The Homecoming (Aka Bamboo Road) by Ann Bennett

Author:Ann Bennett [Bennett, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Andaman Press
Published: 2020-02-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Sirinya laid the colonel’s letter out on the table in the apartment. The whole family were seated around waiting for her to begin, their faces grave and expectant in the flickering lamplight. With long pauses while she struggled to find the right words, and some false starts, she began to translate:

My Dear Khun Chalong, Thank you again for the recent supplies of medicines and equipment you sent into the camp, and for all the IOUs you have cashed so generously. Thank you also for the other equipment your family so bravely brought in yesterday. In time, that will prove very useful and be a true boost to morale.

The medicines have been most helpful in reducing the suffering of our soldiers and the number of deaths in the camp from dysentery. We are still in great need of quinine as malaria is on the rise again

and supplies of iodine are running low too for the treatment of septic ulcers. In addition, if you are able to get hold of any cat gut, that is very useful for operations. We also need chloroform for anaesthetics.

Japanese vigilance in the camp is high again now because of a recent escape attempt as you know. We have even had visits from the Kempeitai this week. As you are not yourselves bringing in the vegetables now it is too risky to attempt to smuggle medical supplies in that way. However, we officers here have thought of an alternative possibility, but it would depend upon further bravery and sacrifice on your part, which we have hardly a right to expect.

The boundaries on two sides of our camp are patrolled by Japanese guards at regular intervals, the other is the river, as you know. On the third side a moat runs alongside the camp, separating it from the rice paddies beyond. The guards do not patrol that section of the boundary for some reason, just as they don’t patrol the river. We think it could be one way of getting medicines into the camp, if you had someone who was prepared to swim across under cover of darkness. As mentioned, we know this is asking more than we have any right to ask of you. However, if by any chance you are agreeable to this plan, please ask your family to let us know tomorrow morning and we will place our own sentries beside the moat on the evening you choose between 8pm and 11pm to receive

the supplies.

Information requested by the organisation in Bangkok is as follows: 5 deaths from dengue fever yesterday, 3 from typhoid, 5 from dysentery, 3 from septicaemia. Construction on the railway is continuing apace, Chungkai cutting is almost finished, and the bridge at Tamarkan river crossing is well underway with some deaths and many injuries due to the dangerous nature of the operation. We have had no information about Japanese troop movements to pass on at present. Please pass this information on to V in Bangkok when you are able, and thank them most sincerely for their continued support with medical supplies and money.

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