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Changi Camp, Singapore
During the first few weeks, we were put to work on clearing land for vegetable gardens for the Japanese troops. It was heavy work for us, because we were not accustomed to it. We did not protest as our British colleagues told us about “The Selarang Incident” which had taken place earlier that year.
At that time, the Japanese Changi Camp Commander, Major General Fukute Shimei, had all prisoners presented with the draft of a declaration in which they promised “ on their honor”, not to make any attempt to escape. Since this was clearly at variance with their “King’s Regulation” the British senior officers advised them not to sign such a declaration. In response, on August 30, 1942, the Japanese moved more than 17.000 prisoners to Changi, s Selarang Barracks, built to house 900 troops. Six thousand men found a place in the barracks, the rest had to stay outside in the burning sun.
At the same time, some of the British senior officers were taken to the beach, where four prisoners who, according to the Japanese, had made an attempt to escape, were executed before their eyes.
Nevertheless, the prisoners did not give in. After they held out for three days, under the most difficult circumstances- dysentery and other communicable diseases had already started spreading among them. The Japanese gave them a deadline; “Sign or else more prisoners, including the thousands of patients in the hospital, would be moved to Selarang”. It was under duress that, on the fourth day, they finally decided to sign.
January 8, 1943, the bad times were once again upon us. We were loaded on to a train; 26 men to each cattle-car, so crowded that we couldn’t all sit at the same time. For five days we traversed Malaya, wondering what this was all about. Twice a day, a bottle of water for each man and a pail of slops for the group! What a relief for us then, when at a railway station by the name of Ban Pong we were off-loaded. Then on to Kanchanaburi.
From Neil’s Story
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