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PRISONERS' EXPERIENCES
Some Happier Memories
I'ELBOURNE, Nov 19.--Some of
the Australian servicemen who were
rescued after the sinking of a Jap
anese transport preferred to talk of
their happier memories of their
imprisonment-incidents in which
they had circumvented the Japan
ese restrictions and other incidents
which proved that despite the con
ditions of their imprisonment they
were never subject to their temporary
captors.
One such story was told by two
men. While they were working on
the Burma-Siam railway at 105
nile camp the Japanese sent
cameramen to photograph "happy
prisoners" marching off cheerfullhy
to work on the badly-needed rail
way. British and American pris
oners were ordered to sing as they
marched. Then without boots and
clothing, about 30 per cent of the
total, were put on the inside ranks,
and the fitter nren outside. When
all was ready the prisoners marched
off singing loudly an unprintable
version of "Bless 'em All."
The sound engineer's face lit up
with pleasure and he made it clear
that he thought he had obtained a
really great propaganda scoop.
These Australians saw another
Japanese propaganda effort at ai
hospital in Burma on the Emperor's
birthday in 1943. The Japanese
selected one ward containing about
100 men and cleaned it up, provid
ing it with sheets, white-coated Jap
anese medical orderlies and a dis
pensary full of bottles. Then they
brought in a movie camera crew and
pbotographed the Japanese orderlies,
whom the prisoners had never seen
previously, assisting weak and dis-i
ebled men. Then the Japanese
handed around blank sheets of paper
and photographed men reading
"letters from home." As a grandi
climax they filled bottles with cold
tea, the bottles being badly labelled
pineapple juice and orange cordial,
and filmed a line of prisoners being
issued with drinks. There were not
enough bottles to go round so as
soon as a man was out of camer,
range Japanese attendants snatched
his bottle and raced back to hand
it to another man in the line.
About half a dozen men were In
structed to put themselves promin
rtly before the camera in every
shot. One of them was first
photographed in the line-up for the
bottles of cold tea, then in bed as
a very sick hospital patient and five
minutes later as a female tmpe
sonator in the camp concert party.
SOther men were shown with Jap
anese doctors "operating" on them
and immediately afterwards in a
truckload of happy singing men be
ing driven out to work on the
railway. This was the only occa
sion that prisoners were driven to
work and then the truck went only
is far as the camp gate.
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