Before leaving Thailand, we again visited both the cemeteries. Here the Japanese paid their respects to the British dead. And I do not believe this was lip service. I think the values of the Japanese had modified in some degree during the last quarter of a century. I think they can even realise now that in surrendering Singapore and saving our skins, we acted according to our own values, influenced, in the case of our senior officers, by ghastly memories of millions of men futilely killed in the First World War.

At the same time, I came to see Inoh and Nagase as men who had been conditioned to carry out their orders without a second thought.

What had they learned from their experiences, I wondered?

Take Lieutenant Inoh. Before the war, a quiet, calm, healthy bank manager; today, a retired bank manager with seemingly identical characteristics. He showed no bitterness at all for himself – only when he spoke about his young sergeant who was hanged.

Nagase was different. He was clearly an emotional man for whom this war experience became the dominating thing in his life. He is not only trying to erase some of the evil memories left by the Imperial Japanese Army on the railway, but he has involved his prefecture at home in Kurashiki in a scheme with Mr Yup to widen his farm’s possibilities – a serious Thai-Japanese development project.

But although, in our different ways, we all learned something, I fear that not enough people learn, while most who do learn, don’t learn quickly enough.

So the world goes on in its same ignorant old way.

APPENDIX FOUR:

From M.I.9 POW Questionnaire, 1945. National Archives (TNA), W0344/404/1 Lieutenant Leslie William (George) Sully – Escape Attempt

2.ESCAPES OR ATTEMPTED ESCAPES (Additional paper will be supplied on request if required)

(a)Give full description and approx. date of each attempt you made to escape, showing how you left the camp, and from which camp each attempt was made. State whether there was air-raid in progress at the time or not. If an escape was made from a train or vehicle the approx. speed and how it was guarded should be included.

I regret that such notes as I had of my own escape attempt and those of others were found in a Japanese spot search at TARSAO. Until that time the Japanese had inspected private correspondence, notes, etc. The dates can thus only be highly approximate. I suffered from ‘Malaysian Memory’.

(b)Were you physically fit when you made these attempts?

As well as could be expected of the P.O.W.

(c)Give Regimental particulars of anyone who accompanied you on each attempt.

Lt R.L.JACKSON 1/MANCH Lt J.H.M. GUTCH 1/MANCH What happened to them?

Returned safely.

(d)Give briefly your experiences during periods of freedom.

See appended

(e)How were you recaptured and on what date?

[Not completed]