Jungle Journal: Prisoners of the Japanese in Java 1942-1945

by Frank Williams, Ronald Williams

Overview

This is the story of a young Royal Artillery officer, Lieutenant Ronald Williams, who was held as a prisoner of war in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies from 1942–45. It is a true account of the alternate horror and banality of daily life, and the humor that helped the men survive the beatings, deprivation, and death of comrades. Told through the diary and papers of Williams and others, Jungle Journal includes many cartoons and poems produced by the prisoners, as well as extracts from the original Jungle Journal, a newspaper created by the men under the noses of their guards. Ronald Williams was the "editor" of this potentially fatal "publication." Jungle Journal describes the survival of hope even in desperate straits, and is a testament to those men whose courage and fortitude were tested to the limit under the tropical sun.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752487212
Publisher:	Spellmount, Limited Publishers
Publication date:	06/01/2013
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Frank Williams is a retired hospital consultant. On the 60th anniversary of VJ Day his mother gave him his father Ronald’s papers, which detailed the latter’s experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese in Java. Using these, along with contemporary illustrations, journals, poems, and memories of conversations with his father, Frank Williams has created the book that his father always intended to write. Some of the documentation is held at the Imperial War museum and they will support the book.

Table of Contents

Foreword Major General Morgan Llewellyn 7

Acknowledgements 9

Introduction 10

Part I 'Under the Poached Egg' 14

1 Diary of the 77th's 'Hell on Paradise Island' 16

2 My Time in Japanese POW Camps around West Java 31

3 Records of Violations against POWs 40

4 Authentic Anecdotes and Insights gathered by Ronald Williams from POW Camps on Java 45

5 Verses in Captivity, 1942-45 66

6 End of the Nightmare and the Journey Home 94

Part II Appendices 106

1 Volunteering for Military Service 106

2 A Dark Night Descends over the Dutch East Indies 114

3 Camp Journals Produced in Captivity, 1942-45 123

The Jungle Journal Part 1: Editorials and Captivity 123

The Jungle Journal Part 2: The Camp Life of the POW 139

The Jungle Journal Part 3: Humour and Recreation 154

4 Alleged Japanese Atrocities Committed on Java and on the Java Sea in 1942 171

5 One Came Back Home 179

6 Christmas Day and the Monkey (1943) 185

7 The Nippon Times 189

8 Life in a Women's Internment Camp on Java 193

9 The Island of Java 197

10 Correspondence and POW Mail 214

11 History of the 77th Welsh HAA Regiment, Royal Artillery (TA) 228

Epilogue 230

Bibliography 233

Index 234