Diary of Arthur William Hence, May - September 1942 - Part 3

died from dysentery at 0830hrs        

Maj. Chalmers (M.O.) reports "Case was

inadequately treated owing to complete

lack of Ematine & allied drugs & poor

salt supply".

Death of 946736 Cpl. W.R. Hill

R.A.F. at 1300hrs - Amoebic dysentery.

Jesuit funeral Ptes Johnston & Blackwell

23 Jun 42 (Tues)

Funeral Cpl. Hill.

24 Jun 42 (Wed)

Death 1648427 Gnr. R.P. Willis 0830

cause of death dysentery. Funeral

1800hr.

25 Jun 42 (Thurs)  

Japanese indicate possibility of

additional pay for working parties

26 Jun 42 (Fri)

Japanese make gift of 12 bottles of

brandy & port.

3 to Comd & Staff & to coy with 

best aerodrome record (3 to coy least

sickness 3 coy (B Bn 3 Coy) best quarters.
Concert held in front of Comd H.Q.

27 Jun 42 (Sat)

No Japanese fatigues required

Band played Jap. H.Q.

Jap. Comnd orders English troops to

stand by ready to move to Tavoy.

Death RX20313 Pte. [[SN?]] Webster 1730hrs

cause dysentery & cirrhosis of liver.

28 Jun 42 (Sun)

Funeral Pte. Webster.

29 Jun 42 (Mon)

Japanese ship in. Unloading party

required.

30 Jun 42 (Tues)

Learned unofficially departure

English to Tavoy postponed.

1 July 42 (Wed)

Pay received periods 11-30 Jun 42

at increased rates.

35^c o. 25^c NCO 15^c oR Heavy work

25^c  - 15^c    "    10^c Light          "

2 Jul 42 (Thurs)

Fatigue hours changed to

1400-1700 hrs being an increase of 1/2 hr

per day.

Japanese guards took over custody

of prisoners in guard room as they

complained that they were not being

treated with enough severity. This was

largely due to Japanese guard themselves

who gave food to prisoners & encouraged

them to come out.

402872  Sgt.Chippendale died in hosp.

from bacillary dysentery & cardiac beri-beri
at 2230hrs.

1134761 L.A.C Hayman [[?T]] died from

amoebic dysentery 1830hrs.

3 July 42 (Fri)

Joint Funeral.

4 July 42 (Sat)

1427321 [[?]] R. Foster died Amoebiic

dysentery 0940hrs. Maj. J.S. Chalmers

again reports "No anti amoebic drugs

have been made available by the

Nipponese,"

Funeral of Gen Foster. Service by

native R.C. priest.

Death of NX30470 Pte. J. Carley from

dysentery & Cardiac beri-beri

5 July 42 (Sun)

All graves at gxxx cemetery reconstitutioned

Concert held in morning.

6 Jul 42 (Mon)

P.Q. Commd inspects camp & is

satisfied.

Copy Japanese proclamation given

to Adjt. for promulgation. Lists of

soldiers in order of "diligence" required.

First issue of bread from own

[[?]] ovens.

8 July 42 (Wed)

Officers instructed in Japanese

words of Comd. with instructions 

that they should be put into use at

once. This was objected to by Comd

& with no results.

10 Jul 42 (Fri)

Men missing from Aerodrome

working party brought in by

Jap. guards Sgt [[?]] again

proved himself to be very fair &

reasonable.

12 Jul 42 (Sun)

O/s J. Weaver [[Rn?]] PJX 162185 died Amoebic 

dysentery 1430 hrs

Concert in evening.
13. Jul 42 (Mon)

Dental officr commenced duties at

Jap Hqs. for treatment of Jap soldiers

xxxx using own supplies. further

supplies promised. 

14 July  
One of the two tongs placed out of bounds for 48 hours
owing to low level of water.
Meat condemned by M.O. and returned to Japanese
who promised a further supply. This did not eventuate.
15 July.
Second local vendor allowed into camp selling eggs &
bananas. His visits still continue daily.
From tomorrow proportion of aerodrome party
working under [[?]] will be paid at light duty rates
only.
Concert.
16 July
17 July
Japanese sentry saw two men in
bunker outside P Q area. Search was started
and an English sergeant was apprehended just
inside the wire.
Roll call of C Bn held and reported all

present.
P.Q. command arrived with interpreter.
Two more men caught outside area
Japanese command chose to assume that the
men were attempting to escape & the sentence [[shooting?]].
Prisoners were taken away in Japanese custody.
Conference with Jap HQ & Japs agreed to leave
punishment in Col Ramsay's hands and ordered
that details of punishment sentence should be forwarded
to them.
Surprise roll calls must in future be held daily
18 July
Japanese inspected wire around camp and
required repairs to be carried out in several places.
The [[?]] now held [[??]] against the 3
men arrested yesterday was heard.
Sgt was sentenced to 21 days [[?]], for the first 11 days
every alternate day only [[bread?]] to be [[allowed? altered]].
The other two men — 16 days on light rations as above.

