The Railway Man

[AVB]

Just watched this brilliant film on BBC. Although made in 2013 I wasn’t aware of it until now. If you haven’t seen it then I recommend you do. 
 

“Sometimes the hating has to stop”

[B725]

I recorded it to watch tonight. 

[dead eye alan]

Watched it last night brilliant true story.

[the hitman]

Great film and indeed a true story.

Eric Lomax lived in Berwick-Upon-Tweed where much of the filming was done.

He was a local legend long before the movie was made. He was a quiet unassuming chap who always said hello to everyone.

 

 

[AVB]

2 hours ago, dead eye alan said:

Watched it last night brilliant true story.

It was only during the film that I became aware of it being a true story. Absolutely shocking. The most somber moment of my life was attending a Remembrance Day service at Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore. I also visited war graves in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. 

[Bobba]

My fathers first cousin was in the army and captured at the fall of Singapore. He was forced to work on "the railway" (as he put it). He never discussed it only but to refer to "cruelty" in a general way. When my mother died we found in her paperwork photos and letters he sent to her following his release. Some very moving words about how kind the nurses were: the strange comfort of pyjamas and sleeping in a bed: tea with milk and sugar and his surprise when the hardened skin on the soles of his feet finally fell off. A few years back my wife traced his son and we sent the the docs to him where we felt they should be.

One of our sons lives and works in Singapore and we have visited Changi Chapel and Museum a number of times. Extremely moving. There's a moving citation in one of the visitors books from a veteran along the lines that"when a soldier is shot and is dying the two things he calls for are his mother and God"

 Like AVB we too have attended Remembrance Day service at Kranji War Cemetary in Singapore and Commonwealth War Graves in the region. The CWG Cemetary in Yangon (Rangoon) has an astonishing amount of headstones with bravery awards.

Was it coincidence that the film was shown in the week of VJ Day? That aside, I did find the BBC coverage of the remembrance ceremony this morning very moving with the veterans there with ages ranging from 92 yrs to over 100 yrs. Still proud to be there. And so they should be.

[Scully]

A bloke who used to drive at a former place of work was one of many captured in Burma. He had thick welts of scar tissue on his back and upper arms. 

[scutt]

A man who worked in the same factory as me never forgave the japs  we called him jok mk 1.

A jap company was to visit the factory on a tour of the site jok asked to have the day of when the manager refused him jok informed him that the first jap who came near him would get a chipping hammer thru his scull so he was given the day off.

He even stopped speaking to a lad who bought a Nissan cherry.

No one challenged him about his attitude as all new they could not imagine what he went thru.

 

[London Best]

5 hours ago, scutt said:

A man who worked in the same factory as me never forgave the japs  we called him jok mk 1.

A jap company was to visit the factory on a tour of the site jok asked to have the day of when the manager refused him jok informed him that the first jap who came near him would get a chipping hammer thru his scull so he was given the day off.

He even stopped speaking to a lad who bought a Nissan cherry.

No one challenged him about his attitude as all new they could not imagine what he went thru.

 

45 years ago I worked with a man who was just the same, having been a Japanese POW. He used to moan at folk for having Honda 50’s and Datsuns. We had some Chinese visit our tool room to see a certain process and he was very wary of them but remarked, “their eyes are not the same.”

[williamwansbeck]

2 of my uncles members of the Northumberland Fusiliers were captured in Singapore and they survived the railway and ended up in Japan in a copper mine,both said the A bomb was what saved them they would not have lived another year in conditions and rations,came home and never really lauded because they had been POW's.both had been in the expeditionary force and Dunkirk,could not believe how bad the high level command decisions had been in the far east debacle.Left them both quite bitter and with medical problems that they had the rest of their lives.

 

[the hitman]

3 hours ago, London Best said:

45 years ago I worked with a man who was just the same, having been a Japanese POW. He used to moan at folk for having Honda 50’s and Datsuns. We had some Chinese visit our tool room to see a certain process and he was very wary of them but remarked, “their eyes are not the same.”

That’s unfortunate as the Chinese had a terrible time at the hands of the Japanese before and during WW11. Chinese troops fought against the Japanese during the war.

I have spoken in the past about Chinese/ Japanese history with  some Chinese students from my school who say that China will trade with Japan but will never forget what atrocities that took place. 

[greenshank1]

I have just read The Lost Highlander it is genuinely harrowing . He had no respect for his captors or the British government and MOD when he finally got home. 

[moondoggy]

1 hour ago, greenshank1 said:

I have just read The Lost Highlander it is genuinely harrowing . He had no respect for his captors or the British government and MOD when he finally got home. 

Should that be ‘The Forgotten Highlander’ by Alastair Urquhart?

[greenshank1]

58 minutes ago, moondoggy said:

Should that be ‘The Forgotten Highlander’ by Alastair Urquhart?

Apologies , yes !!

[Bobba]

16 hours ago, the hitman said:

I have spoken in the past about Chinese/ Japanese history with  some Chinese students from my school who say that China will trade with Japan but will never forget what atrocities that took place. 

I came across a similar mindset when diving the wrecks of the Japanese fleet in Truk Lagoon (Chuuk State) Micronesia. The Japanese had occupied / colonised Micronesia since about the 1920's I believe and made it a military base and safe harbour before the war. The Americans gave it a good bashing in Operation Hailstone in 1944

The wrecks are not treated as war graves and local divers have many artefacts and personal effects and remains which could be repatriated but will not be because no apology has ever been made for what took place during the occupation. Conversely Japanese university students and researchers have been there investigating Coral bleaching. Seemingly they were welcommed on the basis that it wasn't them that caused the problems but their predecessors.

[butchdickason]

On 15/08/2020 at 11:19, AVB said:

It was only during the film that I became aware of it being a true story. Absolutely shocking. The most somber moment of my life was attending a Remembrance Day service at Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore. I also visited war graves in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. 

It was the same for me at Kranji War Cemetery in 1966.