I stumbled across this by accident when doing a google search looking for accessories for my newly purchased Enfield No. 4 Mk.1. A really fascinating (but long and in depth) read about the fall of Singapore and being a British POW on the Thailand railroads. I think this is the most appropriate forum even though it’s not about vehicles or aircraft per se (though both make appearances throughout). Although it is Off Topic it’s not some political flamefest rant so I doubt it would be appreciated in that forum.
Some time later, Tommy Beatty, our young Company Sergeant Major, came along the same route, and crossed the wire to approach us to within a few dozen yards. He called out a few words of encouragement, telling us that he was on his way to try to find out what was wrong at our Company H.Q. I told him that the open space he would need to cross to get there was under heavy enemy fire, but he carried on with a cheerful grin. He was only twenty-one or two, having obtained rapid promotion through keenness and hard work. When it came to the test he did his job at least as bravely as the oldest in our ranks. A few hours later we discovered that when he ran the gauntlet of that open space he was hit in the abdomen by a burst of fire. He lay where he fell, conscious all that day in the blistering sun with his bowels exposed to the heat and flies, yet refraining from calling for help lest he cause further casualties. (Two days later, a captain from another company was to take refuge in our trench having lost his own company. After receiving a harmless neck wound he roared loud enough to be heard at our Regimental Aid Post (R.A.P.) a quarter of a mile away, insisting that stretcher bearers come and carry him over the bullet swept ground. He got off and walked when he reached safety.)
That day I returned to the dump to remove a piece of ebonite that I had seen attached to some other equipment. This dump was about a hundred yards across, and as I started to emerge, ebonite in my haversack, a couple of the Kempi-ti who had been lying in wait some way off spotted me. I turned and ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction from our party. When I was out of their sight, I ran in a wide circle and finally dropped exhausted among our men while our guards still appeared to sleep. My rapid breathing had subsided somewhat by the time the Kempi-ti appeared and ordered a roll-call. Our guards were as relieved as we were to be able to report that we were all present. They did not search us; had they done so I would have found the piece of ebonite difficult to shrug off; my hut would have been searched, and my embryo wireless discovered. Had I not that morning shaved off my flowing hair and beard, the Kempi-ti could not have failed to have recognized me, the only Snow-White in the camp. I may not be able to convince the reader, but I know that it was more than a coincidence that I was preserved through all those years to come home whole. From that time on, Japs patrolled the area, and spot checks were made during the day to ensure that no-one was missing. I did not visit the dump again. That night I completed the wireless, fixed the aerial along the ridge of the hut, and buried the earth wire under the floor. I only needed my crystal now, that was all; but the work and risk had been in vain. A few months later a group of our men in Thailand were caught using a home-made wireless. They were tortured for a week in a futile attempt to make them divulge the source of the components, then thrown into the ditch outside the Kempi-ti’s hut and left to die.
Really an excellent read if you have an hour or so.
http://www.pegasus-one.org/pow/len_baynes1.htmCharon
