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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:38 pm

'His Life Worth Living' - Page 69:

TUES JAN 4: 12 months since I had first malaria & here I am again. Much better now & starting to come back on dry food. Told today Sikh guards have been taken off. Japs have M.G. fronts along coast where we get salt water & barb wired. Supposed to be red X ship in hope so.

SUN JAN 10: Back better again & will soon be finished my course. Concert Party gave show in the ward yesterday. Weighed today 9.2.

SAT JAN 16: Was disch from hosp on 14 & came back to unit. M.O. next morning gave me week N.D. No pay either. Food is lacking but cooks are doing a very good job with rations available. No meat whatever now & think deficiency diseases will break out again shortly. Unit seems to be quite happy there being 20-60 Bty & 18th R.H.Q. Blow is in charge of our Bty & Hunt in charge of Regiment. We have own library & ham dressers, Tailor, Boot Repairers & broom factory latter functioning for past month & makes brooms from bamboo & coconut palms. Do an excellent job & supply mainly Hosp. Fair amount of sport – football, cricket, volley & basketball. Good to be back with own crowd again although met some very good acquaintances in other Units in general mix up. Was in a quiz team last night against other Bty & won quite easily. Weather exceptionally cold for past fortnight & have been wearing woollens. News although suppressed seems to be excellent. Dutch are being taken away 600 each day as from 14 & it is rumoured we are next. Dentist is inspecting all men. Must comment on excellent treatment in Hosp now. It is indeed excellent & although there is discrepancy in food occasionally the attention & treatment is the best one would get anywhere. Three weeks ago RX officer & Maj Wyatt were caught outside & were imprisoned at Changi. Maj Wyatt is up hosp with appendicitis now with 24 hr guard & other is in sol confinement.

MON JAN 23: Very disastrous week for me. Big outbreak of diarrhoea & of course I had to get it being weak still from malaria. Cause suspect type of food poisoning. Quite a number sent to Hosp. I was in M.I.R. for 2 days & more N.D. Feel very different about food. I did a starve for 3 meals. Mates came to rescue with some shallots which helped the rice down. Large number of men going down with worms & Mal. Lot of men have sore mouths due to diet deficiency. Hosp authorities expect thousands in next 3 months. Vol collection by men on pay day which was sufficient to pay N.D. men 30 units. 2 Chinese caught by Japs doing Black Market work outside & were beheaded & stuck up on wire in warning to all inside wire.
FRI JAN 29: Rumour of capitulation of Germany. Am on L.D. now. Had 2nd Dysentery needle. Going to Music Class now. Puts in time. Food still very light though cooks doing the best they can with what they have. Issue by Japs consists of 1lb rice, small amount of sweet potatoes & pumpkin. Very lean diet. Buy few things with pay but I will miss 3 wks. Japs have not inspected us for past 2 days. Some talk of broadcast home by 4 of Reg from Queens Party incident during week in half. Fellow had $120 stolen & eventually was found on another fellow in room. They got awful bashing up. Eventually got 28 days in detention.

SUN FEB 1: Man who was missing was in area whole time. Ordance chaps fed him & sheltered him each night. M.P. got him 5 days afterward. Week later one of our chaps missing. Been away 2 days now & no sign. No reason & wore sand shoes. Presumed Japs picked him up in area after lights out. Excellent news from Russia. Germ seems to be on last legs. Local – still plenty of lessons going on. I go to Music Apprec twice week. Cel Concert came over & I had reserve ticket. Was excellent programme. Brig concert terrible affair. Major Bucknell back with unit. Wonderful fellow. Very heavy weather for past 4 days. Japs ordered parade 2 mornings ago & we had to get up at 6 am in heavy rain. It was cancelled but can be on any time. Saw unusual scene in infantry lines. Top floor cleared & dancing taking place. Good dance band & large number of men dressed in woman’s clothes. Caste of Turn dancers select your partners for dance & seem to be enjoyed by all.

SUN FEB 14: Had Jap parade yesterday. Called at 10 mins notice & had to march to Hospital Padang, waited until 2pm then Japs came to take film of us. Rain interrupted quite a lot. Number of Jap soldiers some with bandages on others with sticks limping made very convincing picture of victorious Jap Army. Very good propaganda with Jap ashes in white boxes & battle flag. Feel contemptuous of whole turnout. No lunch & in our present weak state missing one meal is like starving for whole week. Nearly week since Japs issued us with anything but rice & we have had to exist on what we could buy with amenities. Hope he does not get us out again for film taking. 3 mornings are enough. Man who was missing turned up with excuse of loss of memory. Don’t think his tale will hold water after the psychiatrist gets on to him. Churchill think war will finish in 9 months hope we will last long on this tucker. Foresee grave results if Nip doesn’t improve rations. Think myself he has not the food to give us.

WED FEB 24: Went on first tractor party today for nearly 3 mths getting wood about 2 miles away now near sea & other side of gaol. Long pull. Started craft week ago & have been along to club few times, find it most interesting & will help me to become familiar with working when we come out of here. Went to local coral concert last night & found they had improved a good deal since Christmas but they are still very mediocre. One redeeming feature was Padre Foster Henry who sang a few songs. He has excellent voice. Seems to be wave of Communism flowing through camp & I would not be surprised if when we are released from here most of us will have “Red” tendency. Men working on road near gaol saw European women going down to ocean for swim. They seemed to be in good spirits & looked well. I saw the men today & they look well. Some were a bit sickly. Few boys with them. Japs have altered time for evening parade to 7 pm. The Europeans were guarded by Sikh police some of which had rifles with bayonets & others with long staffs. Our food seems to be very light stuff & we all have very slim figures. Padre Foster H gave a talk on Singers during week which was interesting. He seems to have met most famous singers. News still seems to continue good. Think Stalin very upset about no second front being opened up. During his speech celebrating 21st ann, of Soviet regime. He mentioned it again when all were congratulating him on his victories. Have drawn couple of maps on wall to indicate advance of Reds & they have made wonderful recovery.

THURS MARCH 4: Have new job now on slop cart. Put time in. Another move back over 18A. Just our flat & move only temporary. Have electric light which is great convenience & advantage. Large convoy came in this morning. Heard lecture one Brit. Guana last night. At Xson as usual & this weeks talk was on Ceylon, excellently given. Last weeks talk was on Dope smuggling in Singapore & I think best lecture I have ever heard. O. Operatives & organization. P. Prevention & patrol. I. Investigation. Information. U. Utopia. & M. Method & Marijuana. Each story in itself & given by Inspector of Singa Customs. Jap supply of food very light & we pay 30c amenities now receiving 55 cents per pay. All mine goes on peanuts & bananas. Regt has instituted small race game to try & get enough cash to pay our fellows in Hosp. Succeeded this week. Although do not agree with method the result is satisfactory. Levy of 10c made by A.I.F. for white bait & rice polishings. This is of course as it should be.

