My Grandfather survived three years in a Japanese internment camp in Indonesia. He was a private in the British Army who was captured while on active service in Indonesia in 1941.
You always see pictures of survivors shirtless. The camps were open air, so there was no way to escape the sun beating down on you. The POWs' clothes basically baked off of their bodies. Granddad's skin showed visibly darker patches of sun damage for the rest of his life.
The trousers were probably given to these chaps by the liberating forces (or perhaps the photographer) for the sake of modesty.
(After his camp was liberated, Granddad returned to England and enjoyed a rich, full life. He lived to see his 95th birthday in 2016. I still think about him every day.)
My Great-Grandmothers brother ended up in a Japanese POW Camp. He was captured during the opening few days of Kokoda.
He survived to liberation but passed not long after returning to Australian soil.
Before he was captured he was described as being a large burly man with a strongman build, afterwards he looked like a skeleton that still had skin attached, all of his hair had fallen out, his teeth had been knocked out bar a few at the back, apparently his nipples had been cut off.
Apparently he only joined the AIF because his best friends joined up as well. Only he returned to mainland Australian soil.
0masterdebater0 on October 14th, 2024 at 12:00 UTC »
Anyone looking for a good read I suggest King Rat by James Claville (author of Shogun)
It is based on his personal experiences as a POW in the Pacific.
InsertObscureQuote on October 14th, 2024 at 12:55 UTC »
My Grandfather survived three years in a Japanese internment camp in Indonesia. He was a private in the British Army who was captured while on active service in Indonesia in 1941.
You always see pictures of survivors shirtless. The camps were open air, so there was no way to escape the sun beating down on you. The POWs' clothes basically baked off of their bodies. Granddad's skin showed visibly darker patches of sun damage for the rest of his life.
The trousers were probably given to these chaps by the liberating forces (or perhaps the photographer) for the sake of modesty.
(After his camp was liberated, Granddad returned to England and enjoyed a rich, full life. He lived to see his 95th birthday in 2016. I still think about him every day.)
Anon_be_thy_name on October 14th, 2024 at 13:02 UTC »
My Great-Grandmothers brother ended up in a Japanese POW Camp. He was captured during the opening few days of Kokoda.
He survived to liberation but passed not long after returning to Australian soil.
Before he was captured he was described as being a large burly man with a strongman build, afterwards he looked like a skeleton that still had skin attached, all of his hair had fallen out, his teeth had been knocked out bar a few at the back, apparently his nipples had been cut off.
Apparently he only joined the AIF because his best friends joined up as well. Only he returned to mainland Australian soil.