| My father was a Japanese POW , but he said that once he heard the Americans were in the war he knew the Allies would win .
He said that the Thai merchant , Boon Pong , agreed to supply the British POW's and to receive payment at the end of the war because he knew that the Allies would win .
That was probably the extent of his "knowing" whilst he was a prisoner .
After the war , he understood why he had been sent , on his own , from Ceylon to Singapore . He believed that so many of the troops in Singapore were Australian and Indian that Churchill needed to get as many British troops as possible into Singapore , before it fell , so that it wouldn't look so bad .
Once he arrived , noone knew anything about him or why he was there . He spent the first 2 weeks with Australian naval men , driving around the city . When they sailed they suggested he go with them since there was noone aware of or interested in his presence .
I sometimes wonder what it must have been like in those last days , to have no connection to any group , whilst everything fell apart . |