1000 Days on the River Kwai: The Secret Diary of a British Camp Commandant

by Cary Owtram

Overview

Memoirs by former prisoners of war of the Japanese invariably make for moving reading but Colonel Owtrams account of his years of captivity has a special significance.

After being captured in Singapore and transported to the infamous Burma railway he was appointed the British Camp Commandant at Chungkai, one of the largest POW camps.

Many ex-prisoners testified to the mental and physical courage that he showed protecting POWs from the worst excesses of their captors. Of course his account does not admit to this but what is clear is that in addition to the deprivation and hardship suffered by all POWs, the author bore heavy responsibility for those under his charge and the daily trauma of dealing with the unpredictable Japanese.

It is not only the prisoners who suffered but their families at home. The postscript written by the authors daughters vividly demonstrates the agonies of doubt and worry that loved ones went through and the effect of the experience on all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473897823
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/24/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	908,861
File size:	11 MB
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About the Author

COLONEL CARY OWTRAM OBE was commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery in 1917. His war service in Malaya and captivity in Singapore and on the Burma railway are the subject of this exceptional memoir.