RAF Memoirs of SE Asia
358 Squadron

Bangkok P.O.W. Camp

by William A. Pugh

On Thursday morning, June 7th, we left C.I.D. Headquarters by car under armed escort and driven to the P.O.W. camp which we later found out had at one time been a girls' private boarding school. The Camp was divided by a strong wire fence with three-quarters of the area and buildings given over to the civilian Internees with the remaining quarter housing P.O.W.s. We met about 20 other P.O.W.s at this time but kept to ourselves initially mainly because we were so tired and not in the best of health.

The next day, Friday June 8th, we had a visit from the Secretary to the Camp Commandant. She spoke excellent English and was the liaison between the English-speaking civilian Internees and the Siamese Military. She informed us that the Japanese Army Headquarters in Bangkok were putting heavy pressure on the Siamese Authorities to allow them to interrogate us.

The Camp Commandant had obviously received instructions that only F/Sgt Raymond 'Timber' Woods would be available for interrogation as the other three were too sick and injured. It later became obvious to us that he had received instructions from the Siamese Underground Headquarters and O.S.S. Officers because it confirmed the story of what had transpired during the first night in Bangkok, namely Smithy telling Timber that only he may be interrogated by the Japanese.

As I recall, Timber was taken away that afternoon to be interrogated by the Japanese and we later found out that the Siamese had insisted on being present at the interrogation despite strong protests from the Japanese Interrogation Officers. The Siamese would not, under any circumstances, allow Timber to fall into the hands of the Japanese as undoubtedly would have been the case if they had left him alone with them. Chances are we would never have seen Timber again.

Upon Timber's return, he said the Chief Japanese Interrogator had been educated in Chicago and told him he was now a proud Japanese Officer. He spoke excellent English, got very mad because Timber had his legs crossed and reminded him that if he did so again he would take his sword and hit him across the knees with it. Timber said the Jap Officer laughed loudly at his statement that we were on a Meteorological flight. Timber said he had them convinced about the total crew of 7, especially as we knew beforehand that the Siamese Police and villagers had ambushed the Japanese Army Patrol and had also taken care of the bodies of our own crew friends who had been killed.

Consequently the Japanese had no idea of how many of our crew had been killed. Timber was also sure he had convinced (if that is a good word to use under these circumstances), them that only four of us had survived. This was later more or less confirmed when two American O.S.S. Officers and one S.A.S. Major visited us briefly after our return to the P.O.W. camp from hospital.

By Saturday June 9th, when we were taken to the International Red Cross Hospital of Bangkok, I had developed a severe case of dysentery which turned out to be the Ameibic type, the worst, wouldn't you know. My wounds had turned septic, as small as they were, although shrapnel had been removed from my arm by the State Police Doctor at C.I.D. Headquarters. Our accommodation was on the second floor at the extreme corner of a long 2-storey building overlooking a klong (canal) and what appeared to be a very pleasant park. We were told to keep out of sight of everyone - the room was open to the elements except for the roof, of course. The food was almost non-existent - a large bowl of rice twice a day for the four of us - not that I could eat very much.

The first morning at about 0600 Hrs. we were awakened by lots of shouting, yelling and screaming and upon going to the open side of the room we were shocked to see at least 300 - 400 Japanese soldiers doing drill, bayonet practice, ju-jitsu and other hand to hand fighting routines. We immediately ducked out of sight but stole the occasional glance to see what they were doing. They finished about mid-morning but this was to go on nearly all of the days we spent in the hospital.

The second day, early afternoon, a Swiss doctor named Lauper visited us for further treatments. He brought us a small loaf (made of rice flour) and nearly every day thereafter between 1500-1600 Hrs. He arrived with a loaf for us to 'feast' on! The loaf was smaller than a 'Hovis' loaf, however it was a wonderful treat and we savoured each bite "like it was strawberries and cream" someone said.

Weaker

I was getting weaker and my left leg from the knee down to my foot was swollen to almost the thickness of my thigh. Dr. Lauper told me he would try to get some medicine for this and also some drugs for the dysentery. I never found out what was wrong with my leg. After about 4 or 5 days Dr. Lauper arrived one morning with the Hospital's Chief Siamese Doctor, together with three nurses. Dr. Lauper by the way spoke good English and he informed me that he had been fortunate enough to purchase probably the last of the drug available in Bangkok (a German-made drug) that hopefully would cure my Ameibic dysentery, otherwise he had no medicine nor drugs that could. I later had to sign for these drugs and service provided by Dr. Lauper and the Swiss Consul in Bangkok. I assumed they would eventually recover their costs and his from the British Government.

