This box contained my father's daily rice ration when he was a Prisoner of War in Japan. My father was arrested in Singapore in 1941, and was a prisoner until 1945.
The contents of the box include a photograph of the time of his liberation, dated 28th August, 1945; on the back it reads 'Eleven days and human beings once more'. Also inside are his Burma Star badge, a wooden identification tag and his little forces Bible, in which he has listed all the camps he had been in and the times he had suffered from malaria and dysentery.
The box and its contents are a reminder of times of great hardship and courage. It can never tell the full story of day to day existence of the Prisoners of War, but it does provide moving evidence of wartime resilience and survival.
My Father's Rice Box
Contributed by Angela Joyce
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- Location
-
Japan
- Culture
- Period
-
1941
- Theme
- Size
-
- H:
- 18cm
- W:
- 12cm
- D:
- 5cm
- Colour
- Material
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Comments
very moving let us never forget
This is fascinating and the poem is very moving. My father was also a Far East Prisoner of War who was captured at the fall of Singapore and I have various items from his three and half years ordeal (at Changi and then on the Thai Burma railway) but I have never seen a rice box. Thank you for sharing this.
My great uncle was a prison chaplin in a formosa POW camp,his name was Thomas Jenkin Pugh, some of the prisoners had 'rice nervosa'and couldn't eat the only thing they were given, he told them "dont think of this as b----y rice again, think of it as your bridge home"it still makes me cry.
Uncle Tommy became a chaplin to the Queen. I wonder if he was your fathers chaplin?
I think this is my number one object of the twentieth century. We will never forget. I intend to tell my children about this.