The Sinking of the <i>Lisbon Maru by Tony Banham

Author:Tony Banham [Banham, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History
ISBN: 9789882206380
Publisher: HongKongUP
Published: 2006-04-01T05:00:00+00:00

But for the Hong Kong POWs, finally on dry land again at Kobe and Osaka POW camps, in hospitals at Moji, Hiroshima, Kokura, and Osaka, the real test was still to come.

13 Prisoners of War: Japan, 1942 to 1943

They fell together all, as by consent;

They dropped as by a thunder-stroke.

The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1

And then they dropped like flies. Eight hundred and twenty-eight men had been lost in the ship or the waters round it, and a further six had died on the way to Japan; these were not fit men. All had survived nine months on a diet that would have horrified modern mankind, in both its miniscule volume and its lack of basic nutrients — vitamins at the forefront. Many had also been wounded in the battle of Hong Kong and had never had the bed rest and the nutritional supplements that today would be considered vital.

The shock of their experience, the stress of the sinking and the escape, the diseases that had been carried on board the Lisbon Maru and spread through the foetid atmosphere of its holds; the exhaustion and malnutrition, the inadequate clothing and the cold weather; all had taken their toll.

On 10 October, three men died, then eight on 11 October. Then a steady trickle; three men this day, six men that, until — by the end of that month — eighty-three had been lost since they arrived in Japan just three weeks earlier. November was slightly better with only twenty-three deaths, and December too, with only sixteen, but the decline in these numbers was Darwin’s doing; only the strongest were left.

The shock was also still sinking in back in Hong Kong. Barbara Redwood’s diary, 12 October:

Dreadful headlines in Jap. newspaper — the Lisbon Maru, which went down on 1st October, was full of Hong Kong troops; supposedly 1,800 troops on board and 900 saved. Old Horswell (late P. D. O. Dockyard) saved and made statements, among which that Major M. Greenwood was among the missing — rank could be mixed up — feel so sorry for Mrs. Greenwood. Also a Lieut. Wood missing — I don’t know if that’s Joanie’s husband — dreadful doubts for her. Don’t really think Topper or Sid204 or Arthur would be classed as technicians (which we understood earlier were the folk meant) — but it’s an awful doubt in everyone’s mind …

Oct. 13th. Not feeling so comfortably sure that our men are alright because today’s paper tells of other prisoners who had arrived in Japan and were broadcasting. Fears that this was just a batch that were sunk. i.e., the boys may have been among them …

The sinking of the Lisbon Maru had been just the start. A further two hundred of the survivors of the sinking would be dead before 1942 ground to a painful end.

The Osaka group took stock of their surroundings and had a surprise; they were to be interviewed on the radio.

Hamilton recounts: “Shortly after we arrived in Osaka some of us were

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