I had to lie down on my stomach and was told to grip the sides of the cot as I was going to really feel pain. The nurses on either side held me down - I managed to see the syringe and a tube full of red fluid. Each unit had to be 9" long! To say "I saw stars" is putting it mildly. I never thought an injection could be so long and so painful. This drug really cured me - within 3 days I was feeling a lot better although still very weak. The lack of nutrition was becoming self-evident as we had all lost a lot of weight and would certainly not be regaining any on a diet of 2 or 3 bowls of rice per day plus an occasional ration of rice bread.

We were in hospital for nearly three weeks. Shortly after being returned to the P.O.W. Camp near the end of June we learned from the Secretary to the Camp Commandant that the Japanese had protested angrily to the Siamese top military staff that they had only had the opportunity to interrogate one crew member. We guessed the Siamese had purposely prolonged our stay in hospital until the heat was off them, and the Japanese would hopefully forget about us.

There were only 20 P.O.W.s in the Camp when we arrived and three more joined us a few weeks later, making a grand total of 27 by the time we escaped. There is absolutely no doubt that all of us were far better treated than we would have been in Japanese hands. We were always hungry but we were a heck of a lot better than those P.O.W.s in the hands of the Japanese we were to learn so much about later. I don't know how many civilian Internees there were but I guess it had to be in excess of 100, not many more than that.

Although we were kept separated we were allowed to join them at meal times at approximately 0700 Hrs., Noon and 1800 Hrs. Guards patrolled the wire fence keeping us apart but we were allowed through a gate at these meal times. The meals while meagre consisted mainly of rice with occasional vegetable and chicken pieces and tea to drink. This was luxurious compared to what we had been having.

The Camp Commandant had been requested by the Internee's Committee (formed to deal with him over rations and other necessities they hoped to secure) to allow P.O.W.s 'visiting time' with them in the afternoons. We were allowed to do same and were assigned to different families. The Internees felt the need of contact with us in order to be brought up to date on what was happening outside as one can apprecaite they had been interned for over three years. The Internees were mainly from the United Kingdom and, some had been in Siam for so many years that their children were born there. They were so happy to see us and made such a fuss initially it was almost embarrassing.

One day Timber, Ramsay, Taffy and I were just leaving our building when to our astonishment a large dark American limousine came through the main gate to our right. It stopped right by us as we walked - we thought for sure it was full of Japs - but before we knew it we were hustled back into the building by two American O.S.S. Officers and one British S.A.S. Officer in their military uniforms. They greeted us - checked our names, ranks, etc., and said we were the ones they wanted to see. Out came 'Camels' and 'Lucky Strike' cigarettes for which we were more than grateful - in those days nearly everyone seemed to crave the smoking habit. They told us that the Japanese had apparently forgotten about us Thank Goodness! Nevertheless we should not change our cover-up story about being on a Meteorological flight. They said they were planning to get everyone out in due course, all 27 of us. How? They did not say, of course. We felt greatly relieved after this visit, which was reqlly quite unbelieveable when you consider that these men were driving around Bangkok in broad daylight taking an immense chance of being accosted by the Japanese who were in Bangkok -in large numbers. We heard later that there were more than 15,000 of them.

There were repeated rumours circulating amongst the Internees that the Japanese were beginning to realize the Siamese Army and Government Officials could no longer be trusted as Allies and the Japanese Army would take over Bangkok completely as well as the rest of the country and install their own Military Government. This information or rumours were being passed to some of the Internees, who were allowed once or twice a week to see visitors in the Commandant's house which we learned had been the Principal's/ Head Mistress's home. The visitors were former servants and in some cases - the Siamese wives and children of British men who arrived in Siam usually quite young and single - so we learned.

Also among our P.O.W. group were three Siamese who in 1941 were attending Universities in the U.S.A. They joined the U.S. Army and volunteered as O.S.S. Agents to be dropped back into Siam to help organize the Underground Movement. Unfortunately some Siamese gave away their location to the Siamese Authorities in their ignorance of the situation - fortunately for our three friends the Siamese Underground felt it would be safer for them to be in this Camp. Their families were allowed visits to them once a week. It seemed strange to us that they were kept as P.O.W.s but we concluded that all concerned in the Underground Headquarters had their good reasons for same.

