Diaries and papers relating to the Second World War service of George James Feakes, 1942-1946 - Part 8
nearly everyone attended. I went to
bed just after midnight but that is
Japanese Time, 2½ hrs ahead of true
Time. Sugar in our rice this morning
again, as a New Years treat! Nights
are cold & days warm. I sleep with all
the clothes on I possess. Hope Et &
the children & Vernon have a happy
day, also my relatives in Sydney
& Perth. God bring us freedom
this year.
Bangkinang
6-1-44
Sold my mirror today - that Ettie gave me
before we were married (it was part of
a shaving set gift), so I've had it over
27 years - in order to try to buy food.
It was a bad pang parting with it,
but the quantity of food has been
terrible lately for months.
World. We could hardly stand up
on a/c earth rocking & had to cling
on to each other. It caught Whalan
with his pants off! All the other walls
swayed badly & we had to knock one
down with crowbars etc as it was
dangerous. We are all sleeping in the
open tonight in case more shocks.
So far the Guards have told us
over 100 killed & injured in Padang
& over 100 houses demolished. A
Jap officer arrived within ½ hour
& told the native Guards to open the
Gaol Gates & allow us all out if
any more shocks like that. My
outstanding impression was that it
was like being on the deck of a
boat pitching & tossing in a rough sea.
We were all lined up by the J's &
counted. None missing. Guards said all
people in Padang sleeping in open
now. So far weve been closed in
the Native Part of this Gaol but
Iguana tasted OK, but bit stringy.
Feel confident will be out soon &
with my family for next Xmas,
God willing. We are asking again for
news of relatives thro' Red Cross.
News of naval battle in Pacific &
Jap Admiral killed, also MtBatten
attacking Burma & J's bombing Calcutta.
Busy picking Rice everything.
BangKinang
1-1-1944.
New Year's Day 1944 - & we are full
of hope that we will be freed this
year, & see our families again.
Shook hands with all my Dutch
& English friends. Last night the
Boy Scouts of the Camp held a
Jamboree lasting till midnight &
now that the cells are cracked
some of us will have to go into the
European prisoners' part. What
luxury we do have!
Native Prisoner's Gaol
Padang, 23/6/43
We have had many minor earthquake
tremors since the big one on 9th inst.
They occur mostly at night, & everyone
that can, rushes outside. We have
learned that the centre of the big earthquake
was about 25 miles east
of here at Gunong Talang (it is just
visible at certain times), & near to
Lake Singarak which we passed
in train from Sawahloento to Padang.
The surface of this big lake, many
sq. miles is said to have dropped 8
inches. It is lovely country, when
we passed thro' it in March '42.
We heard of many natives, killed &
one old lady of 80 was injured &
died in Women's Camp.
made good friends with a Mr. Vlanderen,
an engineer from the Cement Works also
interned. Had to go to bed early Xmas Eve
owing to indigestion due to unusual
amount of Ubi Kaya. The J's promise
to restore our food cut which was
said to be due to bridge on Piacoembo
road washed away. Thinking a great
deal how Ettie & the children & Vernon
are this Xmas my 2nd away from
Et, & 4th from the children. We had
a chance of Elephant meat but they
were 25 Km in Jungle & went
rotten before natives could bring
them in - a piece of real bad luck.
Promised extra ration for today's
Xmas meal. Sold my knife & extra
spoon for $1.75 to buy food, & am
trying sell my penknife. The
The J's have been trying to force us
to do translations of books from
Dutch into English. We get more
maize with our rice now but total
quantity is same. Play dominoes
sometimes with Zeitlin, & still learn
dutch from Schuitematker.
Heard of Wavell's appointment as Viceroy
of India & capture of Corsica &
Sardinia by Allies. The broken down
wall is not yet mended, but guarded
by Native Soldiers who said "Allah
has broken down the Gaol wall to
allow the white prisoners out since
the J's will not". Danger of rice
shortage owing fields being flooded
due to the Earthquake on 9th. Suh
Saka now 68c ½ KG. (normally 5c).
Thank goodness I have some tobacco.
Boryer & Travers been pretty ill with
fever. Have read A.E.W. Masons "Four
Feathers". Must get for Et. I have
recovered a bit of my strength again.
Nearly all the Women & Children have
now arrived at the BangKinang Camp
1 mile away, X'fr'd from Padang Gaol.
Thank God Ettie missed all this by
getting away from S'pore just in
time. The weather keeps fine by
day & wet at night.
