My Uncle was a POW in Burma, AIUI from shortly after the fall of Singapore certainly until around VJ day. (The latter I know because coincidentally my father, having been repatriated from Ceylon, was on office duty when his release details came past him, and "bunked off" to let my Aunt know before the official news was likely to hit her some days later - some things, he said, were worth the threat of being charged AWOL).
He would have been around 30 when captured. To his dying day, he said little about his experiences, but wouldn't touch anything that had any Japanese connection that he could see, which rather robbed him of a lot of later-life electronics, and also, as an erstwhile avid motorcycle fan, rather blunted his enthusiasm for that. His approach in this was dogged.
It is difficult for our generation to appreciate just what scars were inflicted (physically, but especially mentally) by the experiences.
I'm all for reconciliation, and would approach any remembrance event in such a spirit, but don't, ever, underestimate the feelings of those who suffered directly, and do allow them their feelings and respect them.
(it was but a few years ago that SWMBO, whilst doing family tree research, unearthed his Japanese POW record. The dates looked all wrong until we realised we had to translate them from the Imperial system. We passed it on to my cousins who hadn't seen it.)
I've posted on here before about finding something out about my father's war record that was a complete surprise to me, and rather brought tears to my eyes. Of those that saw real combat in WW2 (and in other wars of course) there are many who didn't want to relive the memories, or be reminded, once it was over.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=21242
|
Remembrance new
Remembrance new