MON MARCH 8: Big news in air. Another party for W. 2,500 A.I.F. & 2,500 Eng leaving within few days. No malaria or dysentery for last 2 mths men not going so will not be going. Will take most of our fit men to fill quota. Maj. Buck. will be staying & will be in charge very likely. Black Jack looking after his own men again. Very few of his own men going. They appear to be taking over Garden Party. 1900 go to Blakam Mute Island on a working party. A scheme being worked up to have big Re Union dinner when we go home. Some talk of Sub Branch of R.S.S.I.L.A. consisting of 2/10 men alone. About 1500 men working in Garden & they are getting 5c per day extra. Garden Control in hands of Black Jack completely now. Big area under cultivation but not much coming off it for us. Must be going to Japs. Forgot to say that 14 days ago we had dysentery test. Rather embarrassing in open but everyone had to be done so novelty soon wore off. We have also had Typhoid & Dysentery injections so Japs seem to be afraid we may get some in the place where the party is going. Best news of all is that mail is in, about 60,000 letters. Postal Unit are sorting it at gaol & we should get it within a few days. Hope mine will be there. Supposed to be 4 mths old but will be new to us.
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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Wed Feb 17, 2016 10:33 pm

'His Life Worth Living' - Page 70:

SUN MARCH 14: Communion in morning. D Force going away today. Prep. Been going on for past 3 days. Will be train journey of about 3 – 4 days. 1 officer to 100 men & no padres. Japs assert men going to established camp & no necessity for such men going away in 600 lots. All have had 2 tab, 2 Dysentery & Cholera needles, vaccinated & have had glass rod test for dysentery. I think they will meet up with A Force & I may give one of the men, Jerry’s glasses, just in case. Had very interesting talk on “work” with K. Gray last night. Regarding the incident of unarmed defence which had classes for 1400 some time ago. We thought everything was very secret so were very surprised when Nips sent word that if A.I.F. were really keen on this form of exercise ‘they’ would provide instructions.

TUES MARCH 16: Very quiet here again. Most of men gone away. First lot went Sunday & last lot today. They were all provided with 2 light meals in case Japs do not provide. Things bit disarranged but we are moving into other quarters with A/T & 2/10 so should be set again in few days. The English from Southern Area came over Mon night & gave us a real musical feast. Choral & Orchestral. Padre Foster Henry gave some very popular & not so well known pieces. Orchestra played among others Morris & Frank dances, Sharmans Concerto for Piano, then sang Folk song. Very pleasant evening. Will miss some of the lads. Peter Hanissham, H. Nesbitt, but I am afraid for the most I shall get along just now. When A Force went away they took the pick of the men as far as I am concerned.

SUN MARCH 21: Communion. Eng. Still going away from S. Area. We have moved into A/T building & are settled down again. Henley B.I.M., Bruce Abbot R.S.M. arranged & was transferred to C. Sect so have very good company in T. Davies & the rest of C. Trp. Did a guard through week & noticed Padre Jones with no shirts or pips up with them after working through the day. Rumour 400 officers going away to Japan. New cook’s doing well considering rations received from Japs. If we did not have the Amnesty fund things would be very bad. Six officers in addition put 30c into common fund & do little private cooking. Letters have not come to hand yet. Some anticipating extracts prohibited. Seems to be good season practically everywhere. 8,000 Americans supposed to be married in Australia amid consternation but not nearly as much as the number of women adopting 2 mth old babies.

THURS MARCH 26: Went to funeral of Phil Cross this morning. He died yesterday for disease of brain. Excellent time out there being about 80 present at service by the Chaplain Jones. Those present men from 20 Bty 60 & 19 a/t. 2/15. Col Wright & Div represented. Maj Brucknell in charge of parade. Frightfully hot day & was knocked up with heat when we got back. Letters still coming in few at time. I shall be very disappointed if I do not get one & am anxiously waiting my turn. Will be marvellous to hear from Eva although 8 mths old. Started Algebra class to brighten up mind a bit: I am bit of a dud in these things. Saw bit of A.A. practice 3 nights ago over Singapore. Seemed to be using Bofos without explosives & A.A. Guns. Bit of Dys & Mal still about: we have lost 2 of former & latter in last few days to Hosp. Food just passable & mostly rice. Wish RX ship would come in & put a stop to all these rumours of arrival.

WED MARCH 31: 1943: Had letter from Eva on Mon & was very pleased indeed. 9 mths in transit – must be bit of record. Should have been very down hearted if I missed out. Feel very sorry for anyone who misses out. Another party of 500 went away Sunday at 24hrs notice. All sorts of rumours as to where they went but I think they may be advance guard for us & we will go in a few weeks. News seems to be from Tunisia nearly finished. Russia at stand still. I think Eng will open up 2nd front before long & these will be new or in Turkey & along France & lowlands will be beginning of end then. Bit of thieving going on at night on ground floor & puts hand through window & takes pack. Been going for wood with trailers & place where it is collected is about mile from yard. Long walk & fairly tiring but very few fit men left with Unit now. I am one of five. Actually I was on party to go away, but was taken off at last minute. Food has been very poor last few days. Japs have supplied nothing but rice & if we had no amenities I think we would be in very bad state. They came to light yesterday with few sweet potatoes & pumpkin. Think they are finding it more & more difficult to find food for us.

THURS APRIL 1: Sergeant J. Foreman came in about 3pm with bundle of letters & started giving them out to everyone. I waited with my heart in my mouth & found last 2 were for me. 1 from H. Kemp & 1 from Eva. Glad every one are well. It is just marvellous to hear from home & seem to be reading them every few minutes of day. H. Kemp says Red X are sending parcels but thinks parcels to us are out of question. Japs do not seem to co-operate. Everyone talking of the news & quite of an atmosphere here. Rather curious happening down Eng lines. Couple of Japs were found taking stuff & Eng took rifles from them & bundled into clink. Phoned up Civil gaol officers came down & gave them a good smacking in face & then handed the prisoners back to English officers saying, your prisoners, try them.

SAT APRIL 9: Another party standing by to go N presume I will be among them. Have been on trailer parties each day for wood. About 5 miles walk. Each trailer has Jap in charge. Pass Civilian prisoners from gaol who cut wood for themselves & Japs. Seem to work very hard & enjoy it. Food not very plentiful & may be reason why Jap is shifting us. News is very good & predict Eng will open up in Europe within next fortnight or 3 wks. Last Sat night listened to Travista. Tonight Boheme. Met fellow from 26th last night who gave us some excellent information regarding his side of action on E coast. At one stage he trapped 2 Japs 80 mls in less than couple of days. He had just finished a feed of carpet snake. Reclassification infantry. Before they tried to get as much money into camp as possible by putting most of men on light duty when they should have been on N.D. With less number of men Japs will go on returns & may say want so many men & we cannot supply them so they have to be hired now & put them on I.V.P. Most of eye cases MO & very large number here in camp.
THURS APRIL 15: Very busy getting medically examined & classified. 7000 going N half being A.I.F. Supposed to be going 3 days train journey & 1 day by road. Destination Annam mentioned. Had vaccinations & Cholera needle on 14th & another Cholera on 16th. Will be moving in few days.

SUN APRIL 18: Off tomorrow & very busy getting packed up. Cooks gave us huge piece rice pudding & some rissoles for 24 hr rations. All excitement. Parade 3am in morning no sleep.

MON APRIL 19: Re 1.30. No sleep, men moving around too much. Assembled on sq 3 am. Started raining. Japs arrived at 5. All soaked & miserable. Went to Singa in trucks. Authorities seem to have split us up very thoroughly. I am in mob with some R.A.A. but most M.A.C. Left Singa 7am packed in baggage trucks 37 & all our gear with couple of panniers of medical gear. Everybody & everything wet. Navy Med Officer & Catholic Padre with us. Last of Island 8am. Still fixing Causeway. Able to buy little fruit on way. Breakfast Gemas 12noon. Mostly rice. Evening meal K.L. midnight more rice. Veg stew. Travelling conditions terrible. No sanitary arrangements & have to do business where truck stopped which was in railway stations. How the prestige of white race fallen.

Chapter 16

THURS APRIL 22: Ate at Prai last night & crossed border in Thai at 12noon. Border does not seem to be very well fortified. Bit of Barbwire. Thai police look like Boy Scouts. Do not look very effective. All station names in Thai so do not know where we are. Got hold Chinese phonetics & worked some of the places. Meals in Thai very scratchy & getting worse. Malay money no good so cannot buy anything. Japs do not trust Thais for we are very well guarded. One place had meal near house & Thai & Jap soldiers for miles around. Water hard to get.

