Epilogue

For many years after returning from the horrible conditions which P.O.Ws in the Far East endured, I, like many of my colleagues, found getting back to normal was not easy. Some had a disability or injury, but everyone had suffered from tropical diseases. Moreover, malnutrition, together with long hard days of slavery, reduced even the youngest of prisoners to poor weaklings. In these dreadful conditions many were made to walk long distances in the hot sun or pouring rain, with the briefest of clothing, over rough terrain, with or without footware. Many were beaten for not being able to carry on.

The hardship and torture that we received will never be forgotten or forgiven, because in just a few years as a P.O.W. many lost their will to live, and died. They were once fighting fit and proud servicemen. If it had been possible to film the atrocities committed by the Japanese tormentors, and the conditions in which the P.O.W.s lived, it would have been too ghastly to show.

Those of us who returned home from the Far East prisoner of war camps were very lucky indeed. However, many of those suffered ill health and died within a few years. I was one of the lucky survivors, although I had my fair share of bouts of malaria, dysentery, dengue fever (which causes swelling of the joints), renal colic, and a large leg ulcer, as well as the inevitable skin complaints, which were very unpleasant.

I had a long spell working on the railway from Chungkai to Wun Lung, on to Wun Tu Kin, and Bankao, digging and carrying earth to form the embankment. I also helped to construct bridges, which involved cutting down trees, debarking, squaring to form a beam, tapering piles, all with primitive tools. Then pile driving, by pulling a heavy weight to the top of a tripod, releasing quickly, repeating until the pile was sunk low enough. Other times I was in a two man team, cutting down trees, sawing to half-metre lengths and chopping to the size required, and stacked one metre high by the track.

My next move to Rintin camp might have been the one that saved my life. It was a shocking camp, situated a good distance up from Bankao. During the first or second night, I was in severe pain, causing me to cry out, waking others in the hut. The medical officer came to see me next morning and diagnosed appendicitis. Arrangement was made for me to be evacuated back to Chungkai base camp. At Chungkai the medical officer there found that I had Renal Colic, not appendicitis. After recovering from that I had an ulcer on my leg. This kept me at Chungkai until May '44. Many who had ulcers at the same time as me had to have amputations by primitive methods. I firmly believe that the evacuation from Rintin to Chungkai, and the fact that my ulcer healed, saved my life.

Within a few months of returning home and enjoying a happy married life, I began to settle to my new style of living. Occasionally I had bouts of shivering. Sometimes I would have unpleasant dreams and awaken my wife, shouting! I didn't talk about my experiences, and I wasn't pressed to do so.

In 1995 (The 50^th Anniversary of the end of the war), I was able to go with my elder daughter, Hazel, on a Pilgrimage to Singapore and Thailand, returning to places where we were during the battle and other interesting places too.

In Thailand we visited the two cemeteries, Chungkai and Kanchanaburi, and the Bridge on the Kwai. Along with many other experiences, we also had a train trip on the Thai Railway which I helped to build. The memory of the horror of P.O.W. life along the railway that had remained with me for many years faded quickly, as the once thick jungle had gone, so had the camps. Now the scenery is enjoyed by many tourists. I was able to take lots of photos, which I treasure.

Again, in 2005 I was able to return with my younger daughter, Carol, on a similar tour to Singapore and Thailand, but with special invitations and hospitality accorded to honour the fourteen or so veterans in a party of seventy. The highlights being, invited to the High Commissioner's house for evening dinner and another invite to lunch by the President of the Ex-Services Association of Singapore. In Thailand the British Ambassador attended three or four of the places we went to.

On the tour was a Japanese lady who was a Professor at a University in Japan. She was eager to listen to our experiences, and at her request she recorded a three hour interview with me. I have no animosity to her generation at all, in fact a number of years ago a Japanese young man who I met on holiday in Eastbourne, wrote to me asking if we could meet up on his visit to Birmingham. I replied, inviting him to come, with pleasure. We met him at New Street station and brought him back home to have dinner with us.

My feeling for the Japanese guards who were with us, and all who allowed them to commit such barbaric crimes stays the same. I will never forget or forgive. There were massacres wherever they went over many years. Only recently have their people learned what dreadful acts were committed by their armies, but you cannot blame the people.

Hellfire Pass: One of the plaques (right) details the significance of this part of the railway. The railway now terminates at Namtok: The remainder of the line to the border was dismantled by the Thailand State Railway – much of its route is now under water.
The modern ‘Bridge On The River Kwai’, rebuilt by a Japanese company as part of war reparations:
With my younger daughter, Carol, at Changi Cemetery in Singapore			The Gravestone of Billy Welch at Kanchaniburi. We served together in The Cambridgeshires. On my return from the Pilgrimage in 2005, I had the left -hand picture published in a local paper: The Black Country Bugle. As a result I was contacted by his sister and nephew, who had no idea where he was buried. They subsequently planned a pilgrimage of their own.