Anzac Day Address 2003 at Kanchanaburi |
Memories Of The Burma Siam Railway |
By Bill Haskell Ex Wx3279 2nd 3rd Machine Gun Batallion |
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It seems incredible that sixty years
have passed since we laboured on the railway to Burma, by which
name we knew it at the time. Often in those dreadful days you would
not have given yourself a chance of surviving for a few days let
alone sixty years. It is therefore with a sense of deep gratitude
that I recall the unswerving dedication of all medical staff and
the abiding friendship of wonderful mates who made survival possible
in a universe of madness and suffering. When you are bereft of everything,
save perhaps a loin cloth or a tattered pair of shorts the only
thing we could offer each other was a helping hand and encouragement
to battle on towards better times.
In January 1943 as a member of a force known as Dunlop Force, commanded
by Lt. Col. “Weary Dunlop” we moved up from Java into
the Konyu Hintok area to commence work on the railway. Fortunately
it was during the dry season and we were transported most of the
way from Bam Pong in open trucks. What a great advantage this gave
us over our comrades of the various forces who were compelled to
march in monsoonal rain and slush to such camps as Songkurai, Nikki
and other hell holes. |
Our initial job was to construct the Konyu River Camp and
clear the rail trace. We then moved across to Hintok Road Camp and began
working in earnest. Our work area embraced the three major cuttings after
Hellfire Pass culminating in the compressor cutting. It also included
the curved seven metre embankment, the three tier trestle bridge and numerous
smaller trestle bridges that linked knoll to knoll. Circumstances also
made us available to work on the fallen Pack of Cards Bridge that was
mainly built by Tamil labourers.
No matter where you worked the job was arduous in the extreme,
particularly for the many men who had to work barefooted. In common with
every POW camp food was at a premium. Rice, of course, was the staple
diet, but there was little enough of it. For the evening meal it was served
with a very watery soup, with sometimes a smidgen of meat or dried fish
known as “Modern Girls”. The Japanese were merciless task
masters and bludgeoned men into long hours of soul-destroying work. During
one of the wettest monsoons on record there were 114 wet days and our
camp was worked for 92 days straight without a break. This has come to
be known as the speedo period. The huge embankment was built by scraping
dirt garnered between rocks into double handled baskets which were passed
along a man made chain. Often the spoil was carried away in tankas –
a rice sack strung between two bamboo poles. Japanese, strategically placed,
bashed anybody they thought might be slacking. In their weakened condition
men often collapsed under a rain of savage blows and kicks.
The construction of the numerous cuttings probably contributed
most to the ruination of so many men. The work would have been hard for
men in good physical shape, but was an absolute disaster for men battling
recurrent disease on starvation diets. Most of the cuttings were put in
by men working with hammer and tap. One man held the drill while his mate
belted it with a sledge hammer. Drilling quotas were set by the Japanese
and the drilled holes were primed with gelignite and fired twice a day.
After firing the clearers moved in to clear the floor for the next drilling.
Clearing was an awful job universally detested. The blasting left razor
sharp edges which tore bare feet to shreds. The loose rock was carried
away in tankas and emptied over the side. Blasting was indiscriminate
and men were frequently clobbered by falling stones. The cuttings were
a sweat box from the radiated heat and the workers suffered great thirst.
We were only allowed one army bottle of water a day. Many of our strongest
men broke down, often doing too much to protect a sick mate. The Japanese
made no concessions for sick men and often used them as an excuse for
handing out more bashings. Building the three tier bridge presented all
sorts of difficulties. It was a giant of a structure about 25 metres high
and 250 metres long. The timber for it and all other bridges was cut from
the surrounding jungle and hauled to the site by prisoners. There it was
prepared and erected under the supervision of the Japanese engineers.
The sergeant in charge was a sadist of the first order who delighted in
throwing tools and pieces of wood at unsuspecting prisoners working below.
The long working hours, the intense harassment on the job,
the lack of footwear and the starvation diet affected men’s health
to a point where they became absolute sitters for all the tropical diseases
that were indigenous to the area. Malaria and dysentery were their constant
companions. There was little quinine available to control malaria and
nothing with which to treat amoebic dysentery. With the monsoonal rain
the camp became a quagmire and going to the toilet at night became an
almost insuperable problem for debilitated men racked with abdominal pain.
A lack of vitamins in the diet soon brought on all sorts
of complaints ranging from beri-beri to red raw mouths, tongues and throats.
Beri-beri caused gross swelling of the limbs and stomach, making walking
in itself very difficult, let alone having to get out to the rail trace
and work when you got there. Cuts and wounds on the legs and feet generally
became infected due to the absence of antiseptics, disinfectants and bandages.
Many lesions soon turned into tropical ulcers which often as not became
gangrenous. Hundreds of men had limbs amputated as a last resort.
Perhaps the greatest scourge of all was cholera visited
on our camp by passing Asian labourers who unfortunately were denied any
sort of treatment whatsoever. Cholera rapidly dehydrates the body through
purging and vomiting. As the fluid leaves the body so do the body salts
thus inducing severe cramp in all muscles. Cholera claimed many lives
in our camp before a still was manufactured from salvaged material, enabling
the production of pure distilled water to be turned into a saline solution
for intravenous injection into comatose patients. This procedure was marvelously
successful resulting in the saving of 60% of all cholera patients.
When we look back over those troubled times is it any wonder
that we thank the Good Lord for his provision of steadfast mates and above
all for the doctors and medical staff who overcame incredible difficulties
to return so many men to their loved ones at home.
Address- Anzac Day 2003 Kanchanaburi Thailand.
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