FRI APRIL 23: Good Friday. Arrived at Chungara noon & had to walk to rest camp about mile away. Filthy camp. Fleas everywhere & stinks of dysentery. Food good. Sold some clothes to Thais & bought fruit. Told we would have to travel 15M for 10 nights towards Burma border. Were given Num here, mine 561. Each herded in huts & made to spread gear out when search was made. Things that came to light was amazing. Miles of sig wire. Couple of W.T. All sorts of tools. Hand grenades, plenty of ammo. Each time heap of gear was brought out Jap Officer in charge laughed like hell. Thought it was great joke. Only able to take gear we could carry so officers very disappointed. They have heaps of gear. I raised 5 dollars in no time with singlets & underpants. Large No at R.A.P. Skin & Diah. trouble mostly. 4 men with broken & injured feet, hang them out of truck doors. Japs in all the rackets here buying up clothes & taking tools & torches. I manage to hide this book although they did not seem to worry about anything except weapons & tools. They seem very friendly, too much so. When Japs searching they missed on above & occupants dumped W.T. afterwards sold it to Eng for $60. Smuggled it out in Dixie. I think we will miss our weather. Japs have made concession & have given us night’s rest – first for 5 nights.
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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Thu Feb 18, 2016 10:50 pm

'His Life Worth Living' - Page 71:

SAT APRIL 24: Had to march 25 kms (16 miles) through night & very hard work. Given hours rest half way where I bought fruit & eggs. Bananas very cheap. Towards end of young men fitting everywhere. Obvious we have too much gear to carry. Thais realize this & were among us the whole time making a nuisance of themselves buying gear. Nips feeding us well which is just as well for marching is hard work. Fried eggs 10c each. Boys still very cheerful today, although seem to have lost lot of skin off feet. Camped near river & all had good soaking in river. Japs guarded us in morning but sun came out very hot & they left us & did not turn out until after 4pm. Do not seem to be worrying about us. Bananas very plentiful in some cases. Thais give them to us free. All praise to Capt Mills M.O. Have not seen man work so hard for so long. He has been going for 2 days without stop.

SUN APRIL 25: Anzac. Easter Sunday. Staggered in after another hard night of about 20 miles. Most of men some wonderful acts of comradeship. Men helping their mates along, most carrying their own gear & half of some one else’s. Cath. Comp. carrying Nanier of med. Gear which seems to weigh a ton. Many dropped out but Japs would not allow any but fever & Dysentery cases to stop. Some with horribly blistered feet. Some about 90%. Esp sad Leut Bates carrying 3 men’s gear & looking very weary & thin. When daylight came few rickshaws came along & carried men into camp for $2. One bullock cart working. The night before we hired a yak cart for the night to carry Med gear $40. Arrived in camp 10am. Secondary Jungle growth where Dutch had been & in filthy state. No shelter except what we could make. We had swim in Riv Menara 1 (11) miles away & had good rest. Slept for 5 hours & after meal slept all night after which felt much better.

MON APRIL 26: Still selling gear to lighten load. The cash comes in handy to buy food. Told our hardest time yet to come when we go over mountain. Japs on make here as well as Thais & must be making lot of money out of us. Water scarce but got on to tong & had good wash. No tea so made our own. Saw funny incident down at tong. Couple of women selling water eels in bucket & all the boys washing themselves around. In some cases women poured the water over the boys. Women must be sexless & the boys too tired to worry. Free go here gives time to think of going through. Inoculations parade in evening. Vaccine & some inoculation 2pm & eventually got away at 7. We are real guinea pigs now. Off again at 11.30 pm.

WED APRIL 28: Started as usual & was first in march which made it much easier. Knee bad. Track getting very rough & no moon. Halfway halt chap thought he had snake under mat & about 100 men all armed with sticks gathered round. False alarm. Arrived at 10am. Very clean camp & first thought was sleep. Still near river. Plenty of traffic. Japs have built bridges. Saw number of elephants. 22 down at river. They work them a lot here. Caused quite a bit of excitement among boys who had not seen anything like it before.

THURS APRIL 29: 2/9 came in this morning looking fagged out. We had very good rest & feeling much better. Sleep seems to be main thing. 2/9 had yak carts to carry their sick men’s gear. Report that native attacked man. He picked on Wharton. Expert defender who gave Thai very rough time. This may be tale. Very mountainous country which go up sheer & very rocky. Lieutenant has very good name in his Coy Comm not much.

FRI APRIL 30: Another night of 24 kilos. Knee bad. Had to give up bottle of dope. Camped at Bar. General. Many thousands working on line & having very bad time. Japs rushing job & going back saw lot of D Force who were in hospital. Main force up further. Japs using quantity system for working men. Canteen for food. Bought couple of fishing lines for future use. Still getting plenty of eggs 10c. Very dusty & hot camp. Men offered to cut hair for cup of tea. Told that lot of men going down with Fever esp Mal in these camps. Seems unhealthy sort of place & report 20 go down each day.

SAT MAY 1:Worst night we ever had. Started off dry & were wet all night. Very hilly & just about walk going down hill. Rd very hilly & rough making conditions bad. Did 20 miles. First stop was at sawmill. Eng here weak say it is about most unhealthy place they know. Good timber country. Am in camp at dawn & had very good sleep. Everyone exhausted through day & all had sore feet. Food bad.

SUN MAY 2: Frightful night. Storm just as we started 6pm & were wet through all night. Japs warned us that we were in bad country where tigers were but not to be afraid for they would protect us. 4 Japs & one canoe. Great joke among the boys. Darkest night we have had & road just a country track continually losing it & thought at times some of lads were getting panicky. They were singing out for lights to see where they were. Fireflies in sight & some sang out to be careful of the tigers. See their eyes gleaming. I fell over in mud very often. Drizzling with rain nearly all night. Passed camp where D force were & saw Cap Bignell & number of boys looked thin but cheerful. Peter Harrison very ill. Got to camp & had to wait about 2 hours for dawn so Japs could count us.

MON MAY 3: Did not go with our lot last night for too ill & had high temp so had to wait. Felt much better after extra rest. Will not go with next lot either but will go with No 8 which are 26th Reg of an operation which saved man one of the camps. Men lit huge fire which was only light. Shows how bad the conditions are & think it will be the survival of the fittest from now on. Still cooking here in Petan.
THURS MAY 6: This is 36 hour camp & we have 12,000 men most of time. Not much to cook but flat out whole time on which is every other 24 hr. Cucumber, egg fruit fried not much of each & very little meat & fish. Very poor rations we are getting best which is not for good. I usually get fire wood for rice. 6 lots of Aussies passed through now & 1 unit to come. We have established M.I.R. here & have 30 patients some very sick. One chap run over by truck last night. Nothing much to buy in this place & money not much good to us up further. Saw bad shop. This morning when 6 men came here 3 went straight to river to swim for taken off. Short while afterwards Nips counted again & these were short. Went off after them & brought them back & gave them hiding with stick in front of men. Very brutal. Major & boys came in for few blows. Large number of Nips passing through fully equipped, each day. Officers ride horses. Nips doing a great racket here in this camp. Buying coffee in bulk & scrounging some sugar. Selling coffee to men at 10c cup. Making 10$ on every tin of coffee they buy. Worst type of Nip I have seen. Went fishing during time off yesterday afternoon but not lucky. Nips got very big fish. Think they would bite at night.
Chapter 17