A couple of the American Officers and a New Zealander Army Major in our Camp decided that if the Japanese were likely to take over all of Bangkok, our lives would be in jeopardy. It was agreed that we would be split up into groups of four men (there were still only 24 of us at this time), with an Officer in charge of each group. I was assigned to Major Malcolm MacKenzie's group (a Mustang fighter pilot). Our escape plans then started to take shape and regular meetings of the groups took place. We would, when the time came for escaping, be given a pouch containing rough maps and some Siamese money. It sounded like a very ambitious undertaking considering our obvious looks, etc. However, what these Officers did not know yet was the escape plan that O.S.S. and S.A.S. Headquarters in Bangkok had in mind for us.

Our quarters were not too bad, at least we had a bed to sleep on, the usual wood and rope-mesh type. There was no electricity as previously mentioned and light was by a saucer of oil with a wick in it. Amazing how simple it was, but it gave a reasonable amount of light.

Bombs

One day we were just walking back from having had our mid-day meal when we heard bombs exploding in the distance. We then heard aircraft engines and on scanning the sky we spotted a flight of Bombers. We watched them approach then to our consternation caught glimpses of falling bombs. The sticks were exploding close to us so we quickly fell to the ground and felt the earth reverberate more strongly with each explosion and wondered if we were going to be killed by our own Bombers.

The raid did not last long and it was later rumoured that the main railway station and freight yards had been almost completely destroyed as was another section of the dock system. There could be no doubt that the crews were well briefed on the location of our Camp as the precision bombing was spectacular in that respect, although while it was going on we were not aware of that!

There had been a couple of air raids while we were in hospital but the action was quite a distance from us so those experiences never quite matched what we experienced in the Camp. Talking about bombs and the noise they make reminds me of thunderstorms. I had always thought that the thunderstorms we experienced in India before the Monsoons set in were severe, but the ones we experienced at night while in hospital were something else. I have never heard such loud thunder-claps before or since - it was every bit as bad as a bomb going off near us. The building would really tremble and it seemed to go on for ages.

One of the Internees, while we were there, through outside help of relatives or friends, was able to secure an old radio with short-wave bands that he was able to hook up to an auto battery or some other apparatus. In any event he never told anyone how he was able to operate the radio but he was able to pick up Allied broadcasts mostly from Ceylon or India. As a result he would write up a news sheet that was passed around to everybody, very discreetly, and quite frequently. While we now got to know how the war was progressing in the Pacific and Burma we nevertheless had no idea what was to come in early August.

We were settling in for a longer stay than the way it turned out. It was very boring especially in the long dark evenings - if I recall correctly it was usually dark by 1900 Hrs.

We were getting some food in us and were able to bathe ourselves daily from water in a huge cask outside the rear of the building. The Siamese kept it full for us each day. We only had the Army/Police type uniform and open wooden sandals with a 1" strap over our toes. We got used to them quickly as going barefoot you risked stepping on centipedes or scorpions or any other insects, e.g., large beetles. We managed to keep ourselves clean and were feeling reasonably fit (but always hungry) under the circumstances. The opportunity to eat and sometimes mingle with the Internees was very interesting, after all they were a lot 'older' than us and we were just kids to them! I admired them all but they were quietly suffering in their own way and the stress of living in abnormal conditions for over three years was I think having its effect.

Then it happened - the word spread around the Camp like wildfire - the Americans had bombed Hiroshima in Japan, with what they were calling an Atom Bomb that literally destroyed the City - one bomb!! This was August 6th and of course it created all1sorts of speculation about what would happen next. Little did we know that over 100,000 civilians had been killed. On August 9th we heard that a second Atom Bomb was dropped on Nagasaki with equal devastation and loss of life. Everybody, P.O.W.s and Internees were full of expectation as the news spread that the War may be very near its end. It was hard to believe, but that's what we all wanted to believe - it gave everyone a big lift.

There were more rumours now than ever and the paramount rumor was the one we feared the most. The talk of a Japanese Military take-over of Siam had resurfaced more strongly than before. We later learned that at this time I cannot be sure of the dates - probably between August llth and 14th - that the Underground Headquarters decided on a new escape plan to get all 27 of us out of Bangkok as they were very worried about our fate if the Japanese took control of our Camp. The Japs did not normally travel through the part of Bangkok where we were imprisoned, however truckloads of Japanese soldiers were now passing close to our Camp presumably to take up new positions in the event they decided to take over Bangkok completely.

The scare died down a bit after a couple of days, "no news is good news" we told ourselves, however all sorts of rumours continued to fly. The Siamese we learned, despite the Japanese veiled threats of a takeover, were obviously very happy with the turn of events realizing their original decision to join the Allies and provide an "Underground Operation" would be very favourable for them when the war was over.

