“Forget is the most stupid statement I have heard in a long line of stupid statements about POW conditions and its effects”

Today being VJ-Day, it is only natural that my thoughts go to my grandfather, and all those Far East Prisoners of War (FEPoWs) that I have had the honour to have known over the years but “Forgive and Forget” was not a phrase many Suffolk Far East Prisoners of War (FEPoWs) agreed with.

Having suffered unimaginable cruelty at the hands of their Japanese captors for three -and-a-half years, many never had any intention of forgiving those who had deliberately let their comrades die by violence, malnourishment and exhaustion.

Ken Gibson, whom I met in 1999, was a member of 4th Suffolk and was taken prisoner at Singapore. He wrote in 1995 that: “Forget is the most stupid statement I have heard in a long line of stupid statements about POW conditions and its effects. Does one forget the pain, degradation and the loss of comrades who would never have died if our captors had been half way decent?”

‘Reconciliation’ was also a word that many FEPoWs refused to acknowledge. “You can only experience reconciliation with people who were previously your friends” spoke Canon Rupert Godfrey in 1995, “One day old scores will be forgotten, but that time is not yet.” Godfrey, himself a FEPoW, knew only too well that many had no wish to reconcile their former captors, even after the Japanese government made a formal apology and latterly, some financial compensation for what the FEPoWs had endured.

Whilst that generation have now passed from us, we would be wrong to forget them and what they endured too readily. Whilst they are no longer here, many of their descendants still share the desire not to forget and so perhaps like me, you will pause for a moment today and remember all those men 4th and 5th Battalion’s of the Suffolk Regiment, and also their comrades in the Cambridgeshire Regiment, who endured captivity at the hands of the Japanese, especially all those who sadly never made it home.

But remember also, all those who did return and tried as best as they could, to lead a normal life whilst still suffering the physical and mental scars of their captivity.

Their battles would still be fought inside until their final days.