SUN MAY 9: Had forgotten the day completely & had a job to find out. Still off cooking for Japs in cookhouse. Eng are coming through now & in about 4 days will be finished. Have had touch of dogs disease & do not feel any better. Must be water we drink. Rain every evening & the soil is black so not so good. We are in heart of jungle & there are no Kampongs or signs of habitation. Very wild country indeed. Type of dense bamboo which grows in clumps & which are very strong & prickly & vines. Some good timber. Very easy to get lost in it & appears to be no edible. Rained very heavily yesterday evening & soaked everyone. Eng lit big fires to dry clothes to sleep in. They are having a very bad time. Previous night rained continuously & they had to join hands to cross creeks which were waist deep. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to spell here & get a bit of strength back for I am sure I would not have been able to go much further as I was. I think we will be about 4 days more. Went for swim early & was pleased that barge was in. Bought 10 eggs for $1. Japs have sort of resting base here & I suppose there would be at times up to 20,000 Japs here at time. Have quite a lot of vehicles & gear. Saw large numbers of Js continually going in & coming out. Officers ride horses, men walk. M.I.R. is full. Up to 50 now. 3 Australians supposed to have died of dysentery but not here. Afterwards found they were of D Force.
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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Fri Feb 19, 2016 9:59 pm

'His Life Worth Living' - Page 72:

THURS MAY 13: 12 trains to come in tonight which will be last. Suppose we will be moving off then. 1 train had strange experience. Started off. Got to first stop & then had to come back. Stayed there & no one knows what happened. Make things very hard for cooks who had to cook for 1800 men that day. They went away OK last night but more came in which makes the number normal except for the extra breakfast. The food has been very bad for men. Nothing to cook but pie melons & pumpkin. We have been able to scrounge quite a bit extra & I am feeling especially well now. The creek where we bathe is the best I have had in this country. Very cold & very clean. No swimming in river now. Supposed to be cholera upstream. That may be why the party turned back 2 nights ago. The daily movement of troops still goes on. Eng & Dutch go in & out each day & small company of Japs with carts sometimes drawn by small ponies each morning. Japs are still building camp down river which seems to point to large scale occupation before long. Saw Denis East & Padre Foster Hay pass through tired & hungry as the rest. Fixed my boots up again for the march but wish I could get few more nails.

SUN MAY 16: Will be moving on tonight. Only 2 cooks staying & the sick in M.I.R. will be removed to hosp. I don’t know where. Think it is down Jap camp. There are some very sick men among them. I shook last night. Thought I heard a bullock feeding towards me. I was half asleep & did not take any notice. It stopped near me & I looked up to see an elephant standing at foot of my bed. Outside of course. I was at loss for a while, but slipped my boots on. It moved on eventually for which I was glad for I don’t know how to handle these beasts. Evidently from the camp.

TUES MAY 18: Was day out & had to alter previous date. Just finished second nights march & except for stiffness in legs feel O.K. Knee seems to be right again. First night was 12 miles over very rough & hilly country. Rd seems to be crossing range of mountains making walking very unpleasant. At end of one gorge 2 huge mountains like pillars of rock rise up to 1000 ft & form a pass which a coy of men could hold against an army indefinitely. The day camp was very rough with little shade. Men made their own in a sort of horse yard & we were the horses. Lot of Dutch working there & appear to be having hard time. Camp right on water. Was told that one of the 3 men of D Force who died was J. Foster. Very bad luck. Second day had another hard night of little over 13 miles. Had sleep for 2 hours at half way stop & another 2 at 6pm which was really all the sleep we needed. Very foggy all through the night & clammy, but we all suffered throughout night. The country again very mountainous except for last few miles. The gullies & hills were countless. Railroad construction all the way & very hard work for those who are on it. Some of the country was open forest & very tall elephant grass but back again in bamboo eventually. This camp is for 36 hours & right on a river. Seems to be run by the over efficient type of Jap & food bad although they put on filare rice for breakfast which is first time we have had a meal of any kind when we arrive in camp. Usually we have to wait until 2 pm for our first meal & then very hungry in consequence. Very little shade & I have made bit of shelter. Must remark on the sandflies last night & this morning which were very bad. Gave us no peace at all when resting but disappeared when sun rose.

WED MAY 19: Today’s camp run by the efficient type of Nip who is in all the rackets about place selling food etc & tries to keep up enough face by being strict on parade. Managed to get some eggs & having good rest at this camp.

THURS MAY 20: Very bad night. All nights are bad & always pleased when morning comes. Camped near a bridge in the making & elephants at work. Water & food very good. Even had fresh fish. To make up for this the Nips are biggest rogues experienced. Took a lot of valuables from boys & gave them few cigarettes in exchange. Major & 2IC had trouble, wacks on face from Japs with bamboo. Nip told Maj to see if anyone had pipe. Maj had to go round asking boys if they had pipe to sell. They did not & when Nip found no pipe forthcoming immediately slashed him across face with bamboo. Maj has two black eyes. The other chap got couple of cracks on top of head sending him to ground. Dastardly attack & Major thinks he may have insulted him by tone. These Japs are great on discipline & easily insulted. Another incident when Japs wanted to buy tin of coffee made for dollar. Chap bid him up to 1.50 & when Jap had coffee went off saying presents to cooks. Another when they took lot of small Malay change & gave them 6 cigarettes. Rather glad to leave. The entrance was along narrow track and took two at time. Just before we left heavy storm made it very slippery. 90% came down on their bottoms. The leading Coy waited ¾ hour for the rest to join the column not ¼ mile away. Going very bad all night & men were in mud more often than not. I fell down at least 6 times & was covered in mud. The country is up & down continuously & the slopes were like glass. Rained all night. In one place we passed a Thai boy of about 17 who had shed alongside rd. Afterwards found that he had been lying there for 3 days dying of it, is thought cholera. What sort of country is this that life is thought so little of. We who passed the boy were so tired that we hardly gave it a passing glance. We rested for 2 hours at 5 am but were all so wet that we could only build fires to keep ourselves warm. Found that one of the English had been left behind too ill to travel any further. 3 men went back to look after him. Cannot understand why he was left in first place.

FRI MAY 21: Arrived in camp at 9 am & tried to get some sleep but rained nearly all day & of course no shelter as usual. Cookhouse ½ mile down river & food had to be carried up. Water lying everywhere & camp very low. Feel very tired & dispirited & do not feel like making another 23 kms tonight. This is third night in succession with practically no sleep & the only food mainly rice & jungle stew.

SAT MAY 22: Terribly hard night. More rain making walking very hard. We travelled last this time & were sliding continuously. Followed river whole of time & last part of journey I think we passed into Burma but am not sure & no way of finding out yet. Everyone absolutely done when we arrived in camp at 10 am after travelling for 14 hours. No breakfast for us today. Only 2 meals of rice provided. Camp very big & large following of natives & yak carts. Passed along a road following the river which had been cut out of the rock cliff thousand feet up & river below in one place of 30 yards. Road was made of bamboo & wood. Japs were blasting above for the rail road, very rare sight. The camp we went into was worst for flies I have ever seen. Place full of yak carts, elephants & natives. We had to move through main Jap camp about ½ mile away on side of road. Very few descent trees, no shelter & no latrines. Had to march back to Jap camp on river for meals & washing. Rained whole of day & had 2 meals of water logged rice & onions the last one at 4.30 in torrential rain. Everything we possess has been wet for past 3 days making it very much more heavy. Roads are in dreadful state & we are like a lot of wet & half dead hens. Parade at 8 pm & still raining but Nips put march off for another hour so we are just left standing for an hour. Nowhere to go in any case. Off eventually at about 9 pm.

