A POW's lonely homecoming

The following is taken from notes that my father John P. Weston made on his war experiences. He often talked about them and I am afraid it often did provoke the reaction “Not the war again, Dad”. It was only later that we came to realise what a life-defining period it was and I persuaded him to write an account for his granddaughter, then studying World War Two at school. In this section he talked about the homecoming of his younger brother Charles, a Japanese prisoner of war.

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Uncle Charles was a POW on the Bridge of the River Kwai — at least it was a bridge when the hundreds of POWs had finished it. Conditions were dreadful, 100s died through lack of food, mostly slops, no solids. Charles had beri-beri, dysentery, ulcers and malaria.

After the atomic bomb fell on Japan the POWs on the bridge were taken to Singapore and stayed in Changhai jail until shipped home. My Mum and Dad never expected to see him again. In 1942 they got a card through the Red cross — sorry from the War Minister which read “Regret to inform you that your son has been posted missing”. Dad packed up work and the news broke him — he was never the same again. It was at Christmas 1943 that Mum got a card from the Red Cross with a few words “I am safe and well” — “Safe” yes…..”Well” certainly No.

I was so sorry for Charles, as he arrived in Liverpool with no-one able to meet him. I was in Burma and Mum could not leave my Dad.

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