BangKinang
Xmas DAY 1943
Xmas Day & it is raining hard. We got
sugar in our rice this morning - a
Xmas treat. Also 3 pigs were brought
in by the Guards - so even amongst
900 we should enjoy some wild pork.
Too wet to hold English Church Service.
Holst & I bought 1 kilo of Ubi Kayu
& divided it last evening with our
Nasi Tim- it filled us I have
everyone longing & praying for sight
of Allied planes overhead, & fear
another Xmas Day in captivity. Strong
complaints by Resident Besselaer to J's
about our lack of food & clothing. 95%
of food is rice & maize, & bad quality
at that.
Civil Gaol Padang,
3rd July 43.
On 29th June following British members of
Camp were taken from Camp & removed to
the camp formerly occpd. by British Women:-
Page, Owen, Smart, Ross, Millar, Miller, Johnstone,
Henderson, (also about 15 Dutchman). Reason
given was: "to do translations of Dutch
books into English". but we can see that
this is a trick & not real reason, because
why couldn't the translations be done in
this camp? We don't know the real reason
yet, but looks like some dirty [[?]] by
J's. We hear the men are given ƒ1 per day
(against our 15c). Much [[Antros?]] in camp
about it, as some think the men offered to go,
but that is not quite right - Think
they thought themselves
an eyewitness a/c of conditions
of the 2500 Women in the Gaol it
would only be taken as propaganda
& not as fact - things were so
bad - 160 women & children packed in
the large cells, lying on each other,
cooking etc & smoky & many of the
children on W.C. pots because of
diarrhoea. It must have been awful.
Today 2 large Iguana were brought
in - the skins for the J's, & the flesh
for any of us who can eat it.
Looks as though we'll get dead
cats & dogs next! 16 ex-soldiers
were taken off in a lorry to Medan
yestdy. (5 British, Bell, Penman, Eckersall,
Hogarth, Bannister). We take
this as a good sign - may be an
allied attack soon. We all hope so.
Many of us are very weak now
through lack of food.
Hear they'd be allowed to remain here
& contribute any earnings to the General
Funds of Camps for improvement of Food
for all, No more earthquakes & Whalan
been in Gaol Hospital 3 or 4 days with
Bronchitis. Scarcity of rice - for our meals
We now get ½ rice ½ maize. Ate a bit
of Nasi Goring last night with Holst
& Zeitlin, & chatted together. Watch
the Southern Cross every evening & think
if my family can also see it. Heard of
more fighting in Solomon Islands, &
Bismarck [[?ship]], also that invasion of
Europe commenced at last, & great air
fighting there. If only I could get some
news of my family it wouldn't be so
hard here. My weight now 11st 4lbs.
on the Gaol scales - the lightest Ive
been for years.
Civil Gaol Padang
12th July 1943
Today is the 27th anniversary of our
wedding day & I am thinking of my
dear wife, as I know she wont forget.
over to buy food. I got 3 guilders
for it & parted with it with a
pang, as it was my last tennis
trophy, as my Cups etc, left in
S'pore would only be looted. Such
is life. Now I have no personal
possessions except Joan's case &
a few snapshots of Ettie & the
children. Thank God I have those.
The Drs have reported that 30%
of the camp have Beri beri.
Bang Kinang
14-12-43
Spoke with Levison, the British Consul,
who is with us & was with his invalid
wife at Padang Gaol after we left
it & he said that if he wrote
I hope she is safe & happy. I am writing
this straight after breakfast; lately
our breakfast has been only 1 or 1½
cold potato, with ¼ [[?]] coffee;
because the Earthquake blocked the
roads, & prevented transport of
rice. For tiffin we had maize with
very little rice. Many have fallen
sick on such a diet, & 1 or 2 have
died. One old chap of 70 odd said
he didn't want to live anyhow, &
did nothing to try to keep well,
another refused to eat even the
little we had & he practically
starved himself to death. We
have heard through native G's of more
bombing of Pt Darwin & big fighting at
Rendova Is in Solomons. There are
still some English books amongst
the 800 odd of us. Some books I think
Ettie would like to read:-
for exhibition in Japan! We
received all this infmn from
eyewitnesses who have arrived here
from the Gaol. An outbreak of
dysentery occrd. but it was
quelled. The first lorry loads
of women & children have now
arrived at their BangKinang Camp
1½ miles from us. The J's apparently
fear Allied attacks at Padang
hence these moves. One more
death last evening. - a man who
was in hospital with me. Died
of T.B. Food is still very scarce
I have had to sell my Gold
Eversharp pencil that I got for
Tennis from Pilgrims Club in
A Night in Bombay - by Louis ✓
- (good) Brownfield.
