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

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

by H C Owtram
1000 Days on the River Kwai: The Secret Diary of a British Camp Commandant

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

by H C Owtram

Paperback

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Overview

Memoirs by former prisoners of war of the Japanese invariably make for a moving reading but Colonel Owtram's 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: 9781526772053
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publication date: 11/20/2020
Pages: 168
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Colonel Cary Owtram was educated at Shrewsbury School before being commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery in 1917. He remained a member of the Territorial Army, while working in the cotton spinning industry until 1939 when he joined 137 Field Regiment RA. His war service in Malaya and captivity in Singapore and on the Burma Railway are the subject of this exceptional memoir.

After the War he formed a new TA regiment which he commanded. As well as being awarded the OBE, he was High Sheriff of Lancashire (1965), a Deputy Lieutenant of the County, a Justice of the Peace, President of the Lunesdale and Preston Trading Society and Chairman and President of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preface x

Chapter 1 Outward Bound 1

Chapter 2 Slim River 9

Chapter 3 Into Bondage 15

Chapter 4 A Poor Exchange 22

Chapter 5 The Great Trek 31

Chapter 6 Pastures New 35

Chapter 7 Promotion and Reorganization 47

Chapter 8 Boon Pong 53

Chapter 9 Cholera Breaks out 55

Chapter 10 Adventures of the 'Canary' 59

Chapter 11 The Pace Hots up 65

Chapter 12 A Birthday Party 70

Chapter 13 The Stage 74

Chapter 14 Keeping Fit 79

Chapter 15 Kokobo's Farm 82

Chapter 16 The White Slug 87

Chapter 17 I Take a Rest 90

Chapter 18 'Amputs' 93

Chapter 19 The Lighter Side 98

Chapter 20 Chungkai Church 101

Chapter 21 The Cemetery 104

Chapter 22 Mass Hysteria 107

Chapter 23 Attack from the Air 109

Chapter 24 The Camp Police 112

Chapter 25 The Exodus from Chungkai 118

Chapter 26 The Drower Incident 129

Chapter 27 A New Dawn Breaks 135

Chapter 28 Rehabilitation 140

Chapter 29 Freedom at Last 143

Family Epilogue 146

Appendix 152

Index 153

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