cruising the Pacific before we reached Manus Mother wrote her first Air letter to brother Hugh in Ceylon on September 20th “…….Michael and I have been through the mill alright—and Michael has taken it like a man with never a grumble and admirable behaviour throughout – when one was very tempted to lapse and go off the straight road with intense hunger and cold to contend with---I have aged quite 10 years- I lost pounds in weight- from 10 stone I went down to 6 ½ stone, but I have already worked up to 8 stone & Michael is also getting very fat —nearly every man on board has put on over a stone--we are being fed on the fat of the land ….” I also wrote to Father in Ceylon an Air letter giving him for the first time a brief account of our capture by the German Navy and subsequent imprisonment in Japan (copy enclosed) Some of the military prisoners that we met had harrowing tales to tell. One example alone I will recount here. There was an officer I think of the 2nd Battallion “The Cambridgeshire Regiment” whose captivity had started at Changi Jail, in Singapore on February 15th 1942. Disease was rampant, overcrowding appalling but then he, together with 109 other members of his regiment, were transferred in October by rail, river barge, truck and forced marches, being sniped at by Thai bandits, until they finally reached Chunkai jungle camp and began work on the notorious Burma - Siam railway. They had to cut through 300 miles of virgin jungle and out of roughly 45,000 white POWs some 15,000 died and a further 32,000 Chinese, Tamils and Malays also perished during the years of construction. Japanese policy was if you could stand, you could walk, and if you could walk, you could work! After a year, having survived this ordeal, he returned in the same manner back to Singapore. But on July 4th 1944 he was packed in with 1,287 men into the holds of a small ex- British tramp built in 1904 bound for Japan. Conditions were so hot and cramped and there was no room even to lie down. Sailing via Borneo they reached Manila in 20 days when because of engine failure they had to spend a further 58 days in harbour during which period 94 men died. Finally when the ship put to sea on the very first day in a convoy of 8 transports, American Torpedo Bombers sunk the entire lot. Out of the original 1,287 men now only 221 got ashore and were taken back to Manila. On October 1st 150 of these survivors together with 1,116 Americans were battened down again in the holds of a 3,000 ton steamer. All the way to Taiwan the convoy was attacked by allied aircraft and submarines and only 2 out of 8 ships made it to port, with a further 34 prisoners dying at sea. Water had been rationed to 1 pint a day and twice a week 50 men were allowed on deck to wash in seawater for 10 minutes. In January the party finally reached a camp in North Japan and were put to work in a lead mine, were another 14 died. Out of the 110 men of the Cambridgeshires’ only 8 survived the whole ordeal. On Saturday 22nd September there was a ships concert, in which both crew and passengers all made contributions. Gabriella Lyon sang French songs There was a Cabaret of sailors in drag and the proceedings were started off solemnly by the Padre reciting from the Chronicle of St. Jago: “So on this great ship hath sailed past the Indies, even unto the underside of the world, where lies a Great Land , fair and prosperous full of sheep and fair women guarded by great bearded men whose name is “Diggers”. And finding the wine strong and the women weak and succumbing, we sojourned a while in these parts receiving great benefits and loving the land exceedingly. Proceeding from thence with tears and firm vows of faithfulness, we sailed Northwards towards Cathay and to that land

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