Escape to Pagan (38 page)

I also remember the soldiers stopping to brew some tea. My grandmother and mother were standing nearby eating jam out of a tin watching a soldier prepare to light a fire. He then proceeded to instruct grandmother on the correct way to light a fire, “never use green wood,” he knowingly added, “it will give your position away, is difficult to light and provides less heat.” He was lecturing the queen of firemaking. My grandmother said nothing.

CHAPTER 25

Winter's Bite

JAPAN

“Jack always told me after the war that the winters in Japan were substantially colder than those of Britain – even colder than winters in the north of England where he was born. The freezing winds in Japan came from the Russian artic and Siberia. All the prisoners were underweight and their clothing was far too thin. Their footwear was falling apart, despite having an ex-cobbler who belonged to the Hong Kong Volunteers; he did his best to mend their worn boots. Canvas had to take the place of leather, which was hard to come by in Japan. Some men with small feet managed to squeeze into the Japanese Tabi, rubber and canvas boots. Prisoners were given mining helmets made of cardboard. Often men went barefoot. Jack said standing outside while waiting to be counted in the sleet or rain was far worse than the beatings they occasionally received for minor offences. But Nagoya was not a brutal camp compared to others, and the work quotas were not excessive. Jack was in charge of a small group of Royal Scot prisoners.

The Japanese were always disgusted at the amount of swear words available to the Anglo-Saxon tongue. Their race had to be content with just two much repeated exclamations: ‘Buggero' and ‘Damme' both
meaning basically fool, idiot and no good. We constantly heard these words bellowed when the young Japanese soldiers were being trained at Tada u.

“Jack said the worst offenders for bad language were the Middlesex Regiment
[Cockneys]
; the Scots tended to swear less. Once the Japanese guards at the camp understood what English swear words meant; they would shake their heads and walk away disgusted or clout the offender. Their verbal culture was strictly moral and their taste in Japanese female beauty refined.

“Some of the Jap guards soon realized that there was no love lost between the Scots and the English and used this to get more work done. At one camp
[Tateyama]
the Japanese guards and civilian workers were always interested in a prisoner's marital state and how many children they had; over three offspring usually earned them a cheap Japanese cigarette. A way to gain a little kudos with their guards and foremen and have a rest at the same time was to ask them (at the right moment) if they were married. This would usually make them proudly produce photographs of their families. Another way to prolong a conversation and rest periods was to admire the guard's handwriting.”

According to the Sergeant, the prisoners soon learnt that while looking at their po-faced wife and their grim-looking children, who stared back at the camera with intent hostility (it is almost impossible to find a smiling photo of a Nipponese family of that era), it was advisable for the prisoner to gently suck air through the teeth in admiration of his wife. But a prisoner had to be careful; too much sucking in of breath when looking at the guard's wife could easily be mistaken for carnal lust, earning the prisoner a clout around the ear.

“I believe it was here that Jack and the men from Tateyama met the veteran wrinkled faced guard called Kanamura known to the prisoners by a rude name. Sergeant Kanamura was well-respected by the other guards and even the officers and NCOs in the POW camp because of
his long service. Kanamura took a liking to Jack. Perhaps it was because Jack took his punishment without flinching; also both soldiers had been seriously wounded in battle and had the visible scars to prove it. Kanamura spoke a little English, he was also an accomplished mime actor and would use this talent to describe past battles against the Russians. The veteran guard had seen active service in Manchuria, China, the invasion of Burma and was seriously wounded in the face and neck at the Sittang River by a Gurkha's knife.

“Sergeant Kanamura often appeared from the gloom of the mine's tunnels the worse for drink and had to be handled carefully; he was usually in the mood to boast of his past battles or to beat a prisoner who caught his attention. At such times the civilian foreman and other workers quickly made themselves scarce because of Kanamura's unpredictability; this surprisingly included the owner of the mine. They all had a healthy respect for the veteran, so strong was the army grip on the civilian population.

“Jack was always a good listener when Kanamura wanted to talk. The better he listened the longer the tale, the longer the tale the longer the rest from the back-breaking work. The right side of Jack's face was paralyzed and his lower eye lid drooped significantly causing tears to trickle down his cheek at regular intervals, giving the impression he was crying
[this problem continued after the war despite two operations at Roehampton].
Perhaps these tears gave the impression that he was moved by Kanamura's tales. Japanese men were not ashamed of tears when occasion beckoned. They have been known to cry at the beauty of a butterfly's wing. Jack's crocodile tears added a touch of sincerity and bonhomie, especially when brave deeds were recounted and photos of family were produced. A few tears and just the right amount of sucking in of breath at the beauty of his scowling dame and her plump-faced children could end in a small gift or a cigarette.”

During the above the POWs in Jack's work detail remained silent leaning on their picks and shovels in the dim shadows of the tunnels, conserving their limited energy.

“On other occasions, the deep sword cut on the back of Jack's neck fascinated the sword-loving Kanamura, who it seems was quite an expert at the art of decapitation, having honed his skills to a high degree in China.”

The Japanese soldiers often sent pictures home of these events; a “wish you were here” kind of thing. Sergeant Kanamura would often produce photographs of these events, showing Chinese people being used for bayonet practice and beheadings. As manpower in Japan decreased, more women were conscripted to work in the mines.

Tam and Willie often laughed at the thought of Nipponese Annie, an attractive Japanese woman they named after a female Glaswegian music hall entertainer. “Nipponese Annie” sometimes came to the mine to work for reasons unknown. It seems that any exertion Annie made, even bending down to pick up a small object, caused her to have loud flatulence. At first all the prisoners thought Annie was mimicking the sound orally to amuse them. But by closely watching her baggy trousers every time she bent over, their hypothesis was proved to be incorrect. Scrotum-face, the old crinkled skinned guard, used to walk away disgusted: “this woman no good-a” he would announce bringing a handkerchief to his nose.

“Jack admired the Japanese ingenuity when working in the mine in Nagasaki; not having the proper tools or equipment did not seem to worry them, they always improvised. The Japanese were on the lookout for skilled workers. All the prisoners were given forms to state their previous occupations and skills. Jack claimed he was a ‘steak and kidney pudding tester'. This was the food he missed the most during his imprisonment; I used to make it every week for him in England when I had learned to cook. I remembered my mother's recipe; it was also my father's favourite.”