list of british prisoners in thailand

After surrendering to Imperial Japanese Army forces in a revenge act for the sinking of a Japanese minesweeper they rounded up 300 Dutch and Australian POWs at random and executed them at Laha airfield in the Dutch East Indies (Now Timor). The room was big, but not big enough for the 70 people it held. 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. The Costa-del-Crime ex-pat bolt-hole of Spain is next on the list, housing 247. She revealed that while walking past a flower shop on Valentines Day recently, a young girl presented her with rose for her son. 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. The shots wounded the four but did not kill them. From British mathematician Arthur Thomas Doodson's Tide-prediction machine, and PLUTO (short for 'pipeline under the ocean . The UK man is lucky to have the support of a committed and active family both at home and in Thailand who visit him as often as possible and provide an impressive level of support. The Japanese appointed Elmer Herod as leader of the internees. to be used by the Japanese Armed Forces in the occupied areas. They racially abuse and discriminate against western people that are residents in Thailand with a family for over 30 years, westerners there are the exa. Carried 1,100 prisoners from Manila to Hong Kong, beginning October 3, 1944, then from Hong Kong to Formosa, arriving October 24, 1944. Lance and the family must now wait for word from the UK and Thai authorities. Some very good news for prisoners in Thailand was just announced today. *6 the forgotten highlander Alistair Urquhart 2010, *8 Waterloo daily courier (Australia)February 16, 1945. If you find an error or omission we would be pleased to hear from you and we'll correct or add any detail as necessary. However, prison time in Thailand, at any institution, is not easy particularly for foreigners and especially, according to reports, in recent years with severe overcrowding and the consequent need for tighter prison discipline. And 13 are on death row in nine different countries for murder, terrorism, drugs offences and blasphemy, Freedom of Information figures from the Foreign Commonwealth Office show. The registers give minimal information about each prisoner which may include registration card number and dispersal information. Literally! Once it was discovered that the island was held by the Japanese, an officer of the Vyner Brooke went to surrender the group to the authorities in Muntok. But Prisoners Abroad helped me there too. The Japanese army decided its construction was vital as it was too dangerous to ship armed forces, goods and materials by sea and run the risk of US submarines (see the Hellships section to note the very high number sunk by Allied forces submarines during this period). Carried 1100 POWs from Singapore to Moji (Japan) on 30/10/42. It is the Thai authorities who must ultimately agree the terms as the prison sentences were imposed by Thai courts under Thai law. At least, prison yoga is available to free the mind and ease the pain. By the summer last year 2,205 Brits were banged up overseas, often in squalid conditions. At mid-morning, the ships officer returned with about twenty Japanese soldiers. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. According to the findings of the Tokyo Tribunal, the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1%, seven times that of POWs under the Germans and Italians. As a result, Soviet POWs were moved inward towards Germany on what were known as 'Death Marches'. Generally, the Japanese guards were responsible for providing rice and other ingredients for meals, and the POWs took turns preparing the food. Even though one of Thailand's prisons, Bang Kwang in Bangkok, is sarcastically referred to as the Bangkok Hilton, the truth is that prison cells are no five-star hotels. There, about 1,000 of the survivors were loaded on another Japanese ship, the Enoura Maru, while the rest boarded the smaller Brazil Maru. Built by the British in 1936 this was originally used by the Japanese to intern some 3500 civilians (mostly British citizens and Eurasians), although its capacity was only 600. ; Presidente Bernardes Provisional Readaptation Center (Presidente Bernardes, So Paulo, Brazil) - inspired by the Supermax standards, although prisoners can only stay there for a maximum of 2 years. Many of the deaths happened immediately after the POWs arrived in Japan from South East Asia. In many cases, with UK prisoners in Thailand with very severe sentences, the quickest route to release, even when transferred back the the United Kingdom has still been the issuance of a Royal pardon from the Thai King. Site of the