Bittersweet Experiences
Experiences in POW camps ranged from inedible, contaminated rice to 'best friends forever' relationships between prisoners.
At any POW camp the soldiers and officers had a similar relationship as to serving in the war, but mutual respect occured more often as they both were suffering the same conditions from the Japanese.
Anything that happened the allied prisoners by the japanese are all linked to Bushido, their Code of Honour, it was the Japanese belief in the honour system that resulted in the harsh treatment of POW, unfortunetaley this harsh treatment was not limited to male POW only, female prisoners often nurses were treated badly as well.
For the first few months the POW's at Changi were allowed to do as they wished with little interference from the Japanese, they were able to freely have concerts, quizzes, sporting events and other various activities that kept the men entertained. However, Easter 1942, the Japanese had a change of heart, forming work parties out of the POWs to repair the damaged docks in Singapore and reducing the food and medicine supplies.
In the POW camp, the Australian had to quickly adapt to food that had never eaten before, like white rice which was mostly contaminated with rat droppings or had been swept up from the barn floor.
The quaility of life dropped drastically for the men, both mentaly and physicaly as the japanese only gave each man half the needed amount of calories, this meant the men gradually lost weight. As they could not gain back the vitamins and weight that they had lost plus all the forced labour, many POWs died from starvation, disease or from losing the will to live.
"We slept on makeshift beds called charpoys, made from four
posts with a mattress woven from coconut-husk rope. Our bedding and washing
were hung up to dry overhead. We still had plenty of clothes in those days."
George Aspinall
The number of POWs kept at Changi dropped quite markedly as men were constantly shipped out to other areas in the Japanese empire to work. Men were sent to Borneo to work, or to Thailand to work on the Burma-Thai railway or to Japan itself where they were made to work down mines.
At the end of the war only 13,872 of the POWs were recovered: one-third of the prisoners had died.
At any POW camp the soldiers and officers had a similar relationship as to serving in the war, but mutual respect occured more often as they both were suffering the same conditions from the Japanese.
Anything that happened the allied prisoners by the japanese are all linked to Bushido, their Code of Honour, it was the Japanese belief in the honour system that resulted in the harsh treatment of POW, unfortunetaley this harsh treatment was not limited to male POW only, female prisoners often nurses were treated badly as well.
For the first few months the POW's at Changi were allowed to do as they wished with little interference from the Japanese, they were able to freely have concerts, quizzes, sporting events and other various activities that kept the men entertained. However, Easter 1942, the Japanese had a change of heart, forming work parties out of the POWs to repair the damaged docks in Singapore and reducing the food and medicine supplies.
In the POW camp, the Australian had to quickly adapt to food that had never eaten before, like white rice which was mostly contaminated with rat droppings or had been swept up from the barn floor.
The quaility of life dropped drastically for the men, both mentaly and physicaly as the japanese only gave each man half the needed amount of calories, this meant the men gradually lost weight. As they could not gain back the vitamins and weight that they had lost plus all the forced labour, many POWs died from starvation, disease or from losing the will to live.
"We slept on makeshift beds called charpoys, made from four
posts with a mattress woven from coconut-husk rope. Our bedding and washing
were hung up to dry overhead. We still had plenty of clothes in those days."
George Aspinall
The number of POWs kept at Changi dropped quite markedly as men were constantly shipped out to other areas in the Japanese empire to work. Men were sent to Borneo to work, or to Thailand to work on the Burma-Thai railway or to Japan itself where they were made to work down mines.
At the end of the war only 13,872 of the POWs were recovered: one-third of the prisoners had died.