My first Boss was a Changi survivor. He told me a lot of things about it. He, surprisingly, was not bitter and always related these tales with a smile. Of course, he only told me the Aussie larrikan things. That was the Australian persona in those days. He reckoned the only way to deal with the Japanese was to smile broadly, bow profusely, pretend not to understand and do the absolute opposite of what they wanted.
Is todays population the kind of population that he would like to know all he suffered for were lowlifes wrecking memorials.? Makes my blood boil too.
In the early 1980's I had the privilege of working on a Hydro project on the River Kwai - the infamous Burma railway ran right through the dam site. My first trip from Bangkok to the site (in a Series 3 Landrover) was eerie. At the time, I was not aware that we were following the railway route, or even very much of the history of the area, but I knew exactly what was around the next corner or over the next hill. It was eerie to say the least. In later years, I had learnt some of the history of the area and its horrors.
Over the 5 years or so I worked there, the whole area changed from basically very primitive to a sealed road heading up-river, a new concrete bridge over the river and relatively modern facilities. Th whole valley and area was opened up. We lived in a secure compound (there was still a lot of activity going on in the jungles around us) BUT - in the background was the knowledge of the horrors those poor POW's had to endure. We worked in A/C offices, lived in A/C quarters, travelled in A/C vehicles, and were protected by armed guards but still complained about really minor trivialities. Those poor guys slogged under appalling conditions, starvation, suffering all sorts of sicknesses, only to cop floggings and even worse. Meanwhile, we were "slogging", well fed, excellent health care, well paid and moaning about mere details. I was in awe of those Aussie POW's for what they had endured.
In my time in Thailand, I met several men who were making their own private pilgrimage back to the railway. They didn't talk about their times on the railway, but it was obvious that they had been there and somehow had managed to survive the ordeals. I am sure that they had bitter resentment against Japan (and North Korea), but somehow they managed to suppress those feelings. As one veteran told me, "They were doing a job, just the same as us". I certainly could not hold hose views. Times were incredibly hard then... I think that they were honouring their mates rather than satisfying their own desires to re-live their horrible times there.
Not only those men - the motley troops sent to Papua New Guinea to "slow down the advance of the Japanese" who were out-gunned by the Japanese, yet managed to not only slow the advance, but actually turn it back and send the Japs back out of the whole area. Almost single handed, they saved Australia from invasion. I have worked at the Southern end of the Kokoda track (another Hydro job), but have not seen the track itself. I have seen some of the terrain, and again, those veterans deserve the highest credit and praise - They saved Australia (with obvious help from the Americans in the battle of the Coral Sea). I quietly reflect on these experiences, and am utterly humbled by the efforts of ALL ex-servicemen. Sadly, I would guess that all of these heroes have passed on, but I for one have NOT forgotten their efforts. As for the lowlifes vandalising memorials, let them be placed in some of these places and abandoned there for a couple of years, and they may then realise what sacrifices were made so we can live life the Aussie way.
My late uncle served up in PNG. He put his age up and enlisted when he was only 17.
He rarely spoke about his experiences but over a few beers later towards the end of his life, he told me a little bit.
My dad was the same. Said very little.
We owe a debt incapable of being repaid.
I started to write "we will remember them" but then I thought will we? Who will remember when we are gone? At least they won't remember as we do.
I had a mother and farther, uncles, aunts that fought and inlaws that lived through the London Bombings. The kids know about it, but they never really knew anybody involved.
And then we have those morons wrecking our history. Getting it wrong eg blaming James Cook for colonizing Australia...
For the short time I will be around before I go and join them "I will remember them"
My late father enlisted under age using his cousins birth certificate I discovered many years after his passing.
Dad was with 78 Wing, Milne Bay, Hollandia, Noemfoor, Borneo etc.
78 Wing was 75 and 77 squadrons combined from memory.
Many years ago I lost one of my best mates at 38 to a massive heart attack.
His mates and self took it badly, after the funeral my father asked me when I was going back to work.
I said I might take Friday off and return Monday as I was having a struggle with his loss.
He said - you are going back tomorrow, when you are in a tent with 3 other blokes in the jungle and you wake up next morning to two empty bunks, that is when it is hard.
Now get back to work, they are busy.
I didn't say a word, just went back to work Friday.
That was one of the rare occasions he ever mentioned his time in New Guinea.
We booked my 97 year old mum into full time aged care on Monday (isn't that a minefield!!!!). Mum was possibly the last person alive to have flown on G for George.
Mum was a WAAF and the returned crew flew WAAFs from Nyngan to Narromine just after the war.
When my son was young and we were all looking at G for George in the Aust War memorial, he couldn't get his head around the purple haired little old lady flew on "that" bomber
I think you are right msg when you say the generation after ours will not remember as we do. I don't think it is their fault as they did not grow up in an era where they witnessed first hand what war did to those who were lucky enough to survive. Their knowledge will come from history books and not from the real life experiences that a lot of us went through.
I remember as a child in the fifties, the many Sunday visits to the Rehab hospital in Sydney to visit an uncle and several of my late dad's friends who were in and out of the hospital with numerous physical and mental injuries and scars. We knew when Uncle got emotional it was time to either start blabbing about what we were doing at school so the subject could be changed or it was time to go for a walk with mum and see how the flowers were growing. Even though I had no understanding of it at the time, it was when I first noticed the "thousand yard stare" in the eyes of some of the men who were in for medical treatment. I was just told it was "war nerves" and just to say hello and wander on. When we would arrive home my dad would go off into the garden whilst mum made sure we kept away and let him have his thoughts.
The generation coming through did not experience what we experienced and although they are aware and proud of what their past family did for the country, they were not touched in the same way as we who grew up in those times were. I know from our local Anzac Day services, there is always a strong attendance from younger people who openly and proudly discuss where their grandfathers or great grandfathers served.
As to the desecration of monuments, I think that happens in any generation. There is always an idiot element with nothing better to do and absolutely no understanding of historical events. Just feel sorry for them, they are simply morons.
By the by, George is presently in storage until the end of this year when he will grace the new Anzac Hall.
-- Edited by DMaxer on Friday 14th of February 2025 09:50:48 AM
My Father was captured by the Japs with the fall of Singapore, having just disembarked from a troop transport from Perth where he had been training recruits. He had been an NCO in the Queensland Mounted Infantry before the war, so his skills were needed in the training of the mass of WA volunteers. When they were posted to Singapore, he transferred to their Regiment and went with them.
After enduring the deprivations of Changi he was sent to the Burma Railway construction until the end of the war ... over 3 years.
Having been born in 1941 while he was in WA the first I saw of him was when he disembarked from a repat ship in Brisbane at war's end.
What I like about this topic is how you fella's are talking so freely about your Dad's, uncles and family members who experienced their time in the different wars or wherever they were posted to.
My father never made it to the main line, he was injured on a horse before they left and spent a long time in hospital. But he never said much about army life, it just seemed to be a no no back then. Pity he hadn't told us, we could have passed it onto his grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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Age does not weary us, makes us go travelling more