infamous Palawan massacre where Japanese troops with Kempeitai (Military police) officers murdered 139 US POWs. Lieutenant Kenichi Nakagawa was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. THAILAND After a few weeks, because of the obvious need, an additional building was obtained for male internees. The gun batteries on Blakang Mati were later destroyed or deliberately broken up to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands. This list contains camp names which were only for Civilian Internees and these are noted wherever possible - however our database only lists those who had Military ranks and are of British, Canadian, Australian, South African, Rhodesian, New Zealanders and other Commonwealth nationalities where we have managed to find a source, our database lists only those who are military internees, not civilians or merchant marine for the most part. It was just brilliant and it really helped. This ship was used for several POW voyages including the delivery of Fepows to Fukuoka camp via the port of Moji in 1942/3. Those who survived Outram Road displayed exceptional qualities of endurance, mental and emotional fortitude. The rail line was built along the Khwae Noi (Kwai) River valley to support the Japanese armed forces during the Burma Campaign. The following day Suga, together with several of his officers were flown to the Australian base on Labuan, to await their trials as war criminals. 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. The last days & liberation of the camp are written HERE. The senior officer of the Japanese army commanding General Tomoyuki Yamashita was executed at Bilibid Prison in 1946 after being found guilty of allowing the murder of unarmed POWs. In most camps blankets were provided by the camp, however, many POWs reported that the severe winter cold adversely affected their health. Thus, in addition to the seven main camps, there were 81 branch camps and three detached camps at the end of the war. 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 . A type of military secret police, also largely responsible for counter-espionage activities. Two British prisoners including 'drug dealer' sent home from Thailand do NOT have coronavirus, tests confirm. However, the pay was in the form of account books, not in cash. Several times a month, meat or fish was provided, but as the food situation in Japan worsened, the meat disappeared. And as the new guy, I spent that night lying next to the mans body. The average number of cards which the Japanese allowed being sent out was from four to five for the whole period of captivity, and only some of these reached their destinations. Id lost touch with my family back in the UK: I couldnt ask them to support me I began to feel so isolated. Lances mother is deeply committed and devoted to her son as is his father. Sometimes they were thrown into very small cells without food. A Japanese officer ordered the remaining twenty-two nurses and one civilian woman to walk into the surf. Jinguashi (Chinkuashih) in modern-day Taiwan Kinkaseki is the Japanese name for it, ran from 1942-45. Had he not committed suicide, Suga would certainly have been found guilty of war crimes and executed. Out of an estimated 5.7 million Soviet POWs captured by the Germans, 3.3 million died in captivity. Figures show that 17 are in jail on murder charges and 10 for drugs . About 40 per cent were missionaries from 22 different denominations, some who had recently fled China and organized a language school in Baguio. When it was attacked and sunk on September 18, 1944, by Tradewind, the Junyo Maru was packed with 1,377 Dutch, 64 British and Australian, and 8 American prisoners of war along with 4,200 Javanese slave labourers (Romushas) bound for work on the railway line being built between Pakan Baru and Muaro in Sumatra. 3 0 obj The POWs assembled at places such as Nagasaki, Nii-machi in Shizuoka Prefecture, Yokohama, Omori in Tokyo, Chitose in Hokkaido, and by the end of September, most of the POWs had returned to their home countries via Okinawa and Manila. Ordinarily, the POWs carried a lunch box to work, and in some cases, the companies provided food for the POWs. *11 westpoint.org website hell ships sailing information. The National Archive has a large number (56,000 not a complete set) of: Japanese POW index cards 1942-1945 within its collections (not digital) these are held in Catalogue WO345. -U|:9x|D')N SDdY{| dt(AMLFp&=L7s2{q$0DdIPPgQ0r(Xq}8G}Z"U0yMPu\^$tk>$i11* 'ndmME!