‘In their eyes, we were less than the dust on the ground’
An author has released a book filled with stories from Far East prisoners of war – including those of a Sunderland man who was also known on South Tyneside.
Vic Ient has unveiled his book called These Valiant Men which contains the memories of eight men who faced the horrors of PoW camps in the Second World War.
One of them is Vic’s own father Sgt Albert Victor Ient, who was a POW on the island of Innoshima.
Remarkably, Vic’s research brought him into contact with a Sunderland man who had been a prisoner in the same camp as his father.
Philip Filou Henderson, known to friends as Chick, was an RAF veteran who came home from war weighing 6st 7oz and with stomach problems for the next 30 years.
Vic said: “He was captured in Java in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia, as it is now) and transported to Habu PoW camp in Japan, the same camp where my father was imprisoned.”
Vic first met Chick at a veterans’ reunion and said: "He made light of his hardship as a PoW.
"I came away thinking what a wonderful man he was and what an enjoyable experience it was to meet him.”
But Chick had tales to tell of his time in the war and they make a chapter in Vic’s book.
Sadly, Chick died not long after meeting Vic but shared his story in a series of tapes.
He recalled how he was stationed at Singapore, and later made it to southern Java, and eventually became a prisoner of war along with ‘thousands and thousands of us. There were Dutch, Malayans, Brits, Americans, New Zealanders, Australians and Chinese’.
He talked of cells where there would be up to 200 people a cell with one barrel of water between them.
The only relief from the cells came in working parties but the men would have to work in heat of up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Meals were rice, three times a day.
Chick remembered one day when he was beaten by a Japanese soldier because he was standing the wrong way and it was seen as an insult to the Japanese Emperor.
“When it came down to the prisoners of war, by virtue of being prisoners in their eyes we were less than the dust on the ground. In their view if they gave us a cup of water they were doing us a favour,” he said.
Later, Chick and 1,000 other prisoners were transferred by ship in ‘horrendous’ conditions to Japan itself.
He lived on rice, sugar and one cup of water a day.
Conditions would include snow on some days but the men were dressed in khaki shirts and shorts.
After a 29-day journey, 100 prisoners including Chick were taken to Innoshima on the Inland Sea.
Disease was rife, men died yet still the prisoners were put to work.
"They marched us from the camp about three or four miles to the docks, the shipyard.
"They lined us up and they picked out the six biggest blokes – I was one of them – and they gave us shovels and from then on, for the next three and a half years, we got all the dirty, stinking, filthy jobs there were to do in the dockyard.”
As the Japanese war fortunes began to get worse and fewer soldiers watched the camp, life got slightly easier but the men still had to drink ‘gallons and gallons’ of water to fill their stomachs as they had so little food.
Later, as the war’s fortunes turned, Chick remembered cheering as US planes bombed the prisoner of war camp even though he was in it.
And he recalled a conversation with a Japanese foreman which he relayed back to his fellow prisoners.
"The only words I got were ‘American’ and a ‘bomb’ and ‘100,000 people’.
“This small island, on the ‘Inland Sea’, was where we were.
"It was called Innoshima, which is 30 miles away from Hiroshima, so we were 30 miles away from where the bomb was dropped.”
He recalled the letter from the National Red Cross in August 1945 which told ‘The hour of your liberation has come’.
Vic’s book is filled with so many more fascinating stories of the war from Chick.
Back in his younger days, Chick went dancing at the Rink in Holmeside and remembered seeing a full show at the cinema for ‘sixpence in the afternoons’
He later gave talks on his war experiences in the 2000s to audiences including the South Shields Probus Club.
Chick passed away in 2013, aged 94, but left behind an astonishing reminder of the life of a prisoner of war.
Now, his memories are preserved forever in Vic’s book which has been published by Troubador as a printed version for £12.99 or as an ebook for £4.99 on Amazon, Google Play or ibooks.
Vic said: “There are so few of people like Chick left now and I think it is so important that we remember them.”
Saturday was the 75th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day, marking both the surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War.
Commemorations were held at the weekend to pay tribute to those who contributed to victory in the Far East, and recognise the horrors they endured.