In WW2, thousands of Australians became Prisoners of War of the Japanese. They were used as slave labour, they were starved and beaten, and they died of diseases such as Cholera, Dysentery, Beri Beri and tropical ulcers.
There was a death toll of around 50% .
Below are pictures of two best mates. One survived, one died.
My father, Merv McRae, was one who survived, though his best mate, Curly Kirk, did not. From his autobiography, 'But Sir.' "Some working parties left for Singapore, and soon to places further afield, including Thailand. "H" Force was to start work on the infamous Burma railway; Curly Kirk, my mate, was taken with that force, but didn’t survive it, and we never saw him again."
The Greatest March of All.
You may have seen this title
About some other march so grand
But they were just a picnic
To the one across Thailand.
It started dawn at Changi
In rice trucks by rail
For six days thro’ Malaya
Then at Banpong starts the tale.
The first three nights were not
too bad
Along a main road grand
Then into swamps and jungle
Went our intrepid band.
There were three thousand A.I.F.
Three hundred British too
The good old British lion
The old Aussie kangaroo.
In parties of six hundred
We set out each night
To march about eighteen mile
The prospect wasn’t bright.
Feet soon were blistered raw and
sore
Treatment hard to get
But the order ever onward
Ever onward yet.
The food we got was none too good
And what there was not nice
Two meals of dried radish
With each a plate of rice.
We left the swamp behind us
Then into jungles of bamboo
Poisonous snakes and scorpions
And many tigers too.
Then we hit the mountains
The road was pretty steep
The climbing it was bloody hard
Enough to make you weep.
But on and on we battled
Getting thin and gaunt
When we get relieved from here
This trek our dreams will haunt.
Men dropped by the roadside
Exhausted, tired and sick
Unable to go another step
They played their final trick.
Hospitals were crowded
With weary footsore men
Dysentery took heavy toll
Cholera broke out then.
Now the march is over
After two hundred weary miles
Men worked on road and railway
Or maybe driving piles.
So when this war is over
And you hear of marches grand
Just dip your lid to the legions
Who tramped across Thailand.
Think of the men who paid the
price
And rest in that far off land
We’ve gone through blood and
battle
But died at disease’s hand.
But the reaper swung a heavy
scythe
Upon that Thailand trail
With grisly bone he danced a jig
Told many a ghastly tale.
So we who were upon it
And saw the toll he took
Will sneer when we read of glory
In some great History book.
We stood and saw pals buried
Struck down in all their prime
Then staggered on another lap
In that God forsaken climb.
Although not killed in action
They were heroes all
At Reveille and Retreat
Their memories recall.
Tho’ you preach to us of glory
And tell us deeds so grand
Excuse us if we scorn you
For we marched across Thailand.
So when the price you tally
For God’s sake see it’s high
For the death of our marching
comrades
Was a horrible one to die.
And when the talks of marches
And some hard trek recall
Just remember the unsung heroes
Of the greatest march of all.
(by an unknown author.)
In the book - "The
poem was given to me on a hospital ship whilst on my way home from Malaya after
the war ended. I since realize that although this was an historic march, the
most tragic of all was the Borneo march, where only six survived from a force
of several thousand men."
The list below is of those in his unit. The ones with the crosses beside them are the ones who did not survive.
The book with the yellow cover is the original, but is very difficult to find now. It has some photographs included that are not included in the republished version.
Some of those men shown above died as prisoners,
but even the ones who survived would never forget their suffering.
They are probably all dead now, so many years later.
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