@+ahfDP$N&%N? Sailed from Singapore to Japan (Moji) 27/10/42 with 1205 POWs. Used to ferry some of the party of 2200 British, Dutch & Australian POWs including RAF from Singapore to Moji (Japan) leaving 5th June 1944, Kunimata Maru (often misspelled Kurimata). History note Cataloguer Backlog History note Catalogue date 1977-07 Object details Object associations Associated subjects Original documents Miscellaneous Documents Japanese site - Covers Japanese camps only, accurate camp descriptions and a great deal of background information. The Japanese 'encouraged' these men to join the Indian National Liberation Army, but met with little success. The list below is not definitive, however, there is some information on every ship that it was possible to find data on immediately. As early as February 1942 proposals had been made to the Japanese by the British Commonwealth and United States governments for an exchange of civilian officials, together with a certain number of non-officials. 37,583 prisoners from the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and Dominions, 28,500 from Netherlands and 14,473 from the United States were released after the surrender of Japan. The IRCC delegates who inspected Keijo camp in December 1942, allegedly told Mr R. P. Phillips, an Australian Red Cross Representative held there, that it was the "best" Japanese camp he had yet seen. The camp was in existence until May 31st 1944 when military prisoners were transferred to Changi prison, while the remaining 3500 civilians were moved to Sime Road Camp. Canadian Inventor (Mati Mati Maru/ Sekiho Maru). 1600+ British POWs arrived here on May 20th 1943 from a 300-mile march from Ban Pong. In 1942, Corporal Rodney Breavington and Private Victor Gale from the Australian Imperial Force, Private Harold Waters from the East Surrey Regiment and Private Eric Fletcher from the Royal Army Service Corps were recaptured after a failed escape attempt. Cruelly & ironically the Japanese frequently painted supply ships with Red Crosses, yet did not do the same for those vessels that deserved these markings. A harrowing account of the sinking and murder of many POWs is found in the book Ships from Hell: Japanese War Crimes on the High Seas in World War II By Raymond Lamont-Brown. Camp Gloegoer I was was from April until May 1942 located in former coolies sheds a kilometre east of the main road. The group of prisoners was then moved to San Fernando, Pampanga. On one march 2,790 POWs started, and only three survived. 4 0 obj 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. This ship carrying more than 548 British/Dutch POWs from Molucca to Java was torpedoed by USS Bonefish off Kangean (Bali) on 29/11/43, 548 POWs died. Billy was held in Chiang Mai. 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. Note: Hellships were frequently renamed or known by other names -AKA in these listings means 'also known as'. MORE than 2,500 Brits are locked up in prisons overseas, the Daily Star Sunday can reveal. Punishments were severe even for slight infractions of the rules. They are treated the worst of all. Lance Whitmore pleaded guilty to the charges against him in 2015. Moreover, for most of the war period, it was estimated that some nine-tenths of the 300,000 Allied prisoners and civilians in Japanese hands were held in occupied territories, south of a line running roughly from Rangoon to the northern Philippines, in which not only were inspections of camps forbidden but no relief action of any kind could be undertaken without express permission from the Japanese authorities. For most of the war, Changi was one of the least brutal Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, particularly compared to those on BurmaThailand railway. 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. It may be that as a consequence, conditions in the Korean camps, and especially at Keijo, were significantly better than in most other Japanese controlled camps. The surviving POWs then suffered treatment on a par with the worst of all the POW camps. 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. Both prisoners had their sentences confirmed by the Thai Appeals Court in September 2016 when they both appeared before the court shackled together. Dainichi was torpedoed on 08/10/43 by USS Gurnard, along with another Japanese ship, she was carrying a troop transport of over 2000 at this time. River Valley Camp/Havelock Road camp (Malai 3). The ship left Singapore on the 5th September 1944 en route to Manila via Borneo, arriving in Miri on the 11th picking up supplies and human cargo and leaving again on the 15th. The senior British senior officer at Keijo, Lt Col Elrington held the perception that Australians were being particularly targeted. It should also be noted that all its decisions are entirely discretionary and case based. 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