Finding peace at father’s grave in Japan
Pilgrimage for Remembrance ceremony
The moving Last Post and a Scottish piper’s lament at an international ceremony to mark Remembrance Sunday highlighted an emotional reunion for Patricia Carpenter and her father; who died as a prisoner of war in Japan 75 years earlier.
Thanks to her partner Peter Oldfield, who surprised her with the trip to the Far East, they travelled together to the Japanese island of Kyushu and the Yokohama Cemetery – which is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission – to see her father’s final resting place.
It was an opportunity to close a chapter in her life and Patricia described it as an “unforgettable experience” – which also allowed her to lay demons to rest and make what she believes are lasting friendships with the Japanese who care for the graves and research the history of the POWs buried there.
She was just a schoolgirl when her father Francis Cast – always known as Frank – sailed away to war; never to return to Bermondsey in London’s East End.
A gunner in the Royal Artillery’s 21st Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, he left the Clyde in December 1941 on the Empress of Australia bound for Libya but the ship was diverted to Singapore – however, as the island was already under attack, Frank and his comrades were landed on Java on February 3, 1942 and surrendered to the Japanese forces a month later.
Frank endured a horrific voyage to Japan and suffered the toils and cruelty of Fukucko Prison Camp, put to work with other prisoners building an airfield. Food and medicines were in short supply; and he died aged 30 of a burst appendix and chronic enteritis in 1943.
Patricia, who lives in Moraira with Peter, said they plan to return to Japan in the future but said of her visit to the cemetery: “I shall never, never-ever forget it; it will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
They were part of Remembrance Sunday service for the 1,555 British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and Indian troops buried in the peaceful cemetery, as well as United States dead and other Allied soldiers.
BAGPIPES
“They sounded the Last Post, then I could hear these wonderful bagpipes...and I am standing in front of my father’s grave for the first time,” she said.
“I put photographs on his grave – pictures of my mother and us four children, you can see how little we were when we were evacuated to Wales – pictures of where we lived with Dad, he was a docker like all the family.”
During their stay, they returned for a second visit to Frank’s grave. “We are so glad we went back to the cemetery for a bit of a quiet time.
“Dad was 30 when he died but the average age of all the soldiers around him was 20; that really choked you up.”
Patricia’s two sisters Kathleen and Marianne managed to make the trip to Japan in 1996, her brother Frank – also named Francis after his father, never made the journey.
Peter said he decided to put Frank’s story together and with the help of the internet and Kathleen, spent four months creating a book containing the gunner’s letters home and later correspondence from people in the camp with him, old photographs, and the witness statements taken from survivors and their guards.
“At Easter I gave it to her as a present. She was awestruck...in the back I had put a couple of plane tickets and a hotel booking, so we could pop across and see him,” said Peter. “She had no idea I was putting this together.
“We were at the cemetery for November 11 and had found his grave. The ceremony was very emotional and very crowded.”
NEGATIVE
He added: “As you can imagine, Patricia had a very negative view of the Japanese for obvious reasons and I understand that; but going there has opened her eyes; they were friendly, courteous, polite and very genuine.
“The object was to get Patricia across to see her father’s grave and take in a cathartic exercise. It was always going to be very emotional, lots of raw emotion.”
Patricia, thanking Peter for the trip once again, said: “I had never hounded him about going and saying I wanted to go. When I opened it and saw the tickets I couldn’t believe it; I just couldn’t talk.
“You cannot change things but one of the saddest things of my life was mum never spoke about it; once I asked and she said she just couldn’t. This has become so much more precious in my life; thank you Peter.”
And Peter added: “Since we have come home, I have noticed a big difference in Patricia; it’s a chapter closed. She has finally, finally been to see her Dad and said ‘goodbye’.”
The book also contains tributes to Frank; how he had done his best to keep morale up in the camp and as a very practical person, made a chess set and taught other prisoners the game.
A letter penned by Mayor Alan Steele on Christmas Eve, 1945 – after the POW camp was liberated – and sent to Patricia’s mother, described Frank as a “tower of strength.”
It also said he had fought his illness. “He made desperate efforts to live; he was so keen to get back home to you and his children.”