SUN MAY 23: Arrived in Aust base camp about 9am. Rained most of night & still raining. One man missing which kept us all waiting for couple of hours. Must have dropped out on way. Eventually given a hut to make a camp in. All the huts are well made but they have no roofs so we may as well be out in the jungle. Had to make shelter out of sheets we had & banana leaves which grow in jungle. I have never seen anything to equal the sight when finished but on looking at the other huts of men who had been there for a week, we look in very bad shape indeed.

MON MAY 24: We had to move out of last hut when we were handed over to A.I.F. We are about 500 very hungry, tired & dispirited men since I have been here, which is 2 days. I have had 3 meals of rice & beans. It has rained nearly whole of time. One hut is full for hospital & they have a few flies for shelter but they don’t keep the rain out and are all wet. They have had 10 cases of Cholera & it’s thought that it was brought from last camp. 5 died before we came & 1 died this morning. The latter had got over the Cholera but developed pneumonia. I think there will be a lot more cases of this before long for a lot of the boys have sold their blankets & most of their gear & now have nothing to keep themselves warm. The cookhouse is very short of cooking utensils & we eat when they have cooked something. Rations are very light & we are in a state of semi starvation nearly whole of time. I am good scrounger & doing fair but some of boys in very poor way. I have mated with a crew & we have built a descent banana leaf shelter which keeps the rain out & allows me to write this now. Bananas which grow in jungle have very little fruit on & what does come out is eaten by the elephants & monkeys but I will go on the scrounge as soon as I can to see if I can find something. Someone caught a boa-constrictor & he went into the pot. They tell me the steaks of snake were very good. Reg Ward was bitten by something last night & his foot is badly swollen. Looks like a scorpion or centipede. Was very pleased to get a nights sleep last night which was the first for nearly a week. Makes all the difference in the world.

WED MAY 26: Reveille at 2 am on 25th & still raining. Supposed to have been on road at 4 am but much confusion in kitchen. Issued with day rations. Stood waiting in rain for 1 ½ hours. Nowhere to rest our packs. Moved off at 6. Eng leading 300 & 400 Austr. Rd in terrible state but was soon daylight & then we could pick our way. Stopped at Aust camp at 11am & handed in my dry rice which was cooked & eaten. We dried all our gear but heavy rain storm came & wet it all again. Cholera very bad in this camp. 6 deaths within 5 days & large number in hospital. Alan McLeary first to die. Saw most of the boys out doing normal work. Look very thin & say what bad camp it is. Off again & after stops arrived at our camp after 6 pm being 12 hours on road. Must have done well over 15 miles & very hard march. Camp in dreadful state & lot of natives working here. Check finished & we were in a bit after 8 pm. All in one hit. Case of sleeping like sardines but everyone thankful for roof over head. Plain rice for supper.

THURS MAY 27: Still raining. No work today but had a working bee all round in hygiene to clean up camp. Excreta everywhere & heaps of rice weeks old & stinking. Jungle all round & very unhealthy. Water at very small stream but muddies very quickly for washing & is rotten with Cholera & a well for drinking water which has to be boiled. Water must be boiled for drinking & washing men’s gear & washing face. About 200 Burma natives here & they are dying all the time. When they are sick they are taken up to jungle to die. They seem to be dying of Malaria & Dysentery more than Cholera but there are a few each night esp after a wet one. Japs do not seem to be worrying at all. They have hot baths each night & electric light. Did not feel at all well all day but put it down to reaction of the long march. We have come just on 200 miles on foot with a pack of about 50 lb. It has rained nearly incessantly & this is the first roof we have had over our head. We have marched & slept in the rain & we are most thankful for somewhere dry to sleep. We have left well over 500 men back at stops who are too sick to march. The Eng have many more. There are over 500 in this stop at Cambooya alone & this is the worst camp of the lot being known as the Desert camp. 1½ miles from water & no shade. They are out in all the weather & must be in a very bad way. Rice & onions for lunch which was at 4 pm because the natives had to be fed first & rice & onions for tea which was at 8 pm. Since we have left the camp in which I was cooking I have walked automatically & we have done longer marches than we did before. Cholera has broken out in most of the camps & things generally are in a bad way, but we will get through by sheer will power if nothing else.
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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:13 pm

'His Life Worth Living' - Page 73:

FRI MAY 28: Off to work today but not a hard day. Mending the road in one place which is in bad way. Number of trucks bogged in it this day. I was digging drains all day. Was very lucky to get a pumpkin from a boong which will last me a couple of nights. Rice & onions all day & came home to find they had killed a yak & we had a very tiny cube each. I was feeling sick & could not taste mine. Think I have touch of Malaria. First days work on the railway today. We had to dig earth & build up the embankment. Not hard & the Nips did not drive us. Very long day though. Rise 7.15 & breakfast. Parade at 8.40. Work until 6.30 pm. By the time tools are washed & counted it is about 7.30. Evening meal at 8pm & check parade at 9. Nips with 1 camp of men were building scaffolding for a bridge. They worked until 3 pm on it when the whole thing collapsed & Nip hurt. Our men too quick off mark. All work very rough. Japs have allowed us to buy 8 yaks. These will be killed 1 every day for 8 days so we should live a little better. We have had nothing but rice & onions for past 4 days.

SAT MAY 29: More work on railway today. Not feeling well. 10 am got fever & Nips sent me home. Worst relapse of Malaria I have had. Fortunately an Eng M.O. from next camp sent here yesterday. We had none previously.

SUN MAY 30: 1 man died of cerebral Malaria this morning. He was working yesterday & was taken sick. Nips put on a turn last night & ordered all men on parade, sick men & all. This man could not stand & men had to carry him out. I should imagine this would hasten his end. 8 sick men had to be detailed to burn him up in the jungle for all the fit men were out working. A very sad night. No Padre & 8 men in rags to act in the last rites. Surely we must have recompense for this type of treatment. The men are wet all day & have very few clothes. The jungle is thick with Malaria mosquitoes & the water available has to be boiled because it is rotten with Cholera & we have no containers to boil the water in. A chap who had been down to the other camp tells me that there are now 23 English dead & about 10 Aust from Cholera. The whole situation is deplorable. Not feeling so sick today but spleen very swollen & sore.

Chapter 18

MON MAY 31: Must try & have a wash today, have not had one for 3 days. No facilities for sick men at all & we have to manage the best way we can. Not game to go down to the stream for fear of catching chill & cannot get a container of water. Nips have sprung a surprise on us today. We do not know the exact strength of it but they have decided only to use half the men. The rest must stay in camp & clean up. Must be taking the situation seriously at last or has he something else up his sleeve. Men very busy clearing growth away. Funeral party in evening for chap who died yesterday. Service taken by Capt – Adj Allen who burned the ashes & Last Post & Reveille sounded. R.I.P. Another chap collapsed at work this evening & was carried home. Had wash which was first for 3 days. Not game to go outside to have one for it has been raining all day lightly & I may get chilled. We have about 6 fires burning in the hut night & day which keep the hut dry but we look like lot of natives with the smoke coming through the attap roof. The platform on which we sleep is made of split bamboo as is the walls & very rough & bumpy to lie on. We have approximately 2½ ft x 6 ft per man to live & sleep on which is not very much.

