SANDAKAN HISTORY DOC - Department of Veterans' Affairs

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38 Nelson Short was on the second march and he recalled the bravery with which many POWs faced their end: And if blokes just couldn’t go on, we shook hands with them, and said, you know, hope everything’s all right. But they knew what was going to happen. There was nothing you could do. You just had to keep yourself going. More or less survival of the fittest. Dick Braithwaite became quickly aware of the purpose of this forced march: It was a one-way trip when we started to hear shots, and you felt there was no hope for anyone who fell out. In short, this second march was simply, if this were possible, a more brutal version of the earlier march. Rations were always totally inadequate and proper medical attention non-existent. They ate whatever they could find in the jungle. Nelson Short recalled eating snails and tree ferns. To urge them on, they were beaten with rifle butts. Men died daily of their illnesses— some with their mates close by, others after wandering away alone into the jungle. Men who could not walk any further were shot, bayoneted or, in some instances, beheaded. One or two were killed so that a guard could take from them some treasured personal possession. About 113 died within the first eight days and a group of about 35 were massacred near Tangkul. The survivors of the second march reached Ranau on 27 June, 26 days out from Sandakan. By that time there were only 183 of them left—142 Australian and 41 British POWs. This second march had indeed been a death march.
‘THEY HAD NOT HAD ANY FOOD FOR A WEEK’
Page 1 and 2: P190 Feb 1999
Page 5 and 6: Front cover: Wooden cross erected b
Page 7 and 8: Foreword The events surrounding the
Page 9: REMEMBERING SANDAKAN
Page 12 and 13: 4 The Ings brothers building a hays
Page 15: ‘FOUND OVER SIXTY PAYBOOKS AND VA
Page 18 and 19: 10 During October and November 1945
Page 20 and 21: 12 Volunteer Force, Royal Army Medi
Page 23: ‘WE ARE WELL. WE ARE HAPPY. WE AR
Page 26 and 27: 18 The POWs were brought to Sandaka
Page 28 and 29: 20 to sit in. Prisoners crawled int
Page 30 and 31: 22 Kuching, hundreds of kilometres
Page 33: ‘ONCE YOU STOPPED, YOU STOPPED FO
Page 36 and 37: 28 Keith Botterill was with the thi
Page 38 and 39: 30 Groups 6 to 9 remained at Pagina
Page 40 and 41: 32 By 26 June, just under five mont
Page 43: ‘IT WAS A ONE WAY TRIP’
Page 49 and 50: Last days at Sandakan Camp 29 May-1
Page 51 and 52: all those who could walk. There wer
Page 53: ‘THEY KILLED THE LOT OF THEM’
Page 56 and 57: 48 the Japanese, the POWs built the
Page 59: ‘IF YOU ESCAPE THE SAME THING WIL
Page 62 and 63: 54 his body by two guards. At times
Page 65: ‘SYDNEY WAS A LONG WAY FROM THERE
Page 68 and 69: 60 The only chance at life was esca
Page 70 and 71: 62 From here, Campbell was taken ou
Page 72 and 73: 64 down stream to Liberan Island wh
Page 74 and 75: 66 They had these stretchers, and t
Page 77: REMEMBERING SANDAKAN 1945-1999
Page 80 and 81: 72 eyewitness evidence given at the
Page 82 and 83: 74 over to Allied representatives o
Page 84 and 85: 76 of malnutrition and beriberi fro
Page 86 and 87: 78 mented in 1997 by a list of the
Page 88 and 89: 80 Sandakan Memorial in the Sandaka
Page 90 and 91: 82 lost at Sandakan. During a speci
Page 92 and 93: 84 and the anxiety they must suffer
Page 94 and 95: 86 Sandakan POWs—Australian and B
Page 96 and 97:
88 Books Athol Moffitt, Project Kin
Page 98:
90 Special thanks for their help in
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SANDAKAN HISTORY DOC - Department of Veterans' Affairs

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