RMC Annual Review 2020-21 digital (1) - Flipbook - Page 49
Never above you, never below you, always by your side
Inspiring stories
They had not communicated for all
those years, and although Margaret
had sent letters, they were returned
to her marked ‘unknown’. Margaret
had been working on munitions
throughout the war, but when she
received the news that Jim was
coming home, she moved to Sussex
so she could be there for his return.
“Fortunately, all the family (except
one brother in the Army who was
heading to Singapore at the same
time I was leaving it) managed to
get home that night and we had
a whole family gathering. There
were some tears that day too.”
The Japanese began to get a foothold
in Singapore and Jim and the other
Royal Marines began to evacuate
the area, loading men women and
children into boats, most of which
were sadly sunk or captured at
sea. Jim left Singapore under the
cover of darkness, facing Japanese
resistance almost immediately.
On the 15th of February their
boat was illuminated by the
searchlight of a Japanese destroyer
— they had been captured.
“I won’t ever forget seeing them.
Nobody could speak Japanese, and
the Japanese sailors came onboard,
tearing around the ship, shouting,
and hitting and striking people,
and the children were absolutely
frightened to death. I can see the
fear on their faces even today.”
The Japanese separated the military
personnel from the civilians, Jim
was held in an abandoned building
without water or sanitation. Jim
described the treatment at that point
as ‘abominable,’ they were stripped
of every valuable thing they had, left
only with a small amount of clothing.
Prisoners continued to arrive to the
warehouse they were kept in, they
slept on concrete floors and were
given little to eat. Jim and the other
POWs were then taken to a disused
school in Palembang, Sumatra.
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“Again, we were sleeping on a brick
floor with no bedding, sanitation
or water. Oil drums were used as
toilets which had to be taken away
and emptied daily. The water which
was brought in was unsuitable
for drinking unless boiled.”
They were stripped of any basic human
rights, and this was before the ‘working
parties’ had begun. The men were
told to sign papers saying they would
not try to escape, scared of more men
facing punishment and death and even
further deterioration in conditions,
they decided to sign. Although they
had started receiving food and water
again, they were being forced to
work. Jim described the experience
as being “slavery of the first order”.
“When the Japanese captured us,
I had been sleeping on the upper
deck and I took my boots off. In the
confusion someone took one of
my boots instead of their own, so I
was left with two boots of different
sizes. I could not manage with the
smaller shoe, so I cut the heel off.”
For three and a half years Jim was kept
as a Prisoner of War enduring barbaric
conditions and suffered brutality daily.
Jim witnessed horrific atrocities that he
still finds difficult to talk about years
later. He recalls that a prisoner who
had struck a guard, after he returned
to work injured to earn food rations,
was taken away and never seen again.
Jim and Margaret were married
the following year.
Despite the atrocious conditions, Jim
says the bond between the prisoners
was strong. Jim, and a group of
around 30 Royal Marines supported
each other and looked out for one
another. They did their best to protect
each other from being beaten if they
were struggling with the work.
Jim served on HMS Vanguard for the
remaining six years of his service,
although his health was not what it
should have been but he wanted to
stick it out until retirement. After 12
years in the service, Jim worked with
the Parks Department in Salisbury, and
then as a groundsman and gardener for
a local school until he retired. He is a
member of COFEPOW — The Children
(& Families) of the Far East Prisoners of
War organisation and wants people to
remember what happened in the Far
East during the war, as he continues
to feel the mental scars today.
Prisoners of War had no contact with
the outside world, they were fed
information with regards to the war but
had no way of knowing if what they
were being told was true. This made it
very difficult for the men, not knowing
if or when they would be set free.
In August of 1945 working parties
were stopped, that indicated to the
Prisoners that help was getting closer.
A few days after being stood down
the men were called out to roll call,
a Japanese Commander came out
and said “the war is over” then fled.
Jim said: “You can just imagine.
Some chaps just stood there,
dumbfounded. Others hugged their
chum, next to him, others just went
to the ground and shed a few tears.
I shed a few tears; I can tell you.”
“It was an emotional reaction through
my whole body. At that stage, we had
almost got to a point of no return.”
Celebrating the 75th Year of the RMA
The Allied forces came to the
aid of the prisoners, and they
were flown to Singapore by the
Australian Air Force flew.
Jim was given clothing and equipment
and was put on troopship HMS
Antenor to return home. The journey
took six weeks, and they stopped
once at a port in the Suez Canal to
get kitted up with winter clothing.
He arrived in Liverpool on
27th October 1945.
www.rma-trmc.org
When Jim was
posted in Scotland
in 1940 he had
met his future
wife Margaret.
He was utterly
shocked that she
stood waiting for
him alongside
his mother and
father when he
arrived in Sussex.
“It’s had an effect on me mentally
over the years. I find it rather difficult
to communicate, or converse with
people. That whole experience is
in the back of my mind all the time,
because some things never go away.”
“I’m glad the war ended, but it’s
important to remember the world
has changed too. The Japanese today
are different people to the way they
were then. And what happened at
the end of war shouldn’t be forgotten
either. The atom bomb saved my life,
and the lives of thousands of men,
but it took lives as well. It’s a thing I
never want to see again. Never.”
Prince Charles has now commissioned
a portrait of Jim, to be hung in
Buckingham Palace. Painted by
artist Eileen Hogan from the
Royal School of Drawing.
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