Schoey was grateful for this, but before long he was wishing he was back in the truck. Loaded with cooking gear-the prisoners had few other possessions-they stumbled over rough roads, then along a railway line running up the west coast of Burma to Moulmein. The sharp metal on the line sliced into the feet of the prisoners, most of whom were barefooted.
Soon everyone was hobbling, but the Japanese marched them day and night, allowing only an occasional rest. Over three days and nights, they covered a hundred miles. When they reached their destination, Thambuzyat, many of them were more dead than alive.
Thambuzyat was the main workshop for the building of the Burma–Siam railway from the Burma end. It was a huge camp of about fifty bamboo and attap (palm thatch) huts.
When they arrived, the exhausted prisoners weren’t allowed to rest. Work parties were ordered out to gather wood for the cooking fires, but not before the three thousand prisoners were paraded for an address by the officer in charge of the camp, Lieutenant Colonel Nagatomo.
One of the Australians, a clerk with shorthand knowledge, knew that as the railway was the start of a huge project, the Japanese officer’s words could be of historic importance, so he used a stub of pencil to record the speech verbatim. Afterwards, copies were made on any scraps of paper that could be found. Bodero carried his copy throughout his entire term as a prisoner of war.
From a dais, Nagatomo spoke through a Japanese interpreter.
‘It is a great pleasure to me to see you all at this place as I am chief of the war prison camp in obedience of the Imperial command issued by His Majesty the Emperor.
‘The Great East Asiatic war has broken out due to the rising of the East Asiatic nations whose hearts were burnt with a desire to live and preserve their nations on account of the intrusion of the British and Americans of the past many years.
‘There is therefore no other reason for Japan to drive out the anti-Asian powers of the arrogant and insolent British and Americans from East Asia in cooperation with our neighbours of China or other East Asiatic nations. It establishes the Great East Asia Co-prosperity for the benefit of all human beings to establish everlasting peace in the world.
‘During the past few centuries, Nippon has made extreme endeavours and made sacrifices to become the leader of the East Asiatic nations who are mercilessly and pitifully treated by the outside forces of the American and British, and Nippon without disgracing anybody has been doing her best until now for fostering Nippon power.
‘You are all only a few remaining skeletons after the invasion of East Asia and are pitiful victims. It is not your fault, but till your governments wake up from their dreams and discontinue their resistance, all of you will not be released.
‘ However, I shall not treat you badly for the sake of humanity as you have no fighting power at all. His Majesty the Emperor has been deeply anxious about all the war prisoners and has ordered us to enable the opening of war prisoners’ camps at almost all the places in the southern countries.
‘The Imperial thoughts are inestimable, the Imperial favours are infinite and those such as you should weep with gratitude at the greatness of them and should correct or mend the improper and misleading anti-Japanese ideas. I should meet with you hereafter and at the beginning of the opening of this office, I require you to observe the four following points:
‘1: I heard that you complain about the insufficiency of the various items. Although there may be a lack of materials, it is difficult to meet all your requirements. Just turn your eyes towards the present condition of the world. It is entirely different from pre-war times in all countries and all materials are short and it is not easy to obtain even a small matchstick, and the present condition is such that it is not possible for needy women and children to get sufficient food.
‘Needless to say, therefore, that at such inconvenient places, even our respectable Nippon Imperial Army is not able to get mosquito nets, foodstuffs, medicines and cigarettes freely and frequently. As conditions are such, how can you expect me to treat you better than the Imperial Nippon Army? I do not persecute you according to my own wish. It is not due to the expense but due to the shortness of materials at such distant places. In spite of my wishes to meet your requirements, I cannot do so with money. I shall, however, supply you if I can do so with my best efforts. I hope you will rely upon me and render your lives before me.
‘2: I shall strictly manage all of you, going out and coming back, meeting with friends, communications, possessions of money etc. shall be limited. Living manners, deportments, salutation and attitude shall be strict and according to the rules of the Nippon Army because it is only possible to manage you all, who are merely rabble, by the order of military regulations. But this time I shall issue separate pamphlets of house rules and you shall not at all infringe any of them by any means.
‘3: My biggest requirement from you is on escape. The rules of escape shall naturally be very severe. This rule may be quite useless and only binding to some of the prisoners, but it is most important for all of you in the management of the camp. You should, therefore, be contented accordingly. If there is a man who has at least one percent chance of escape we should make him pay the extreme penalty. If there is one foolish man trying to escape he shall see big jungles towards the east which are absolutely impossible for communications. Towards the west he shall see boundless oceans. Above all, in the many points of north and south, our Nippon army is staying and guarding you. You will easily understand the difficulty of complete escape. A few such cases of ill-omened matters which happened in Singapore shall prove the above, and you should not repeat such foolish things, although it is a last chance after great embarrassment.
‘4: Hereafter I shall require all of you to work, as nobody is permitted to do nothing and eat as at present. In addition, the Imperial Nippon Army has great work to promote at the places nearly occupied by them and this is an essential and important matter at the time of such shortness of materials. Your lives are preserved by the military and you must reward them with your labour. By the hands of the Nippon army, railway work to connect Siam and Burma has started to the great interest of the world. There are deep jungles where no man comes to clear them by cutting the trees. There are also countless difficulties and sufferings, but you should be grateful to have the honour to join in this great work which was never done before and you should do your best efforts. I shall check and investigate carefully about your non-attendance and so all of you, except those who are really unable to work, shall be taken out for labour. At the same time, I shall expect all of you to work earnestly and confidently every day. You are the remnants of a rabble army and this line will be built over the bones of the white man.
‘In conclusion, I say to work cheerfully and from henceforth you shall be guarded by this motto.
‘These instructions have been given to you on the opening of a war prisoners’ camp at Thambuzyat.’
At the end of his address, Lieutenant Colonel Nagatomo turned abruptly on his heels and strode off the parade ground. The guards dismissed the prisoners, but many stood still, stunned by what they had heard.
Peter Murphy summed up their feelings. ‘What a load of bullshit’, he said.
After only a few days at Thambuzyat, work parties were marched out to the part of the railway line that had been started by natives. Each work party went to a different camp.
Jim Bodero, Snowy and their mates went east to what was known as the Eight-Kilo camp. There, they found no camp, nor any buildings, only wild jungle.
The Japanese guards told them this was to be their base. They would go from here each day to work on the railway line.