POW - after the surrender, 1945 - Stories

 

 

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Surrender 1945

1) Bangkok, August 1945

NX70447 - KRECKLER, John Francis (Bib), Lt. - HQ Company, 2 I/c Mortar Platoon
NX34999 - RAMSAY, George Ernest (Gentleman George), Lt. Col. - BHQ, CO. 1942

When the war ended in August 45 many of the POWs moved into Bangkok. Colonel Ramsay became the Military Governor of the City. He sought assistance to control factional fighting in the streets and John volunteered. He was appointed Assistant Provost Marshal under Captain Jack Carey. This was dangerous work patrolling the streets in a van to extricate liberated Australian soldiers wandering into off limit areas. John also assisted with the repatriation of Australian POWs from Bangkok and as a result was one of the last to leave, eventually returning home on the ship Circassia arriving home in Sydney late October 1945.

(Source: Eulogy by Bert Farr, 23rd July, 2000)

2) Letters

1) A note from STAN. ARNEIL enclosing copies of letters, of which he says:

"These remarkable letters came to me from a former CAPTAIN STEPHENS A.A.M.C. SHE is now married to an Air Force Officer from the Yugoslav Air Force and is now MRS. MARGIT DJORDJEVIC of  ST. IVES.

2) Col O'Donnell wrote: "Your info info was the first I had of MARGO STEPHENS since Changi. She arrived with the R.A.P.W. & I. and was stationed at ST. PATRICKS SCHOOL. When l received word that a Capt. Stephens would like to see me, I was taken to ST. PATS; enquired for Capt. Stephens, and a guard replied “She's in the 5th Tent in that row.”

"You can imagine my surprise when I was greeted by MARGO STEPHENS, who had been a VAD at Bathurst Camp Hospital, and had entertained me and others at her home in Bathurst.

3) While at Changi CAPT. MARGIT STEPHENS wrote some letters to her parents at Bathurst. One letter written on 12/9/45, the other on 22/9/45.

Extracts from the first letter:

"Didn't get ashore until 1400 hrs. today; a lot of lads on the wharf, and they minded us like fathers, until we got transport out to St. Pats., where 13 AGH was, when they came back to the Island……You'd be so proud of them all you'd burst .....they're even more marvellous than I thought even 8 DIV could be ....The morale and discipline is about 150% and they stand and salute as if they were the freest people in the world. Full of jokes and laughter, all of the most normal variety. THE MEDICAL RECORDS ARE ABSOLUTELY COMPLETE, AND I BELIEVE THE MEDICAL RECORDS OF THE DIVISION AS A WHOLE ARE ALMOST PERFECT. THEY HAVE ALL BEEN FLOWN HOME. We have found that the only people who are organised are the 8 Div., and they are looking after the group magnificently, instead of we, them!

Extracts from 2nd letter:

"Nobody who hasn't seen the men here will ever believe half of how wonderful they are. For all the HELL they have had, they are still the fine, disciplined, free looking troops who sailed away in 1941, and even in their pathetic patched uniforms they are far more the soldier than the people who came in to rescue them ....they even had their embarkation papers made out......the WHOLE HISTORY` OF EVERY PATIENT has been reported on every bit of available paper. A great deal of this is due to 'BLACK JACK', who has done a wonderful job, but it's the Medical Officers who seem to have done the grandest job - you hear it on all sides. JOHN TAYLOR is a kind of God, and what he did in nine months in Thailand, they say that no one but the people, who actually saw it, will ever know.

"COLIN O'DONNELL was one of my first visitors and he comes often. About half of 2/30 Bn. must have been in at one time or another & I saw a lot of JOHN TAYLOR & WARD BOOTH. Another has been MALCOLM MACDOUGAL who has acquired a car and takes us out for trips. One afternoon I went out to Changi. It's a pretty grim place and life there must have been fairly hideous.

"We took in our first patients only about thirty hours after we arrived and now have eleven wards open, with patients from Thailand and Sumatra - the latter being in the worst condition we've ever seen. Strangely enough they all eat enormously; we thought it would take a long time for their tummies to adjust, but that doesn't seem to be the case."

(Source: Makan 265, April/June, 1982)

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Last updated 24/08/2022