The Four Feathers - by A.E.W. Mason
Oil for the Lamps of
China }? by S C Hobart
Capt Hornblower, R.N. - by Forrester
Red Pottage - by Mary Cholmondeley
Short Stories of
Saki (H.H. Munro)
Sunday 25th July 43
Civil Gaol Padang
There are nearly 1000 of us in here now,
as another 100 native Dutch were brought
in by the J's a few days ago in only the
clothes they stood in - no bedding, or
eating utensils or anything. Also the J's
have taken away the Dutch Resident, the
No. 1 man amongst us, & he is in the Military
Police H'Qrs - also with only the clothes he
wore when they took him out of our Gaol
Hospital. [Kakatoun?] ([[?]] [[?]]) has
been put in here - he said he had
been badly beaten & kept without a
2500 women & children were packed
in there. Conditions were said to be
unbelievable - when one remembers
that the Gaol was built to accommodate
only 600 natives! The crowding &
lavatory congestion was awful.
European women working like
Coolies, as the lavatory blocked;
Sleeping on each other. The women
had to drag their barang through
the streets from the Convent to
the Gaol - they had ropes tied
around their middles & pulled
their boxes & suitcases along
the ground packed in upturned
tables. They were filmed &
photographed doing so, apparently
bath for 4 months. He had been
caught in the act (while outside) of
throwing a 10c. packet of peanuts
over the fence into the Women's Camp.
He's supposed to be a Neutral, but was
in a bad way when brought in here &,
is still in our hospital. The weather is
perfect - cool nights & hot sunny days.
I have now another bad go of flu,
which left me weak - Whalan had
to fetch me my meals for 4 days.
It is very hard to get back your
strength on present food. Whalan
just out of hospital himself with
flu. Played dominoes with Holst &
Zeitlin Former lent me his blanket.
Civil Gaol Padang
13-8-43
ON 4th inst. the whole Camp was searched
by J's (aided by Indonesian Guards). Everything
has turned upside down - mattresses etc etc.
I had got together $1.80 by going
The Drs (Schroeder & Breiner) say
many men are suffering from
starvation & consequent weakness &
they can't do anything. All food must
be transported the 90 odd miles from
Piacoembo, over a precipitous mountain
road. Commn was cut off for 4
days last year owing to washaways.
Fortunately weather fairly dry so
far this year. No war news except
of big naval battle near [[Bong?]]
Some say they heard one bomb
explosion here this morning. I didn't!
BangKinang
9-12-43.
We have heard from newcomers
that the day after we were
moved from the Civil Gaol the
without Soap (even for washing my clothes)
& selling it to others, also selling a few
cigarette papers, & the damn Guards
found it in my Grey purse (the 1 Et.
gave me) & pocketed the lot - leaving
me without a cent. Thank God they
left me Et's & the children's photos,
which were in the purse too. They
even ripped open the small packet of
my dead mother's hair which I keep,
also some strands of Joan's as a
child. A Jap M.P. wielded a hammer.
We had nothing to eat, on a/c of the
search, from 6.30pm until 3pm
the next day & then only a small
plate of rice! Fortunately Holst &
Broeken have both lent me a little
money as I was penniless. Have
heard that [[RVr?]] & Blackwell (nicknamed
by many of the camp as "the Snake in
the Grass" & "the Cad" respectively)
Food seems to occupy nearly all
our thoughts, &, after meat, I
long for hot buttered scones with
thick honey, & cocoa to drink with
plenty of sugar! I suppose thats
because we get practically no sugar.
If ever we get out, I'll get Et to
make that for me. I feel I could
eat a dozen scones straight off
No bread now for over a year.
exchanged my lavatory bottle for a
smaller one & made a profit
of 25c. The bloke offered to let me
keep mine for lavatory use if I
would only let him drink out
of it!! Turned it down for his
sake!
have had a good deal of money given
them & I would rather starve than
take any from that pair I saw them
eating tapioca cakes etc which cost
3c each. Heard the Women's camp was
[[?]] searched & one woman's face
slapped for having a disused Radio
Set that wouldn't work even many
parts of it missing. J's fortunately
didn't take my private papers which
were in Joan's case with the grey
purse. Hear many War rumours mostly
about Italy & not a word about Aust.
I am worrying about the children in
Aust. (don't know for certain if Et
is there or Colombo or India) as I
know how cold Sydney can be at
this time of year, & Gra will need
bigger overcoat & warm clothing as
he's growing. Do hope someone applies
to the Coy for extra money for them.
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