On August 15th the Japanese had apparently accepted the Allies' Surrender Terms. All of a sudden the Siamese could not do enough for the Internees in particular, and relaxed their control over us in that we were allowed to freely mingle on the grounds with the Internees.

A special section near the main gate opposite end of the Camp to our gate was set aside for relatives and friends of the Internees to freely mingle for hours instead of the usual 30 minutes. We were introduced to the families of the three Siamese O.S.S. Agents and I found myself attracted to the fairhaired Eurasian daughter of one of the Internees who we had got to know. However I guess all of us young men were eyeing the girls but that's as far as it went, and from a distance I might add.

One of the Internees, a gentleman who worked for British American Tobacco Company in Bangkok prior to the War, on learning of my being employed by a Steamship Company in Liverpool said he would be recruiting new staff during his leave in the United Kingdom. He said my experience in the Steamship freight business would be an asset if I wanted to come back to live in Siam as he could employ me in their Traffic Department. Sounded very exciting but - let's get home first, I said to myself.

    (True to his word he visited Liverpool in March of 1946 and I was surprised to see him standing at the main counter of our office. He offered me a job right there and then and said I would be given a 3-year contract with 6 months leave in the United Kingdom. If I agreed I should be ready to go in late April (by sea of course), with a group of other new employees and some older experienced staff who apparently wanted to get away from the many post-war restrictions we were still experiencing. I felt I had a good job with my Company and what with a new girlfriend and family pressure to stay home for awhile, I reluctantly turned down a very attractive career opportunity, or so I thought.)

Victory

And now back to the P.O.W. Camp once again. The Camp Commandant had called the Internee's Committee together for a meeting and one of the items discussed was "Could the Internees have a Victory Party"? The result was that the school's assembly hall was provided for such. The Internees invited all of us and asked if we had any talented people to put on a couple of skits and such like. We found out that a small piano accordion was available, although old and maybe a few notes missing. Yours truly having learned to play this instrument 'was' volunteered to give a couple of solos and lead a Sing-Song. This all sounded crazy because most of us were thinking of just one thing - to get out of there as soon as possible.

In any event the Concert and following Dance to phonograph records was held on Saturday, August 18th, and was a very lively affair. The Dance was mainly for the Internees and it was great to see them all-so happy and enjoying themselves.

On or about August 20th a group of us were taken by the Siamese for a visit to the King's Palace and the many Temples throughout the grounds of same which were quite close to our Camp's location. Then one day we were allowed to go out of the Camp but only within the immediate vicinity as the Japs were apparently still wanting to fight on, however the Siamese guards kept a close watch over us. We were able to have a quick look down one of the roads where the Zoo was located and it looked very impressive, the grounds were beautifully groomed.

We dared not venture too far so we came back to the Camp but, before entering the Compound we sat on the Bridge parapet (over the klong) for awhile watching small boats on the klong loaded with fruit and vegetables and other merchandise. They were selling their produce and wares to people in passing boats as well as some on shore. It was not only interesting but also a very colourful sight with the boat operators wearing vivid coloured clothing and brightly coloured umbrellas.

Suddenly a truckload of Japs went by and as one could imagine they were very interested and curious about us. After the truck passed by we decided it was best to get back inside the Camp. It was at about this time we learned that Bangkok had been divided between the Japanese and Siamese Armies when the Japs first arrived in Siam. The Siamese had become reluctant allies of the Japanese. Prior to the Jap Army marching into Siam they issued an ultimatum that unless Siam joined their cause they would bomb Bangkok's Palaces, Temples and other historical landmarks into oblivion. At the time the Japanese Ambassador to Siam was delivering the ultimatum a large number of Japanese bombers were circling above the City. The Siamese realized they could not defend themselves against an air bombardment without sustaining heavy loss of life and destruction of all their Temples and Royal Palaces they held so dear. This was something they could not accept. Consequently they joined forces with the Japanese and Bangkok was divided between them as was the airport, which we were soon to discover.

The next few days we talked a lot about how soon we would be going home and what we would do upon our return - after having a party or two, of course!! F/Lt. Bruce and others congratulated the four of us when they learned that our Meteorological flight story was made-up. They said they were really convinced from us that this was our mission - made us feel good that our attempt to cover-up the purpose of our real flight and involvement with the 'Underground' was successful.

RAF Memoirs of SE Asia: 358 Squadron Special Ops and P.O.W

More RAF 358 Squadron

Escape from Siam RAF 358 Squadron, Burma 1945

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© Copyright 2001 by William A. Pugh.
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