On 12 February 1942, the merchant ship Vyner Brooke left Singapore just before the city fell to the Imperial Japanese Army. The registers give minimal information about each prisoner, apparently compiled for the Japanese camp administration although the majority of the information is given in English. 17 0 obj Known as Japans Gestapo, the kempeitai were guilty of some of the worst atrocities of World War II. There are no nominal lists currently known of those who worked and died on this railway, however: 6,982 casualties are commemorated in the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (also known as Don-Rak cemetery) 129Km north of Bangkok. It's not only the poor living conditions that endanger tourists imprisoned in Thailand, though. Hello travellers, when your sick of the temples, markets and bars try the following;- get up early and catch an express boat to nonthaburi, the boats have big orange flags and the trip from khao san area takes approx 50 minutes. Roofs of the POW camps were marked with the letters PW and relief supplies were dropped by parachute using US Navy fighter-bombers and US Air Force B-29 heavy bombers. To-158 Kotobuki Police Station, Yokohama? endobj Sailed from Singapore to Moji (Japan) departed 20/9/43 with 507 POWs. The Junyo Maru had the worst death toll, 5,640 out of 6,520 POWs dying after the ship was sunk. Both ships reached Takao (Kaohsiung) harbour in Taiwan on New Year's Day, where the smaller group of prisoners was transferred from Brazil Maru to Enoura Maru, and 37 British and Dutch were taken ashore. Some camps even provided POWs with small amounts of tobacco. Because of Thailands strict laws and Buddhist ethics, many farangs, aka foreigners, find themselves in trouble for silly social media posts or even vaping. Sadly, many people with addiction can also face long sentences. She revealed that while walking past a flower shop on Valentines Day recently, a young girl presented her with rose for her son. Some 12,000 of members of the Iranian diaspora met from all over Europe on January 16 in the EU Parliament host city of Strasbourg to urge the bloc to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards . Japanese site - Covers Japanese camps only, accurate camp descriptions and a great deal of background information. After a battle lasting nearly 3 months in the Bataan region of the Philippines the US garrison surrendered. At that time, his father, 56 year Russell Whitmore expressed his frustration at the fate of his son. Have a glimpse into her life on Instagram @elitsastb. Lieutenant-Colonel Tatsuji Suga (born 22nd September 1885) was the commander of all prisoner-of-war and civilian internment camps in Borneo. It wasnt a huge amount but it was enough to help me survive. About 40 per cent were missionaries from 22 different denominations, some who had recently fled China and organized a language school in Baguio. The room was big, but not big enough for the 70 people it held. Even an unintentional insult to the Royal Family can send people to prison, and many tourists learn this the hard way. Again those at Macassar fared worst: they were each allowed to write one letter only, which was not despatched but readout, often in a mutilated fashion, during a broadcast from Radio Tokyo. POWs who were allowed to remain at either of these camps were often from Changi Camp and still fit to work. _L ]aQuV%^+[v`w`T[0Y?Zl.f5q^IYHm>_*WXB=5C4?AFdM$V8KeY=ZV^ADce_Gb=iDZ1OABh}[wK,NUcn$Ys'&>WX=fd5BkqE$Z/VVIigLA6FUWA6&koB:XXpJXW[kFt5$E.4+%=wN[XH }kvqX0=]n=n b+\O 6>q &F p . Many prisoners opt to get prison tattoos to alleviate the boredom while relationships with ladyboys or transsexuals are discreetly tolerated by prison authorities. However, living conditions were difficult. It should also be noted that all its decisions are entirely discretionary and case based. Unlike weapons and supply transports (which were sometimes marked as Red Cross ships), these prisoner transports were unmarked and were targeted by Allied submarines and aircraft very often the majority of these ships were sunk by the end of the war. 273-274) re the beheading of the PBY aircrew members. The POWs who were accused of committing serious crimes or those who tried to escape were prosecuted at the Japanese Army Court Martial and sent to prison for Japanese criminals, many were executed in front of their fellow POWs. The first wooden bridge over the Khwae Yai was finished in February 1943, followed by a concrete and steel bridge in June 1943. In 1917 she was sold to the Norfolk & North American Steamship Company (part of Furness Withy), London, and renamed Hartland Point. One New Zealander who worked on the BurmaThailand railway received 126 letters, another only three. Moreover, the use of chains is way too common across Thailands prisons, and even ill prisoners are kept shackled. For Japanese from various parts of the Commonwealth, there were to be exchanged Commonwealth civilians who wished to leave China, Japan, Thai-land, and Indo-China. Left Singapore on 4/9/44 bound for Japan with 950 British & Australian POWs from D party group 4, sunk in the same incident on 12/9/44as the Rakuyo maru and 520 were rescued by the Japanese and a few others by US submarines. The POWs were paid by Japanese Army regulations. Each prisoner was fed about one teacup of cooked rice twice daily and given a canteen full of dirty water once a day. He would help anyone in need, she said then. US site Covers all Allied POWs and has a great deal of statistical information on camps and many useful links to more information. All rights reserved. Thailand has the largest prison population in Southeast Asia, with about 282,000 inmates in its 143 jails, mostly on drug convictions. The other countries holding UK citizens are Bangladesh, India, Thailand, the UAE, St Kitts and Nevis and the United States. 