Tough tales in new Thai-Burma rail book
A book tells the stories of the Thai-Burma Railway POWs
By Charisse Ede
Even today, 64 years on, Col Hamley finds it hard to recount the two years he spent as a prisoner of war (POW) on the notorious Thai-Burma Railway.
The 85-year-old Melbourne man is unable to contain his sadness as he talks about those harrowing years as a Japanese POW.
"Well, you seem to feel that you can tell a story, but there are times when you're telling the stories ..." he breaks off, tears pooling in his eyes.
"But you do get emotional. You do, you can't help it.
"It's a hard story to tell."
Mr Hamley's experience is vividly retold in a new book: The Men of the Line - Stories of the Thai-Burma Railway Survivors.
The book, by Pattie Wright, tells the stories of 68 of the POWs who helped construct the 415km railway connecting Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma.
The slave labour force built 688 bridges, concrete viaducts, cuttings, embankments and railway track through thick malarial jungle.
Of the 9,500 Australian soldiers who worked on the railway, 2,646 died.
Mr Hamley was 17 when he enlisted for war. He was taken prisoner in Java in 1942 and had his 20th birthday there. This is the first time he has told his tale.
Described in the book as "a gentle man in a hard place", Mr Hamley enlisted with his elder brother, Don.
Both men were captured by the Japanese and worked on different areas of the railway. Don died as a POW two days after his 22nd birthday.
Mr Hamley said only about five per cent of POWs were still alive and it was important to capture their experiences in print.
Koop Purse, of Shepparton in country Victoria, was 24 when he went to war and spent three years at various POW camps after his 3rd Machine Gunners battalion was captured in Java.
"I think it's important for the young people of today to know what we went through and what was it like," he said.
"It's paradise today, to what it was.
"It was more or less pushed under the table when we came home. They didn't want to talk about it."
Bill Powell, of the No 1 Squadron Malay, Dunlop Force, survived his three-and-a-half years as a POW through resilience and a bit of ingenuity.
He used to catch lizards in his hand-crafted traps, which he said gave him much-needed protein.
"If they had of fed us well, there wouldn't have been so many deaths," he said of the rice and water stew served up by the Japanese.
"It wasn't the hard work that killed us. It was the lack of medications and food."
Mr Powell, who worked alongside Sir "Weary" Dunlop at Hellfire Pass, said that unlike many other POWs, he had never returned to Burma.
"I've never been interested in going back. Once is enough," the 89-year-old said without emotion.
Mr Powell, from Melbourne, said few people understood what thousands of Australians endured fighting for their country.
"I think for them it's just another story. Only those who were there realise what it was," he said.
"You look at life differently. Hardships are not hardships so much.
"You're thankful that you even survived."
Ms Wright said writing the book was an emotional experience.
"I was after the authentic voices of the railway before they all left us," she today said while launching the book at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance.
"Sadly, there aren't many left today, only a few, but they are absolute treasures."
©AAP 2008