#VJday75

15th August marks the 75th Anniversary of Victory over Japan Day and the end of World War II.

My Great Grandfather Richard George Read served in the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Artillery for thirty-two years between 1914 to 1946, during World War I and II. During World War II, his Regiment, the 118th Field Regiment, was shipped to Singapore and disembarked just days before the surrender to invading Japanese forces on 15th February 1942, beginning nearly three and a half years as a prisoner of war in the infamous Changi POW camp.

Here is photo from his archive. This propaganda photo shows a 'work party' of nine Allied prisoners of war and their three Japanese Guards, most likely in the Bukit Timah area of Singapore and probably taken late in 1942 (though 'Mar '44' is written on the back). These work parties were used by the Japanese as a form of slave labour during the war. This particular photo was most likely used to illustrate to the outside world how well they treated prisoners, a far cry from the reality of their true treatment.

My Great Grandfather suffered from many tropical diseases. The Japanese provided no medical treatment to the prisoners, leaving them to look after themselves. They also gave minimal food rations to prisoners; my Great Grandfather was 12st 10lbs at the start of his incarceration, but due to illness and malnutrition this reduced to 7st 10lbs by the summer of 1945, that’s a 40% reduction.

After the War ended, he and many others who were seriously ill were taken to hospitals to recover and put on weight. My Great Grandfather spent time recuperating in India, before returning home to his family in Aberystwyth in December 1945. Sadly he never really recovered and died in September 1946. He is commemorated on the Llanbadarn Fawr War Memorial near Aberystwyth.

Simon Burgess

Author's website : http://www.richardgeorgeread.com