Harry Berry’s Far East PoW Diaries found and published

This story has been submitted to the People’s War website by Peter Quinn of the Lancs. Home Guard, on behalf of Linda West (daughter) and has been added to the site with Ms. West’s permission………

My father, Harry Berry was captured in Singapore in 1942 and spent some months in Chiangi Jail. He was later transported on “The England Maru”, a “hell ship”, along with 1,100 other PoWs to Taiwan (Formosa). Nearly dying of dysentery, he did hard labour for a year and was sent to Tokyo because, being a journalist, they hoped to persuade him to do propaganda. He refused, and was returned to hard labour, unloading railway trucks. He managed to survive by pilfering from these trucks, and in the camp he got involved in improvised wartime shows.
After the Japanese surrender, Omori — his camp, was the first to be liberated on 29th August 1945.
After a long, tortuous journey via Manilla, Pearl Harbour, San Francisco, Chicago and Halifax, he came back on the Queen Elizabeth to Southampton on November 5th 1945, and was reunited with his wife, Gwen, after nearly five years apart.
He still had his secret PoW diaries intact and I have published all of this fantastic story as “My Darling Wife: the true Wartime letters and diaries of Harry Berry to Gwen 1940-45”. I have done this in honour of all those men who were not as lucky as my father and didn’t come home.
I also published his best friend’s story, “No Cook’s Tour” by Derek (Nobby ) Clarke — in time to commemorate the 60 years anniversary of the end of WW2.
Both books were published posthumously.
See www. authorsonline.co.uk

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