loyang and it was not to bad a place but we were under the Japanese Navy they were about 600 hundred in the barracks .Anyhow when we went on roll call (Tenko) we had to line up and as the Japanese Ensign was raised we had to bow down as the flag was going up then we had to watch as the Jap sailors who had done some thing wrong they were lined up sometimes it would only be a couple but sometimes there could a good few more .
The Jap discipline was very strict and that the way they treated us with a lot more excuses to give us a hiding and that was pretty often

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Lou
Possibly not quite as bad as what you saw and experienced,but in Years gone by I can tell you that the South African Prisons had a really hard line of Corporal Punishment laid on,and some of the things I witnessed first hand were barbaric!
That was only in the then all White Prisons,God knows what went on the the Black Prisons,all I do know that those days there were many Deaths that happened in those Jails as a result of very harsh Corporal Punishment!
Thank the Lord that things have changed and I think these days with now mixed Race Prisons ,and new Laws at least although they are still very strict,Prisoners get a better deal all round!
But still wouldn't like to spend time in one !
Cheers

[Lou Barron]

Yes I know Vernon even when I went Capetown and Durbin the cops was pretty tough I was only a young fellow and did not drink but I saw evidence of what happened if you crossed the line Also Lourenoe Marques(the spelling might not right) The cops there was pretty tough

[j.sabourn]

Snowden... Saw recently a snippet of same whistleblower giving an interview to an American reporter. He obviously has done a lot of damage to the cloak and dagger boys and to American Authenticity throughout the world. Why in the world would he give up a possibly well paying job to do so much damage to his own country, and probably have taken oaths of secrecy as part of his obligations. To me he is a traitor. Although the Americans are probably trying to entice him back of his own accord, I wonder what he would be charged with in these so called modern times, he also seems to have a fan club. If he had waited until he had retired he could have done the same as most politicians by writing a book about his time in the job, this would probably have been legal as pollies wouldnt put themselves in harm way by writing about their bad decisions whilst in office. There must be some reasoning behind his actions, if he wanted to make people aware, he must think we are morons, nothing would surprise most, of some things our representatives get up to. JS

[robpage]

There was speculation here on the radio last week that his flight to Russia was pre-planned and Russia had received a lot of his information , might be ?

[Jacyn Wade]

Lou, I can't help but think that, besides the corporal punishment, it must also have been a very hard thing to bow down for the Japanese ensign.

[Lou Barron]

Hi Jacyn nice to hear again ,yes it was but that was the way the Japs use to do things like that to belittle us it was the same on working parties they would do things in front of the local people just to show who was boss some of the things they I could not repeat and if they thought we was doing something wrong they would make us scream at us Dammi Dammi

[Jacyn Wade]

It's interesting they felt the need to belittle prisoners, as if just being taken prisoner wasn't enough. One wonders if they felt belittled when they had to surrender. I certainly hope so.

[robpage]

In the small museum at the Eastern end of Changi are many statements and testimonies , one that made my eyes water was a story from a Chinese couple of schoolboys ,

Every morning on their way to school they passed a Japanese guard , there was no other route to the school . Every day they were stopped forced to bow to the guard and hit with the Rifle . Obviously not too hard , but enough to hurt . The guard thought this amusing . On the day of liberation , the Japanese were left still armed for a few days , I knew that to be true from my Father , As these young men passed the guard that morning , knowing the Emporer had bowed to the technological horror of two nuclear explosions , this Japanese guard bowed to the two schoolboys , thought for a moment and offered his rifle so they could seek retribution and batter him . The Schoolboys accepted the bow but returned his rifle , and told him that as Chinese they were humans , not animals , then walked on . That story gave me a huge lump in the throat , after walking around the tiny museum , seeing the horror that was and still is war , I wanted to shake those schoolboys , who would have been well over seventy five , if stil alive firmly by their hand of humanity . Out of horror shone a beacon of hope and light

[j.sabourn]

Looking back at the World History in our lifetimes makes one wonder where our Loyalties really lie. During the second world war we were indoctrinated by our governments upon the evils of our erstwhile enemies, who now when economies prove otherwise are now our friends, and our past friends are now our enemies. Even looking back at old training films where a British Infantryman was taught to shout profanities at the foe whilst sticking a bayonet into a sandbag. Would probably be brought up now by the racial discrimatory board. Our main enemies were Germany Italy and Japan, with others skulking in the background with definite nazi tendencys. These are now our so called friends, whilst others such as China ( which took the brunt of Japanese Imperialism before and during the war) are classed as our not so friendly people to know. All this is purely on political say so. Mao Se Tung is still highly regarded in Chinese History, whilst Chiang Ki Shek, although he had his followers is still regarded by some as the good guy, as the west backed him as reckoned he was anti communist. Russia came under the same brand as being communist and therefore to be suspect. These countries had teeming billions of population and if they were that unhappy why didnt they change things. All the trouble of the recent past and the present in the Middle East has only been made worse by outside interference. I will still stick to my argument despite others quoting Hitler and how he got away with it, you cant in all fairness put the Russian people as having similar aims as Hitler. What woud Britain do if spain wanted Gibralter back, or once again as the Argentine tried not so long back to gain the sovereign rights of the Falklands. There is really no answer to what a country has to do, only to protect the rights of its citizens which is what it is put there for in our Democratic Society. I will always maintain a governments main duty is to protect its Borders, and to defend its citizens. That is what a government is put in power for. The running of a country is usually done by more competent people than a politician sitting on his backside and calling each other my Honourable member. That TV programme shown a few years ago "Yes Minister" was probably closer to the truth than most realize. JS