60 KM west of Bangkok and on the direct communication line of the Japanese Army. Object details Category Books . And I know that if it wasnt for them, a difficult situation may have become an impossible one. At some periods up to 5,000 POWs were housed here: these camps acted as transit & despatch sites for POW work parties. Hundreds of Japanese troops were killed in the 30-minute coordinated attack; the Americans suffered minimal casualties. Prison meals in Thailand consist of unidentifiable vegetables and rotting meat. It displaced 5,065 tons, was 405 ft (123 m) long, 53 ft (16 m) wide, and 27.2 ft (8.3 m) deep. The result of this was that International Red Cross Committee delegates were able to visit only 43 camps and Protecting Power representatives only, whereas there were (at the end of the war) 102 camps in Japan, Formosa, Korea, and Manchuria alone. A Japanese officer ordered the remaining twenty-two nurses and one civilian woman to walk into the surf. The Japanese Govt. 1600+ British POWs arrived here on May 20th 1943 from a 300-mile march from Ban Pong. 4 0 obj In normal times the prison would house 800 prisoners but at one point during the war, it had ten times that. (Indeed, there were such orders as has been found later, to execute all POWs if invasions were feared). Privacy Policy and -U|:9x|D')N SDdY{| dt(AMLFp&=L7s2{q$0DdIPPgQ0r(Xq}8G}Z"U0yMPu\^$tk>$i11* 'ndmME!@+ahfDP$N&%N? *10 US NARA archives prologue magazine 2003. Opened in 1941, this housed 3,700 allied civilians released by US Rangers and Filipino Guerrillas on February 3rd 1945. Carried 1,100 prisoners from Manila to Hong Kong, beginning October 3, 1944, then from Hong Kong to Formosa, arriving October 24, 1944. There, about 1,000 of the survivors were loaded on another Japanese ship, the Enoura Maru, while the rest boarded the smaller Brazil Maru. The information they provided gave urgency to the question of further exchange agreements, but in spite of unceasing negotiation, this draft was destined to be the last to be repatriated from Japanese custody until the liberation of the Philippines in February 1945. The men were regarded as not fit enough to be transferred to working areas but were shipped out of Changi anyway on 13 trains with no ventilation and little food or water. Before the death of his girlfriend and the drugs bust, he was a recognisable figure about the town with his friend Jake Mostraini living what many young twenty something western foreigners would consider a dream lifestyle in Thailand. It was just brilliant and it really helped. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Ex Burma Railway POW Jack Jennings book prisoner without a crime noted: The POWs lived in huts about a hundred feet long with wooden sleeping platforms that could accommodate up to 150 POWs. A Kempeitai Prison rather than a fully fledged POW camp, located in Rabaul town itself. <> The UK man was jailed for 50 years in Thailand in June 2015, after being caught in August 2014 attempting to sell 200 ecstasy pills to an undercover informant for the Thai police at a car park outside a supermarket in Pattaya. 10/1/43 1000 Dutch transported from Java to Moulmein but sunk 15/1/43 in the Andaman sea with 961 survivors. The camp commandants often refused to reply to questions put to them. They were reunited with U.S. Changi prison. 5 0 obj *3 Australian war memorial archiveshttps://www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2002/degroen.asp. She describes the whole journey, in one Facebook post, as the will of God which she and her son try to accept. The 212 survivors of the Tamahoko Maru were brought into the harbour at Nagasaki and onto the POW camp, Fukuoka 13. By the time the war was over, a total of more than 30,000 POWs had died from starvation, diseases, and mistreatment both within and outside of the Japanese Mainland. The ship was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sank. As stated earlier, the moral worth of the crime weighs the most, and even minor crimes can be punished severely. His return home was welcomed by Fair Trials Abroad which campaigned for his release. endobj He claimed he had been framed. These nurses joined up with a group of men and injured personnel from the ship. With the lights of Japan in . This was a special camp where the POWs captured by the Navy were held before they were transferred to Army control. <> But Prisoners Abroad helped me there too. ", Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. In one post, she revealed that Lance was recently down because a friends in prison who had supported him in Klong Prem for the last 4 years had just been released. However, on January 9th, the Enoura Maru was bombed and disabled while in harbour, killing about 350 men. There were many deaths, and the men were buried just outside the camp near the vegetable gardens of the Argyle Street Camp immediately on the other side of Argyle Street. Its inhuman, he said. Sailed from Java to Singapore 28/10/42 carrying 500 POWs which were then transferred to the Dainichi Maru for travel to Moji, Japan. When the POWs were unable to work because of illness their food ration was cut. endobj Japanese staff worked and lived in the camp's administration building, which also contained storage and toilet facilities. Up to 8,000 POWs were housed in this, the largest camp in the Philippines. Kachidoki was torpedoed on 09/12/44 by USS Pampanito, 244 POWs died, the rest were