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Chapters (40)
  1. FOREWORD
  2. RAILROAD OF DEATH
  3. REFERENCE LIST:
  4. Railroad of Death
  5. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION (1948)
  6. INTRODUCTION
  7. PART ONE: SINGAPORE
  8. CHAPTER 1
  9. CHAPTER 2
  10. CHAPTER 3
  11. CHAPTER 4
  12. CHAPTER 5
  13. PART TWO: RAILROAD OF DEATH
  14. CHAPTER 6
  15. CHAPTER 7
  16. CHAPTER 8
  17. CHAPTER 9
  18. CHAPTER 10
  19. CHAPTER 11
  20. CHAPTER 12
  21. CHAPTER 13
  22. PART THREE: BASE CAMPS AND LIBERATION
  23. CHAPTER 14
  24. CHAPTER 15
  25. CHAPTER 16
  26. CHAPTER 17
  27. CHAPTER 18
  28. CHAPTER 19
  29. CHAPTER 20
  30. APPENDIX ONE:
  31. APPENDIX TWO:
  32. APPENDIX THREE:
  33. APPENDIX FOUR:
  34. APPENDIX FIVE:
  35. APPENDIX SIX:
  36. APPENDIX SEVEN:
  37. APPENDIX EIGHT:
  38. APPENDIX NINE:
  39. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  40. And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder

However, with gentle persuasion and assurances that it would not be edited into an ‘anti-Japanese film’, John and the BBC convinced two of his former captors to participate (BBC Written Archives Centre T56/203/1, Nagase Takashi, Letter (11th October 1968)). Both men were understandably nervous of the reactions their appearance might provoke among both the British and Japanese publics, but they were reassured by John’s guarantee that ‘In no way is this film motivated by revenge or sensationalism . . . The whole essence of this film is to collect the real opinions of Japanese, [and] British . . . who were actually on site of the railway between 1942 to 1945”’ (BBC Written Archives Centre T56/203/1: John Coast letter to Nagase Takashi (26 September 1968)). Lieutenant Takeroh Inoh, who was respected as a fair and decent camp commander, and the officer and interpreter, Takashi Nagase, travelled to Thailand and engaged in interviews at the sites of the camps, the cemetery, and the notorious bridge at Tamarkan. Another former Japanese soldier, Sergeant-Major Saito, who Toosey had to work with at Tamarkan Camp and Toosey held in high regard thereafter, was also present for part of the documentary (for Toosey and Saito’s relatively good working relationship at Tamarkan, see Summers (2006)).

John, both in Railway and his actions after the war, had shown his desire for justice rather than retribution. He had written an anonymous letter to The Times in 1947, criticising the twenty year sentence meted out to Colonel Yanagida (misspelled as ‘Yanagita’ in the printed letter) at the War Crimes trials in Tokyo. He describes Yanagida as being ‘comparatively humane’ while others who behaved far worse got relatively lighter sentences (Anonymous letter to The Times, “Japanese War Criminals” (4 January 1947)). In the documentary, John reiterates that Yanagida’s punishment was unjust.

When Inoh had been tried for war crimes, his characterisation in Railroad was used in his defence, along with the testimonies of senior British officers. John is sympathetic in his tone during these interviews, recognising that Inoh’s punishment was not commensurate with his actions, which were even-handed and humane in comparison with those of other senior Japanese.