WED JUNE 2: Still in camp on my back. The worst bout of Malaria I have had. Think tomorrow will be last day in. There are 180 patients in camp now out of 450. 1 more chap died yesterday presumed exhaustion & dysentery. A Colonel & several other English Officers came to the camp yesterday to see the conditions. They have been round all the camps & report 160 deaths. There are 60 A.I.F. dead from Cholera, 30 in last 24 hour. Worse death roll than in action. The Japs here are showing a great deal of consideration for sick, in allowing them to stay home as compared with other camps. The dysentery men have been segregated to one end of the hut which is a good thing. It has just stopped raining, first stop for 4 days. So much rain & no containers. Japs are still boring which makes 5 days. Jap com of camp is buying $75 worth of tobacco for the boys today. Will be interesting to see how much they get. Roads & tracks are feet in mud. Food still the same. Rice & onions with a taste of yak beef in it.

FRI JUNE 4: Much better today but very weak. 7 Cholera in M.I.R. now. 1 died last night. Hope they can soon check it. Very little medical supplies & nothing for Cholera. Some of the camps back along line have had to be shifted & burnt. Where Maj Hunt is, 1500 are under canvas having deserted the old camp. The Maj says he has it now in check. Jap Gen & Eng Col have been through here & there is some talk of stoppage of all work for some days.

SUN JUNE 6: 5 deaths from Cholera but does not seem to be more cases. Maj Hunt has been up on a visit & given us some very straight talking. He says that what is happening now is calamity to Aust & everything depends on each man. There has been 81 deaths at his camp out of 200 Cholera cases. They are getting 50 Malarias in each day & of 1500 men only 350 are fit. He says we are in the greatest danger we have ever been in. The Japs have given us 5 days off work with the possibility of more. Maj Hunt has brought up some Medical supplies & drugs & he is endeavouring to get more. He certainly made a difference in this camp & left the place with a much higher tone than when he came. The M.O. Maj Gillies is down with Malaria & there has been organized an amateur gang of Med Nursing Orderlies who will be on duty day & night. There are stretcher bearers & isolation nurses organized so things should go on much better now. We have about 200 sick out of 450 mostly Diarrhoea & Dysentery. We had an additional Cholera needle yesterday but this will not take effect for over 2 weeks. The incubation period is 3 – 6 days so if we can keep going over the next 14 days we should be reasonably safe. I feel very weak & my bowels loose but feel very much better than I have been. The weather is still very wet but we have seen the sun more yesterday & today than we have for the past 3 weeks.

MON JUNE 7: 2 more died last night, one of Cholera & one, an Officer of Ordinance Lieut who died of Plurv Pneumonia. There are 7 patients in isolation now, one very weak but the others over the crisis. Declared fit for work tomorrow although I do not feel at all strong & if it is a wet day, & we have not had a dry one since we have been here, then I may refuse to go out. Cause hell of a row but one must think of himself. It appears that the Nips are not taking much notice of this knockoff of work & they are taking parties out each day. 100 went out today & they were flat out getting there.

TUES JUNE 8: Japs have issued mosquito nets & some blankets. Net not much good for they do not worry us inside only out. Blankets are poor & thin but very good for those who have none. Was talking to couple of A Force men who are camped up the rd. They have not had any letters or news & have been working very hard, the end of the line being only 500 km up. They are paid for work & are able to buy few things. Have had only 50 deaths out of 2000 otherwise things are same as here. They have Dysentery, we have Cholera also. Am still off work but getting better each day. 1 man died last night but I think no cases fresh.

TUES JUNE 15: Have been in hosp very sick for past 7 days after month of Mal etc. Feel very weak in legs & have to go & work for Japs tomorrow so do not know how I will get on. There are over 200 men in hosp now. Still dying at rate of 1 each day mostly Cholera. Now about 14 Japs are concentrating on road now trying to keep road open. Still raining & impossible. Men from 29th camp had to man yak carts & get rations themselves for trucks can’t get through mud. They had to go 10 miles through rain & mud. Looked all in when they passed our camp. Our camp getting in very good order now. Maj Hunt must have put in very bad report of the place for a different Capt came up with a couple more Officers & took charge. They re-arranged the whole show & made a Hosp of one end of building. These men do not have to turn out for Jap check parades at all now. Before men have almost died out on parade. There are very few L duties unfortunately the Japs will not allow that & it is very hard to come from Hosp straight on work in rain. Cases of Typhus turning up which is bad & will have to be careful of lice. Roof of Dysentery end of Hosp where I was in very bad way. When heavy rain occurs nothing else to do but wrap up in ground sheet & wait for it to stop. Food has improved out of sight since messing Officer Maj M. Glyn has taken charge. From onions & rice we have occasionally fish, split peas, beans & tougay with a yak about every 2 days. These yaks are very really & poor & nearly all bone. Japs take 1 hindquarter & our share weighs about 90 – 100 lb bones & all. Still it is very good in the stew. We are lucky to get any meat but get the gravy. Beriberi cases get piece of cold meat twice a day.

SUN JUNE 20: Have been out working since Tues & one has no time to do anything but eat & sleep. Was lucky to strike a good party repairing rd & was home1 hour early. Off to work at 8.30 & home at 7.30. Mess & parade then bed. Death roll here 16. Next camp 120. Cholera seems to be crazy but when the patients get over that contract pneumonia. Number of men in hosp 210 Malaria. About 90 go to work each day. The same number go to work from 500 men & they are much better fed. The rations have been cut back in this camp to 8 oz rice & very little else per day. The hosp have been cut down even less & there is some talk of the Nips just giving hosp 1 meal each day. The Guard here has been changed from Civil Occupation to Army & we are not too sure of them yet. The Q.M. seems very hard. The men from Maj Hunts & Col Kappes camp are still carrying the rations on their backs & the distance up to 15 miles. The English have to pull yak carts & it is pure slavery. 12 men to a cart. The work here is hard, scary & deadly. I don’t think we will be normal people for 12 months after we get out of here. We are given a job each morning & must keep it up all day so that if one is breaking rock he is very tired at the end of the day. Most of us have forgotten how to smile & jokes are very rare. Men’s tempers get very short towards end of day & one has to be very careful what he says. The Nips were here this evening taking the usual bowel test. They must be able to find something out from this for they are very fond of taking it.

MON JUNE 28 1943: Food has been fairly good for past week & we are feeling the benefit of it. Had a tiny piece of steak twice in the week & a rissole & the ration of rice & beans seem to be increased. Had day off on Sunday with a poisoned leg. M.O. only gave me one day’s light duty & I think he expected it to be better. It is getting worse. It has not rained quite so constant past few days but showers each day make one wet & keep the road a sea of mud. Today rained very heavy after lunch & we only worked for 1½ hours. First time Nips have sent us home because of rain. The casualties in hosp seem to be less but still too many. We have about 100 no less out of 375. One man went up to Niki to try & buy tobacco with a Nip but the village is rotten with Small Pox & they had to come back. Ration at Niki supposed to be very light & as high as $1 paid for condensed tin of dry rice.
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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:40 pm

'His Life Worth Living' - Page 74:

WED JULY 7: Just work for the past ten days mostly carrying baskets of stone. No rest from Nips. When not working, all time taken by check & mess parades. 8 men escaped from next camp & Nips are holding strict check parades each day. The Army Auth check us out to work with the camp Authorities & then we are checked into the camp after work. Checked again after evening meal & then we have to supply net all night to see that no one goes through. Officers have been paid but Nips have taken most of their money from them in case they go through. We have to be paid soon. I don’t know how soon. Food very fair. Dysentery again this evening after work. Don’t know if they do anything about it when they have finished. There are 21 deaths in camp now. No Cholera but Cerebral Malaria seems to be dangerous. 4 cases & 4 deaths all very sudden. First 2/10 chap died of Jaundice after Cholera. Name G. Cuckson.

