River Kwai survivor dies at 101
Fred told of torture in PoW camp
WAR veteran Fred Seiker, who survived a brutal Japanese PoW camp and helped to build the notorious bridge over the River Kwai, has died aged 101.
Mr Seiker was imprisoned in Thailand in 1942 and worked on the Burma railway which killed 100,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied servicemen. His Japanese jailers tied him to a tree for three days for stealing a tin of fruit – with water left out of reach. On another occasion, he was tied down with barbed wire while guards pumped water from a hose into his body. Another guard jumped on his stomach. He suffered nightmares for the rest of his life. Inmates with cholera were left to die in agony. In his book, Lest We Forget, he wrote: “Words cannot describe the horror.”
Engineer Mr Seiker was with the Dutch Merchant Navy when he was captured. He settled in the UK after the war and died at home in Worcester. His wife of 45 years, Elizabeth, said: “People from Japan, Thailand, Holland, France and China have emailed.”
Mr Seiker did not want a funeral and his body will be donated to medical research, at his request.