Changi prison camp Look how the Asians love Australia* warning Graphic content*

[Kiwi]

Singapore. 1945-09-13. Prisoners of war released from Changi prison camp were evacuated from Singapore by the Australian Hospital Ship Manunda, the first Australian ship to arrive at Singapore after the surrender of the Japanese. Shown, a group of ex-prisoners of war, members of 8th Division, having a cup of tea while waiting for orders to embark aboard the Manunda.



Changi prison camp, Singapore. 1945. All these men are wearing artificial limbs made in the camp by Warrant Officer Arthur Purden of East Maitland, N.S.W. The men are in good spirits and are glad that they will soon be on their way home. Left to right: NX33254 Private Max Bradford of Sydney, N.S.W, a member of the 2/20th Battalion; VX36959 Lance Corporal Jack Campbell of Apollo bay, Vic; WX16376 Private Steve Gleeson of Mundijong, WA, a member of the 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion; NX41388 Alex McKenzie, of Boggabri, N.S., a member of the 2/30th Battalion.

[Kiwi]

Changi, Singapore, 1945-09-19. Members of 8th Division, ex prisoners of war of the Japanese, demonstrating conditions in their cell at Changi jail. Four men occupied a two-man cell. Identified personnel are: Pte D.A. Meldrum (1); Pte L. Coulson (2); Pte we. Oakley (3); Cpl L.W. Whisker (4).


Changi, Singapore. 1945-08-28. Copies of this leaflet were dropped over Changi prisoner of war camp. The reverse side contained instructions to the Japanese about treatment of prisoners. The annotation on the left of the leaflet was made by the diarist of the 8th Australian Division.

[newman]

That pic looks GOOD! They've been fed and recieved medical treatment for several weeks by then. If you see the pics from when those camps were first liberated, the Aussie & Brit POWs made the Jews of Aucshwitz look healthy by comparison.

The death rate for allied POWs in german POW camps was 4%. The deathrate in the Jap's camps was (at least) 27%. The prisoners released from the kraut's POW camps were lean, but still healthy. Those released from Japan's camps were walking skeletons!

[Kiwi]

Singapore will demolish Changi prison

Singapore
October 9, 2003


Singapore will demolish historic Changi prison where the Japanese held more than 70,000 prisoners during World War II, including thousands of Australians, Britons and many more ethnic Chinese.

The 67-year-old prison is now used as a jail where Singapore carries out executions by hanging.

"It is necessary to redevelop the cluster of prisons at Changi to make way for new prison facilities," Melvin Wong, a spokesman for Singapore's Prisons Department, said yesterday.

Changi, built by Singapore's former British colonial rulers, became one of Japan's most notorious prisoner-of-war camps after Singapore fell to Japan in 1942.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians were starved, worked and tortured there during Japan's occupation of Singapore until 1945.

The Australian Government had campaigned to preserve the site and keep Changi intact.

About 15,000 Australian POWs were held there between February 1942 and September 1945, according to Australian government records.
      

Last month Australian Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson raised the issue with Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.

"This is very important historically," Mr Anderson said at the time.

"I believe the Singaporeans are sensitive to our views," he said.

Earlier in the year Veteran Affairs Minister Danna Vale said: "Changi remains a vital part of the memories and history of Australian POWs in the Pacific. The name Changi has become synonymous for Australians with the suffering of our POWs at the hands of the Japanese during World War II."

Mr Wong said a small part of the prison would be preserved but moved to another site.

- Reuters