WED JULY 14: Have just had 4 days in camp with sore feet. The boots are falling to pieces & the mud & granite chafe the soles of the feet & take all the skin off. We are in a very bad way for footwear & in a month’s time most of us will be bare foot. The rain is almost continuous & work is always in mud & water. We are keeping the road through to Burma from Niki open just enough to feed ourselves. 1 truck only has come through from Bampong end & that took 5 weeks to do the 100 miles journey. More Nips have been going up to Burma. They evidently drag their 2lb guns as far as Niki & then they are loaded on the ration trucks & taken as far as the next camp. Our chaps are driving which is of course contrary to the P.O.W. Laws. I have counted 8 sections of M.G. going up & seems very good material. We have had a complete change of guard here & things have tightened up considerably. We are now fenced in & a guard is on continuously with also an armed moving picket. The new guard are about 30 in number. Each morning & evening they go through a religious ceremony facing the Imperial Palace & chant what we term their Hymn of Hate. It seems to be some sort of prayer to Buddha. There are not so many sick in hospital now but men are more sick on job. They are getting very weary & all of us are praying for a speedy end to the war. There are the most horrible ulcers in the hosp & the bad flesh smells very bad. There is talk of taking them in carables away but do not place much faith in it. Nothing heard of the men who escaped 2 weeks ago. Nips very strict with us now. We are double checked out to work & in. Armed guard to each party & usual check parade after evening meal. Number of deaths 22.

WED JULY 21: Admitted to hosp. sore feet. Boots worn out & gravel & dirt has taken skin off soles of feet. Very sore indeed. Boots are a problem & although the Jap keeps promising them nothing is ever done about them. Well over half have no suitable footwear now. Hosp on much lower scale of rations & will be hungry for while. Scale has improved for workers only. Think that last few days we have done better in quality. Little more beans very little more meat, dried. Tea each night & once we had coffee. Japs have tightened up considerably on checking of numbers & we are counted at least 6 times each day. Only small party on road now. All rest working on railway. Hours have been increased to 10 hours each day & a demand of 100 men each day. Very hard to place 100 fit men & large number unfit. Things must get worse. Lot of stealing going on in lines & I have had my woollen pull over taken. Will miss it badly especially on the job for rain is almost continuous & it does keep me warm. Most of work on railway putting up bridges & wet through & in mud & water all day. Conditions of work very bad now. Officer made trip to Niki to see what they could buy for us. I managed to get 2$ Malacca but am finding it hard to get him to go with it. Lot of men got tobacco but money getting scarce & only Thai money any good so many will get nothing. Nips have not come along with pay yet although they promise each day.

Chapter 19

WED JULY 28: Back in hosp again after 4 days on railway. Feet trouble – boots not being able to keep sand & water out result being skinned with danger of infection. Quite an eventful week. Did work on pile driver for 3 days & 1 day on survey party which were looking for new way for track. So now all work on railway we have done since we have been here has been abandoned. New track although it has the advantages of being higher & dryer & missing all the swamp country seems quite crazy being just a series of hair pin bends & steep graduations. A large number of men moved into camp today. Kappe in charge. Supposed to be all Con men. They certainly seem to have had a very bad time & are very thin indeed. Noticed some of the lads I travelled up with among them & will be pleased to speak to them again. Afraid camp will become very hard now with so many coming in. Numbers not available yet but think will be about 1000. Sick men who are supposed to be going away to Tan Besar have not left yet. There are 50 leaving here some of them very bad cases indeed. Many ulcers here look frightful & to look at them one would think that it would be a relief to cut the limb off. Japs supposed to have said that railway must be finished by Aug 31. They say that Japs are giving their lives for Country & Prisoners must be prepared to do same. The increase in hours per day has been in force & the working day seems endless. We start at 7.30 & finish at 7 pm. We were paid on the 25th July for period from June 21 – July 20 & I got 5$.85. No pay while off work sick. Pay is 25c per day & 10 cents for camp duties. Sergeants & Corps get 40 & 30. The hospital staff who look the only fit men in the camp on account of food they are able to obtain are paid by Red Cross about 9 – 10$ a month. The Sergeant in Charge draws 60$ a month. I feel very bitter on this point for most of them are only parasites.

FRI JULY 30: Still in hosp with bad feet. Coming along good. Large hosp now with new arrivals & will be much bigger when rest of new crowd come. Lot of them suffering from anaemia due to starvation. Parties passed camp this evening evidently bound for next hosp at Tan Besar. Mostly cooks, hosp staff etc. to get things ready. New work going on just at back of camp on railway & is not 100 yds from away from where I lie. They have been grabbing trees which fall anywhere & we have had 2 alarms. The Nips are very careless of danger of life especially in that type of work & blasting in the quarry nearby. We have often been treated to showers of rock & it is marvellous that no one has been killed. The only accident thank goodness was a Nip who had his leg blown off. Since then they have been blasting with battery. Food has suffered badly since the new arrival & we are in a perpetual state of hunger. We have less than half rations of the workers. Japs do not believe in feeding sick men. According to them we should not be sick.

SAT JULY 31: Japs disinfected hosp & Cholera ward today & let the patients all out except 1 who was neg. They sprayed the place fairly well. It is good to see the last of the Choleras & this can be put down to the needle & our own personal cleanliness. Our dead total 27 now & this is a very high percentage out of 400. Work going on the railway apace & we are supposed, so rumour has it, that we will have to finish it by the end of Aug when we will go back to Changi which is just so much bullshit. The weather has eased up past two days & it is very delightful to bask in sunshine again.
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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Mon Feb 22, 2016 9:51 pm

'His Life Worth Living - Page 75:

TUES AUG 2: Lot of activity all day. About 70 patients went through by truck for Tan Besar. Seemed very rough trip for sick men. Canteen staff ordered from Niki came in & will be distributed tomorrow. Large party of English from 112K camp came into our camp. Seem to be staying here too. Rained for last two days & whole place very boggy. Cholera patients now with us in hosp as com patients. Most of them look well. Supposed to be very good news from Ch & Curt. Seems that all will be over by Xmas. Hope so.

WED AUG 3: Work again tomorrow. Will last about 4-5 days without boots I suppose. Got sugar for my issue today. Late last night another party came in from Maj Hunt’s camp. Some were in a dreadful state. About 12 stretcher cases among which were some of the thinnest men I have ever seen in my life. They were just skin & bone & would weigh about 3 stone. It was shocking. They were mostly suffering Dysentery, Beriberi, Spinal Malaria & general starving. They were horrible to see & made a lasting impression on my mind. It has rained continuously for past 3 days & the surroundings are in a very bad state. Latrines are over used & the place smells. Last night we were packed in as thick as we could lie & I fear a big outbreak of Dysentery if things do not rapidly alter. Later in evening today 400 more came in from Niki. There are 1400 men in the camp now & we still have only the same kitchen utensils. I think we are in for a more hungry time than we have yet experienced & I have been hungry for a week. We will be very crowded again tonight I am afraid.

TUES AUG 9-10: Went to work again on 4th. Started on new part of railway but all was confusion from start & after 1 hrs work we sat down for 3. No work again before lunch & then we were taken back to original railway & worked there. Next day we were taken up to slight hill & started to dig a cutting for rail. Nips have made us do contract work. 2 metres each day. Fairly good on surface but when the cutting becomes deeper it becomes more & more impossible. The Nips do not worry us so much out at work as the guard at home but we have to stay out until 2 m is finished & some of the boys come home well after dark. I have been fortunate in getting home about 9 – 9.30 each night. Frightfully long day. Now 6am & off to work 7.30. Don’t see our camp at all in daylight now. Since this guard has taken over things have become very hard in camp. New huts are still being built & all the light duties have to work on the railway so Nips just walk into hosp & take 100 men from their beds to carry bamboo & fire wood.

