I was among the first draft of 600 men to go to Thailand to build the Death Railway and bridges over the Kwai. Changi had barracks. In Thailand we had to build barracks. The Japanese were in charge; our officers were nothing. The Black Prince [Lt. Kishio Usuki, executed by the British in 1946], Doctor Death [Sgt. Seiichi Okada], a Korean guard called The Mad Mongrel [hanged by the British in 1946]—these bastards were the worst. We all watched Doctor Death behead one of us. He had me tortured and thrown in the black hole. He'd stand on cliffs above us as we worked and toss boulders and rocks down. He didn't care who he hit. We had a half cup of boiled rice and a cup of water every day—for three and a half years. So we all soon were suffering from a host of diseases: malaria, dysentery, beriberi—that was a real killer. And depression. Your body was not able to stand up to it. The mental attitude…in my case, that's why I went on my own. I could psyche myself up each morning to face that day alone—not the next day, just that day. The next morning was the same. I was only thinking of myself and how I could avoid dying like those around me.
Regards,
Alistair Urquhart
