Fall of Singapore: Australian POWs' oral history charts memories of defeat and imprisonment

[Matilda]

"It was more than 30 years after the end of World War II before Australian prisoners of war really began to tell the stories of what happened in the wake of the fall of Singapore.

"Some had not ever told their families about the terrible things that happened to them. Many — quite wrongly, of course — felt slightly ashamed about being a POW."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-15/fall-of-singapore-australian-soldiers-in-their-own-words/8266370

Not quite true - Mr Matilda's father was captured in Singapore and imprisoned for four years on the Japanese mainland. He survived, but didn't speak of his experiences until a few years before his death. The real reason so few spoke about it was because (in common with veterans of the Great War), the experience was so horrendous they feared they wouldn't be believed.

I think of him today on the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore - a decent, hard-working man, scarred emotionally by his experience, but always there for his family.

And to any DUers who lost family members in the war with Japan, my thoughts and my prayers are with you today.

[Chasstev365]

1. Thank you for sharing this!

[Swagman]

2. treated so badly

they were heroes.

My uncle was in Darwin when the Japanese attacked. He said the deaths were in the 1000s but the numbers censored so people wouldn't panic.

Remember Tom Uren MP one of our great parliamentarians?. His experiences as a prisoner of war forged his determination to better the lives of every citizen.

[Matilda]

3. I do indeed remember Tom Uren.

He was a true Labor hero.

He worked on the Thai-Burma railway and survived; one of the few.