POW dies one day after 83rd birthday
AFTER surviving four years as a prisoner of war in some of the most notorious camps of World War II, former Wingham resident Bob Rowsell has died after suffering a stroke the day after his 83rd birthday.
As people across the nation stopped to remember those killed in war this year was a particularly difficult time for the Rowsell family after only recently losing Bob.
Wingham Chronicle readers may remember his story from a February edition which traced his four years spent suffering the disease, deprivation and brutality of some of the most infamous POW camps in history.
He survived three different camps and while hundreds died around him he managed to survive the ordeal eventually returning to the same job he left behind in Wingham at Percy Bird's grocery store.
Following his capture by the Japanese he was marched to the Changi POW camp where he spent his 21st birthday building a huge shrine into the side of a hill for the Japanese guards to worship at.
The brutality of the Japanese guards has been widely documented and from talking with Bob in February it was obvious the details remained clear in his memory.
"Most of the men in the camps came down with malaria or dysentery but they were still required to work and you copped a hiding for any little thing.
"Men were forced to kneel with broken glass behind their knees and sometimes we were forced to stand with big boulders over our heads when we couldn't hold them any longer the full weight would come crashing down on our heads," he said.
The horror of the Changi camp was unbelievable but worse was yet to come when he was sent to the infamous Hellfire Pass also referred to as the Thai-Burma Death Railway.
Prisoners worked day and night to cut through a high ridge and construct the railway line through the ridge and conditions were appaling.
Hellfire Pass got its name from the night shift when bamboo flares were put along the cutting walls so the men could work night and day but to the men entering the pass it looked like entering the gates of hell.
It took four months to complete the job at Hellfire Pass and of the 480 men that started the job there were only 21 survivors.
From hell back home again
Break story here from steamy jungles to freezing???
From the steamy tropical conditions at Hellfire Pass Bob was then sent to Japan where he was forced to work long hours deep underground in a copper mine but first he had to make it to Japan on an overcrowded, dilapidated boat under allied fire.
From freezing conditions as low as minus 20c above ground to deep underground in the mines where temperatures climbed to 50c and only thin canvas shoes and blankets many did not survive the ordeal.
By July 1945 allied air raids over Japan were common and after four years of living hell Bob was soon on his way back home again.
"To see my own family again was the best day of my life and when we caught the train from Sydney to Wingham I knew I was really home again."
Remarkably, after returning to Wingham, he resumed work at Percy Bird's grocery store. He married Patricia Sullivan whose father was managing the Bank of NSW in Wingham and here their first three children were born. Another child was born after they moved to Young in 1952.
Speaking at Bob's funeral his son Noel said:
"Bob and Pat became great travellers in their retirement, almost but not quite circumnavigating Australia on successive trips but never away from home and family for very long.
" The family home at Doonside would be a popular gathering point for the extended family and the biggest and best events in recent years were the respective 80th birthdays of Bob and Pat and their 50th Wedding Anniversary.
" As Bob's faith proved crucial in sustaining him throughout his years as a POW, so he and Pat enjoyed a wonderful spiritual relationship throughout their marriage, celebrating their faith at the Anglican Church at Doonside.
Speaking to the Chronicle after the funeral he added:
" Unfortunately, there is an ever-decreasing circle of World War Two veterans who remain with us and I hope your readers continue to applaud and appreciate the sacrifice these wonderful men gave for us, in order for us to have the lifestyle we so richly enjoy today."