A heart-warming story which contradicts the generally held view of the cruelty of Japanese POW camp guards: British POW kept in touch with Japanese camp guard for 64 years | The Japan Times Online Tom.
There were some decent Japanese guards, but they were not the norm from what I've read. Mr Baxter previously wrote a book about his experience as a FEPOW called "Not Much of a Picnic" in 1995. I don't know if "MIssing belived Killed" is a updated reprint under a new title or a new book entirely?
A heart-warming story which contradicts the generally held view of the cruelty of Japanese POW camp guards Tom, many thanks for posting this. It's a remarkable story, but I don't agree that it contradicts the generally held view of the guards' cruelty. The article says: "Baxter first came across Hirano in 1943 and soon realized this guard was much more charitable than others, who could be particularly vicious with their prisoners." In other words, Hayato Hirano was the exception and not the rule. Having said that, I am not entirely dispassionate because of what my late father told me about his own experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese (including on the Burma Railway). Nearly 20 years ago, I sat him down (rather against his will, at first) and taped a series of conversations with him about his recollections. You can find some video clips of those conversations here.
REK, Hello and welcome to the forum. I notice from the newspaper report that Hirano was a civilian used as a guard. Perhaps that was the big difference, plus also being Buddist. It would appear that he was one of the exceptions to the norm. Regards Tom
Thanks Tom. Yes, those aspects would have marked him out from the others and no doubt his decency towards the prisoners must have made him something of a target (potentially, at least) so far as the other guards were concerned. A good example of humanity requiring greater courage and strength of character than brutality does. Richard
MyOldDad To read what I consider to be a very true picture of the terrible conditions that faced the FEPOWS you could do a lot worse than read, if you havn't already done so, "Surviving the sword" by Brian MacArthur. Ron