19^th July Church services as usual
Concert. (Band recital)
20 July
100 men taken to wharf to unload bitumen from
ship. This apparently required for the construction of the
runway at aerodrome.
Water level in bathing  tong & [[?]] Out of bounds
until further notice.
21 July. Unloading of ship completed.
No money was received from the Japanese for payment
[[o?]] work period concluded yesterday. Advised that cash
had to be obtained from Tavoy.
22 Inspection by P Q Commander. Principal
complaint that Japanese words of command were not
being used.
Reported from the aerodrome that a rain cape
had been taken by Japanese naval sentry and
not returned.

Also that an English soldier had been hit on the head
with a stick by sentry and profuse bleeding caused.
Concert
July 24 No work party. Very heavy rain.
28 Still no working parties & still
very heavy rain making camp boggy.
Troops with too much time on hands
become restive, argue & are generally
in a very bad mood. They now
say they would prefer the aerodrome
work where a week ago officers
were called pro-Jap for sending
them out.
The afternoon is fine & the Japs
take 1/0 [[of?]] force on a sightseeing
tour through the town of [[?]]
This tour was conducted in a very
free & easy manner by the Nip
guards. If a group were lucky
to get a good guard limited
purchasing from the Burmese

was permitted. ^※ Pte Schubert outside wire
29 Jul see notes
20 Jul Another tour of town by balance
of force.
* NX  Pte Schubert  8/30 Bn.
was shot by order of Nipponese Comd
southern [[?]] Maj. Ifsin.
Despite repeated orders that men were
not to go outside the P.Q. area &
warning that the extreme penalty
would be inflicted Pte S. was
found outside the wire at approx
2100 hrs on 28 Jul. He was 
recaptured & interviewed by the
Adjt at the Jap Guard House.
It is thought likely that he would
have been let off but when
placed in the prisoners room he
escaped from the window &
was later recaptured by the
Jap xx found by his Plt. [[?]]
Lieut Kreckler who asked 

Also that an English soldier had been hit on the head
with a stick by sentry and profuse bleeding caused.
Concert
July 24 No work party. Very heavy rain.
28 Still no working parties & still
very heavy rain making camp boggy.
Troops with too much time on hands
become restive, argue & are generally
in a very bad mood. They now
say they would prefer the aerodrome
work where a week ago officers
were called pro-Jap for sending
them out.
The afternoon is fine & the Japs
take 1/0 [[57?]] force on a sightseeing
tour through the town of [[?]]
This tour was conducted in a very
free & easy manner by the Nip
guards. If a group were lucky

to get a good guard [[?]]
purchasing from the Burmese

was permitted. ^※ Pte Schubert outside wire
29 Jul see notes
20 Jul Another tour of town by balance
of force.
* NX  Pte Schubert  8/30 Bn.
was shot by order of Nipponese Comd
southern [[Lenasserin?]] Maj. Ifsin.
Despite repeated orders that men were
not to go outside the P.Q. area &
warning that the extreme penalty
would be inflicted Pte S. was
found outside the wire at approx
2100 hrs on 28 Jul. He was 
recaptured & interviewed by the
Adjt at the Jap Guard House.
It is thought likely that he would
have been let off but when
placed in the prisoners room he
escaped from the window &
was later recaptured by the
Jap xx found by his Plt. [[?]]
Lieut Kreckler who asked 

what he should do. There was no
alternative but to hand him over
to the Nipponese & plea for
leniency. He was taken to the
Nip. H.Q..
29 Jul 42  C.O. Lt. Col. G.E. Ramsay 
& Capt Hence adjt. visit Jap
Guard House & lodge plea for leniency
for Schubert.  No definite answer
was given [[altho?]] a promise on was
[[?]] that no action would
be taken until we were given
the opportunity of interviewing
Schubert.  This promise was
not fulfilled.