After three and a half brutal years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, Royal Marine Jim Wren could hardly believe the words he was hearing.
By then his weight was down to six stone as he worked as a slave labourer on starvation rations.
But the Japanese camp commander was telling him and 1,300 fellow prisoners that the Second World War was over and they were free.
Jim recalls: “Some chaps just stood there, dumbfounded. Others hugged their chum, next to him.
“Others just went to the ground and shed a few tears. I shed a few tears, I can tell you.”
He was one of 50,000 British servicemen imprisoned by the Japanese. A quarter died of torture, disease and random beatings by sadistic guards.
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Seventy-six years later, aged 101, he is one of few survivors still alive.
Today, on the 76th anniversary of Victory over Japan (VJ) Day, he tells his story to help ensure Allied sacrifices are never forgotten.
Our struggle with Japan has been dubbed “the forgotten war” because it was overshadowed by the fight against Hitler’s Germany.
Jim, from Salisbury, Wilts, remembers much of it like it was yesterday.
He also survived two of Britain’s worst wartime disasters – the sinking of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, and the fall of “impregnable fortress” Singapore.
Jim says: “That whole experience is in the back of my mind all the time because some things never go away. It’s had an effect on me mentally over the years. I lost many good friends. I can still see their faces and remember them.”
Jim, originally from East Grinstead, West Sussex, was 19 when he joined up in 1940 and was posted to battlecruiser HMS Repulse escorting Arctic convoys to Russia.
As war with Japan loomed, it sailed to the Far East with battleship Prince of Wales.
But Japanese bombers sank both ships off Malaya on December 10, 1941. “The first bomb that hit dropped right behind me,” says Jim.
“Fortunately, it went down two or three decks before it exploded.
“Once you realised that the ship was going, it was every man for himself.
“The sea was slick black tar and oil. I managed to grab on to some flotsam and some time after I was dragged on to a float.
“With the sinking of both ships, 840 men and boys were lost that day.” Jim and other survivors tried to defend Singapore in 1942. He escaped on HMS Mata Hari, which was full of refugees, but a Japanese destroyer caught them.
“Japanese sailors came on board, shouting and hitting and striking people, and the children were frightened to death. I can see the fear on their faces today.”
The PoWs were taken to a disused school in Palembang, Sumatra.
Jim recalls: “We were sleeping on a brick floor with no bedding, sanitation or water. Oil drums were used as toilets which had to be emptied daily. The water was unsuitable for drinking unless boiled.
“Our two senior officers went to guards to discuss the way POWs should be treated as outlined in the Geneva Convention.
“They were taken by the military police and were never seen again. It showed the kind of people we were dealing with.”
Jim was held in four camps over the next three and half years. “It was slavery of the first order. No shelter or clothing to protect us from the sun. The only covering I had at night was a couple of hessian bags. I turned them into a sleeping bag.
“Everybody lost weight, I was about six stone by the end. Everyone was suffering from skin disease owing to poor hygiene.”
It was a shock when the war ended.
“We were called to ‘Tenko’, which is a roll call. The commander came and told us, ‘The war is over’. Then he ran and left.” Back home, Jim’s sweetheart Margaret had been told he was missing presumed dead.
“I arrived home on the Monday morning and my mother and father were there. To my huge surprise, Margaret was also there.
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“Before Singapore we’d been together about four months. None of her letters arrived. We got married the following year.”
Jim and the armed forces charity SSAFA want people to remember the sacrifices of our troops in the Far East.
Robert Lee, of the Royal British Legion, says: “The millions who served in the Far East came from across the world to form one of the most multicultural armies in history, enduring some of the harshest conditions of the Second World War.
“We remain dedicated to providing lifelong support to all those who have served.”
- SSAFA urges veterans & families who need help to contact ssafa.org.uk/forcesline or 0800 260 6767
