Author: John Baxter

Publisher: Aurum Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 9781845135386

In 1942 corporal John Baxter, a royal engineer, was captured by the Japanese in Indonesia. For the next three years he was held as their prisoner, during which time he was starved; beaten; and contracted malaria, dysentry, and diphtheria, for which he received no treatment. He spent the last two years of the war working in the hard labor mines in Kyushu, from where he witnessed the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki 40 miles away, and felt the scorching wind from the blast. Remarkably Baxter survived these experiences, made it back to Britain, and in February 2009 he celebrated his 90th birthday. Having written up his diaries from this time, he has now decided to tell his story. It is a story not just of survival but of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and quiet heroism. Using his training as a heating engineer, he found numerous ways of helping to disrupt the Japanese war effort, for example by sabotaging rifles the guards gave him to repair. For other prisoners he built radios, cooking and lighting equipment, and artificial limbs. The book also offers revealing insights into the complex relationships between the prisoners and their guards, overturning many of the stereotypes we are often presented with—for example John managed to befriend a guards, who risked his life to bring him extra food rations.