THURS AUG 12: Been in hosp for last couple of days with fever. Not bad except when rigor is on. Yesterday went up to 105o for 4 hours. Feel much better today. Suppose I will have to carry bamboo for Japs tomorrow. They order about 50 from our ward each day so those who have no fever have to go out. Very crowded here, about 2’ allowed for each man. Stifling at night & pestered with bugs & lice. Cholera has broken out again. First case after lunch yesterday. Within 2 hours Japs Doc was down & segregated all suspects from last camp (No 1). The wards & men have been isolated & patients have had glass rod. Later in evening we all had Cholera needle. Japs seem more concerned than ever they have before which seems to point that there may be some truth in the rumour that we have to be out of Thai by end of month. All Nips have the same story & some are trying to change Thai for Singa dollars. We are getting about 2 hours sun each day now & things are much more bright. The intervening showers are more heavy & there are a lot of bad colds going around. We have had 3 deaths night before last & 1 of Cholera yesterday. Eng have lost 2 yest. A run through the general state of affairs in the camp now. 34 Officers who are doing very well for themselves with their big pay & availability of rations, about 500 Aust in hosp, ½ of which are in isolation for Cholera. About the same or little more applies to English & 500 go to work each day. The Officers have batmen of course & to stop these going to work & seized by Japs they wear Red Cross brassards. Most of the Orderlies are doing a good job & these are the usual few who are on guard of course. The whole camp is frightfully congested & in a state of mud most of the time although a little has been done along main paths to latrine in way of bamboo paths. 1600 men are still using the same latrines that we were using since we came here. Results can be better imagined that described. The kitchens have been enlarged very little & the cooks work 3 shifts to feed 1000 men in the camp. The Japs have been forcing the pace in regard to new huts & have made these double deckers. They are now on a hut for themselves which should finish the building for a while. As I have said the rumour is very strong that we will be out of Thai by end of month but do not place much faith in it. The reason why we are being pushed along on railway is that it has to be finished by end of month but that is impossible as I see it for there is a tremendous amount of work to be done yet. They may possibly get the natives in to do it as they have done in other places. The buying party to Niki is off the excuse being that bridge is down again.

SUN AUG 15: Still in hosp but feeling much better. Blood slide showed negative but I am certain it is Malaria. All symptoms are same as before. I am not getting quinine so will not last too long outside. Cholera still with us. Only 1 case Eng last night. Carriers defined with glass rod have been moved to isolation & includes Capt Jutner MU, about 6 medical orderlies & 80 others. We have all had another Cholera needle & this should check it. There has been 1000 coolies moved into camp & with these on the railway things should move very quickly. The rumour is still very strong that we are leaving here for Changi in a fortnight but I do not think we will leave until the railway is completed. The food is now very bad & we are getting just a little rice & few peas & beans. The hosp would not be getting 8 oz rice each day but the outside workers are getting all they can eat. The water problem is acute & the creeks & well have been placed out of bounds for all washing purposes. As we have no containers it is very difficult to get a descent wash. Boiling water is almost impossible to get & I boil my own in the fire before drinking. The accommodation is impossible & we are just lying shoulder to shoulder. Sometimes during the night there is not room to turn over. We are still being dragged out of bed to do odd jobs around the place. I had a temp of 104o day before yesterday & yesterday afternoon I had to get out of bed to carry bamboo. I got caught in a heavy shower & was soaked to the skin.

SUN AUG 22: One of the worst weeks we have ever put is as P.O.W. There are about 2000 natives mostly Tamils in the camp now & all P.O.W.s are crowded into one line of huts. We are sleeping shoulder to shoulder & it is impossible to get a good nights rest. The Nips have begun building double tiers in the bays so that the same space will take double the number. The whole place is frightfully congested & with the result that deaths have been very numerous. Cholera is rife & we have had 3 glass rod tests. All the carriers have been isolated. The work parties have dropped to 400 & sometimes the Nips do not take them all. One day only 200 went out. Today with the glass rods the work party did not go out until 11 am. I have been in the newly formed con light but have been carrying bamboo for the kitchen for the past 5 days. It rained almost continuously so I have a nice cold out of it. We have been re-classified this morning right throughout the hosp & I have a feeling that there is a move on in the near future. The rations for past week have been ghastly living on rice & white beans. The rations have been coming in day by day & a few occasions the men had to go to next camp & carry the rice & beans in packs. The railway is certainly getting done but at a high cost. The Japs in clearing the line of trees blew up one which fell across a Tamil hut which had some sick in, killing 2. Life is cheap with the Nips. Rumour has it that the 29 are already at Bampong & I think we will be there before long. This place has been a grave yard for a lot of us here.

SAT AUG 28: Off to work today. No boots & very hard walking. Work about 2 miles out. First half over metal rd which cuts feet about & then through jungle track. Very hard & don’t think I will last too long on the feet. ¼ of men without boots now so I am not on my own. Was given easy task for 2 & was finishing early & home at 5 pm. Went over to see Jack Foreman who is over Cholera ward as carrier. They are living in very leaky tents about 12 to tent. They are doing the cremation besides other duties but do not come in contact with us. We have had 3 Cholera tests & am lucky to be neg. There were 50 deaths in No 1 camp for past 6 weeks. We have lost a lot of men in past 12 weeks. Do not know number. Boong hut fell down couple of nights ago & buried about 500 natives. Was not a stick standing for the whole 80 yds. Do not know how many were hurt but they were grieving for half the night. Lot of our fellows from 1 & 2 camp going off to Burma Hosp & we have 60 standing by. Rumour has it that we will go away when railway is finished & that should be about month’s time. Today the remains of Brian Dale was buried. I only met him on this job & he was a very decent fellow. Another good man murdered by the Japs. The supplies of Med gear are very short now & it is very difficult to make the ulcers heal up so the M.O. has had to resort to drastic treatment. The badness has to be scraped away & it is agony for the patients. They have to be held down forcibly by orderlies. Very weak cases get shot of morphine to help them.

MON SEPT 6: Still on the cutting & have been on it for past 10 days. Only couple of days work in it now & we will be off somewhere else. Have been on contract & have finished early for past 2 days & have had time to get clean again. I had a run of bad tasks & could not get time until nearly 9 which makes evening meal about 10. A very long day. I was badly in need of a shave & now feel the benefit of it. The clothes are always dirty of course but it is good to get the old sweat & mud out of them. The track to the job is terrible & with no boots I am striking quite a bit of trouble with my feet. Got a nasty twist in left instep which is sore. The arches are strained & I have beriberi up to the shins. Still I hobble out for there are some very bad cases in hospital espec pleurisy & pneumonia. We had a bad accident out on the job today when a fall of earth caught a couple of chaps. They had to be carried home. One with fractured collar bones, prob fracture of pelvis & internal injury, the other had dislocated leg. Later in day another hurt 1 more man. The camp is in a horrible state with muck & mud everywhere. It is not safe to walk about too much first thing in morning. The food is very poor the last few days but is supposed to improve. Today has been a little better. Yesterday we had 2 meals of plain rice. I am fairly hungry these days yet I am eating between 6 – 8 pints of rice each day. The English officers who attempted to escape have been caught & brought to this camp & are supposed to be publicly shot. Nothing has been done yet about them. 3 had died & 4 more in a very bad way with fever & ulcers. We were paid last night & I drew $2.50 less 15 cents for hosp. Got an issue of 10 packets of cigs & if I had done a few more days work for past month I would have had 20 pkts of 10. Sold 6 pkts for $3. There is supposed to be a Red X issue of Jap food but we have not seen it yet. I think it will prove the food we left behind at Bampong.
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