Ex-POW says war and violence is not the solution to conflicts
Ex-POW of the Japanese, a Minister In the Whitlam Government and outspoken man on Peace and Environmental issues, the Hon Tom Uren was the keynote speaker at the mayoral Luncheon for the 60th Anniversary of the Cowra Breakout where both Japanese and Australians were present.
Mr Uren has taken a strong position on the issue of peace and his own experiences as a POW have been instrumental in that process.
As a POW of the Japanese he felt he emerged from that experience a better person. It was a part of the foundation of his life. Tom Uren was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese militarists on 23rd February 1942 in West Timor, remained a POW for 3 1/2 years, serving in Timor, then Java for the first 11 months, then to Singapore for about two weeks.
He spent the majority of the year and half on the railway at Hintock Mountain Camp - under Lieutenant Colonel Edward "Weary" Dunlop's leadership. It was Australia Day 26th January 1943, when Tom arrived, and he remained under "Weary's" collective leadership until June 1944.
Tom Explained "We had two other remarkable doctors, Ewan Corlette and Arthur Moon. A part of our collective leadership included Major Bill Wearne a Duntroon trained officer, and Major Bill Woods a Queenslander."
The Burma/Thai Railway became one of the most notorious areas. Those who were drafted suffered and subsequently were subjected to physical and psychological stress which is barely credible: malnutrition, multiple infections, inadequate shelter, prolonged marches, work to the point of total exhaustion, capricious violence and humiliation.
Tom explained "The cruelty of the Japanese engineers was indescribable. There was hate in our hearts for our captors. He told the audience that after his first 2 ? years as a POW he would have exterminated the Japanese from our planet but his opinion changed. In the last year of the war he was sent to Japan where he worked at a copper smelting works. He and others worked three shifts, at the end of each, we would share a communal bath. 'The Japanese were older, kind and considerate to us. We couldn't speak their language - nor they ours - but with hands - eyes and body language - we communicated with each other. They were as starving as we were.'
During this period he was developing and grew as a person and within his thoughts there was no hate - "I discovered it was not the Japanese I hated - but militarism and fascism."
"The last three months of the war we were transferred to Omuta about 80 kilometres as the crow flies from Nagasaki. On the morning of the 9th August 1945 I was in the prison camp yard and I saw the discolouration of the sky. We didn't know what it was - only that crimson discolouration of the sky is imprinted on my mind."
Tom stated to the audience that the world is in chaos because of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia's involvement in Iraq. He is not a pacifist - but does not believe that war and violence is a solution to national and international conflicts. 'We should have strengthened and supported the United Nations and given more time to the UN inspectors in Iraq, examining whether Iraq really had weapons of mass destruction. '
The war in Iraq by the so called coalition of military forces, without the United Nations authority, was a grave error of judgement. In our war against terrorism, the invasion of Iraq increased the growth of world terrorism.
Mr Uren expressed concern at some strong elements of militarism that exist in Japan today and that the Japanese government does not allow their educational system to inform the youth of Japan the crimes their militarists and fascist forces carried out in the 1930s and 1940s.
He compared this to our own country where we took many generations to recognise the crimes we committed against our indigenous people and we still have much to overcome.
Mr Uren said "What lingers in my mind is the beauty of the gardens in Kyoto. Although my visit was brief in 1960, I had that feeling that I wanted to return.
"On my 1990 visit, I stayed several days and was able to explore so many of the gardens. One in particular captivated me Sanzen-In-Temple, one of the three Imperial cathedrals of the Buddhist sect.
The architecture was one with the exquisite, sensitive and serene environment. As I sat and meditated in those beautiful surroundings, my thoughts wandered back to the sadism, thuggery and brutality we suffered under the Japanese militarists for so many years. I thought the people who created this environment must have beautiful hearts, minds and souls.
This is a side of the Japanese nature that the world should know more about. Modern Japan should learn from this side of their nature.
On this 60th Anniversary of the Cowra breakout we think of those lives that were lost both by the Japanese and Australians.
And we think of our Australian comrades that died so tragically as prisoners of war.
We should also think of those that died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and those that suffered from the firebombing at Tokyo.
We who have survived should continue to build and strengthen the ties between our two nations.
Peace be with you in your mind, heart and soul.