eventually picked up by a Japanese whaling ship and landed ashore mainland Japan. <> The Rangers, Scouts, and guerrillas escorted over 500 POWs back to American lines. The better conditions in the Korean camps were reflected in the low death rate (2.7%). A Kempeitai Prison rather than a fully fledged POW camp, located in Rabaul town itself, https://www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2002/degroen.asp, Please enter your password, it must be 8 or more characters, I agree to Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statement, Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on its activities during the Second World War, Vol,1,p.451, prisoner-of-war and internment camps in Japan, Allied prisoners and civilians in Japanese hands, Ships from Hell: Japanese War Crimes on the High Seas in World War II, Japanese Registers of Allied Prisoners of War (PoWs), www.paperlessarchives.com/FreeTitles/POWCampsOutisdeJapan.pdf, Many exclusive records, found only on our site, 1 on 1 Personal assistance from military photo and document experts, Access to Orbats mapping tool, allowing you to trace your WW1 ancestors steps. Similar to the hellish conditions on the Bataan Death March, prisoners were often crammed into cargo holds with little air, food or water for journeys that could last weeks. About 36,000 were transported to the Japanese Mainland to supplement the shortage of the work force, and compelled to work at the coal mines, mines, shipyards, munitions factories, etc. After the war, it became clear that there existed a high command order issued from the War Ministry in Tokyo to kill all remaining POWs. The barracks buildings were overcrowded and many had to live in makeshift tents in the Square. Sailed from Singapore to Moji (Japan) with 1500 POWs on 25/4/43. A 17,000-ton transport ship sunk by the submarine USS Gudgeon 28 April 1943 at 10-18N, 121-44E, Ship sunk by USS Sailfish (SS-192) 4 December 1943. Grashio joined the other prisoners of war in the infamous Bataan Death March. Some 30 000 of these prisoners of war later worked on the Thai-Burma railway. (Khwae Yai). There are also several records of the civilian internees kept at the Changi Museum's website. His mother, through video chats and online coordination, works to keep the young mans spirits buoyed as he serves time in one of the harshest prison regimes in the world. Prisoners are forced to live in horrendous conditions and constant fear. At the end of the war, the Japanese Armed Forces destroyed all documents related to the POW Camps. Brazil arrived at Moji, Japan with approximately 425 of 1,619 POWs that began the trip on Oryoku Maru on December 13, 1944. See the "Report on POW Supply Missions" for more details. His faith keeps him going, she says. Thai prisons are known to be very difficult for foreign, western prisoners, without support both materially and mentally, to survive. Eventually I discovered it was a grant from a charity back in London called Prisoners Abroad. There are sources which show other camp names not listed here: however there is no further information so far sourced regarding these camps, it being likely these extra names are either civilian camps only or just a misspelling or pseudonym of the camps below. 9 0 obj list of british prisoners in thailand. Whenever that happens or what terms will be subsequently laid down by Thai, UK and for Jake, Australian authorities. 1 Sub Camp, Fukuoka Group, Najima, Kashii PoW Camp, Japan, JC /248 Neawitz Camp,Omori Camp, Tokyo Group, Japan, JC /251 Kanose Camp D16, Hiroshima Group, Japan, JC /254 Yokohama No. In 2016, the Thai Appeals Court dismissed this element of the punishment. Show more. Like almost every British person there, he relied heavily on Prisoners Abroads support. Don was amongst some 900 British P.O.W.s aboard the Kachidoki Maru, being transported from Malaya to Japan. However the fear of Aids encourages many of them to be monogamous. We urge people to consider the unsanitary conditions, overcrowded cells and the constant threat of disease before they get involved in drugs. It is reported that least 1,000 of these inmates are foreigners normally held in Building 2.The institution is a huge prison complex housing both men and women. Register with your email address now, we can then send you an alert as soon as we add a record close matching the one you were searching for. Conditions in Thai prisons are some of the world's most notorious. However, there are also cells in the prison which hold up to 5 people with a small toilet area. Literally! By the summer last year 2,205 Brits were banged up overseas, often in squalid conditions. Toyofuku Maru (AKA Hofuku Maru/Fuji Maru). When searching for a camp name you already know please bear in mind the names of the camps and their locations are very often mixed up within official and non-official records, therefore try to get as many names for the same place as you can or tie it down to the main camp and the type of work to find the subcamp. The following 58 pages are in this category, out of 58 total. Tarsau (Nam Tok) - 131 KM from Non Pladuk II, 284 KM from Thanbyuzayat. Designed as a civilian cruise liner, in 1941 the ship became a troop transport for the Japanese Navy. THAILAND In all of the industries where POWs were assigned, their work consisted mostly of simple physical labour, such as carrying raw materials or goods, loading, unloading, construction work, and mining. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. endobj On September 7, 1944, the hell ship SS Shinyo Maru was attacked by the submarine USS Paddle. 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