Surviving the Death Railway: A POW's Memoir and Letters from Home

by Barry Custance Baker, Hilary Custance Green (Editor)

Overview

The ordeals of the POWs put to slave labor by their Japanese masters on the ‘Burma Railway’ have been well documented yet never cease to shock. It is impossible not to be horrified and moved by their stoic courage in the face of inhuman brutality, appalling hardship and ever-present death.

While Barry Custance Baker was enduring his 1000 days of captivity, his young wife Phyllis was attempting to correspond with him and the families of Barry’s unit. Fortunately these moving letters have been preserved and appear, edited by their daughter Hilary, in this book along with Barry’s graphic memoir written after the War.

Surviving the Death Railway’s combination of first-hand account, correspondence and comment provide a unique insight into the long nightmare experienced by those in the Far East and at home.

The result is a powerful and inspiring account of one of the most shameful chapters in the history of mankind which makes for compelling reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473870000
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	08/05/2016
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Hilary Custance Green has BAs in Fine Arts (UEA) and Sculpture (St Martin’s School of Art) and spent twenty years sculpting. In 1993 she graduated with an Open University BSc in Psychology and spent fifteen years working in brain science, gaining a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Cambridge in 1999.
She has had three novels published and has spent six years researching this book.

Born in Malaya in 1915, Barry Custance Baker married Phyllis, a fellow Cambridge graduate in 1939. Barry joined the Royal Corps of Signals and this book records his experiences as a POW. After gaining his freedom, they had three more children post-war. Barry stayed in the army until 1959, then took up teaching. Phyllis filled her life with voluntary work and the theatre. [81]

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements x

Notes to Reader xii

Preface xiii

Timeline xv

Family Tree xvi

Maps xvii

Part 1 Barry, Phyllis and 27 Line Section

1 Britain: Spring 1937 to Spring 1941 3

After the ball, Barry and Phyllis; Honeymoon and war; 27 Line Section created

Part 2 6,000 Miles East

2 Britain to Malaya: July to December 1941 15

Dancing on the docks; Singapore and all's well; Wires across the jungle; First casualty

3 Britain: Late 1941 32

Phyllis in the White House

4 Malaya: December 1941 34

Japan and the UK at war

5 Britain: December 1941 to January 1942 38

Phyllis, Robin and rabbits

6 Malaya: December 1941 to 15 February 1942 44

Last letters home; War in the city; Singapore falls

Part 3 Wall of Silence

7 Britain: February to March 1942 55

The silence begins

8 Singapore: February to August 1942 59

Changi; Early deaths

9 Britain: March to August 1942 63

Writing to a ghost; False comfort

10 Singapore: September 1942 69

Memorial at Bukit Timah

11 Britain: October 1942 73

News for the lucky few

12 Singapore to Thailand (Siam): November 1942 77

To Siam in cattle trucks; Ban Pong, Siam/Thailand; Moving earth, Tamuang to Wang Lan

13 Britain: Late 1942 86

Dreams and plans; Good news?

14 Thailand: December 1942 to March 1943 91

Making and mending, hungrier and thinner

15 Britain: January to March 1943 94

Postmistress, mother, friend and wife

16 Thailand: April 1943 106

Wampo [Wang Pho] Viaduct

17 Britain: Spring 1943 112

The missing story

18 Thailand: Spring 1943 117

Walking, walking, long time walking; North from Wampo; The end of the road, 211k Camp; Beyond the call of duty

19 Britain: Summer 1943 127

Silent summer

20 Thailand: Summer 1943 130

Chungkai, storyteller and lady almoner

21 Britain: November 1943 to February 1944 134

Down to twenty five words

22 Thailand: Late 1943 to Early 1944 138

Hospital orderly

23 Britain: Spring to Summer 1944 143

Barry is alive

24 Thailand: 1944 147

Clinging to hope in Chungkai; Kongsi

25 Britain: Autumn 1944 152

News of the 'hellships'

26 Thailand: Chungkai 1944 157

Chorus girl

27 Britain: December 1944 to May 1945 164

Phyllis and the War Office; Signalman Potter & Signalman Riley

28 Britain: May to August 1945 180

Delivering bad news

29 Thailand: Early 1945 186

Bridge over the River Kwai; Barbed wire at Kanchanaburi (Kanburi) camp; The last 200km, Nakhon Nayok

Part 4 Picking up the Pieces

30 Britain: August 1945 193

Peace at a cost

31 Thailand to India: Freedom 195

An American paratrooper; Trying to bridge the void

32 Britain: September 1945 204

The telegram

33 Britain: Autumn 1945 219

Second honeymoon; Who else came home? The reality of coming home

Part 5 The End of the Story

34 Britain: 1946 to 2009 237

Phyllis and Barry; 27 Line Section after 1945; The Kongsi: Last, days; Postscript

Appendix: The Men of 27 Line Section 243

Bibliography 247

Index 250