Presenter: Ngaire Ballard
Ernie Redman reflects on his time as a POW
Esperance man Ernie Redman was never planning to return to the Thai-Burma railway, where he worked as a prisoner of war.
But his friend, Wendy Duncan, read about the Quiet Lion tours and convinced him otherwise. "She just told me we're sending you up," Ernie says. Wendy and Jenny White fundraised enough for Ernie and three students from Esperance to go on the tour a few years ago. "I actually never had any intention of going back up the railway line," Ernie says.
Going back to Thailand as a free man was a moving experience for Ernie. "The only thing I had that upset me a bit was when we went to the Kanchanaburi war cemetery," he says. "I was going to take photos of special members of our company's graves and send them to me mate in Tasmania - and you look down and see their age, 19, 20, 21. That knocked me," he says.
"I couldn't take their photos, I had to get some of the students to take the photos then. But apart from that, it's a wonderful experience."
During his first trip back, Ernie was so impressed by the students' interest and their respect for the former prisoners of war, he wanted to become more involved with the Quiet Lion tours. "I decided I'd help to send the students up the next year," Ernie explains.
Interest in the tours is growing and this year, 10 students from the Esperance Senior High School will take part. Ernie, who will turn 88 when he returns from the trip, says he is touched by the respect the students show.
"They've a fair idea what the soldiers went through during the war and they seem to have got a lot of respect now, more respect than ever," Ernie says. "I can't get over the respect they show for us."
The Quiet Lion tours are run each April by the Burma Thailand Railway Memorial Association. The tours are named after one of the nicknames for Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop, who was also known as the Quiet Lion for his efforts to care for the prisoners of war working on the railway.
Ernie shared his story with Ngaire Ballard on the breakfast program.
© 2005 ABC, Australia