A Railway on Sumatra Constructed by Prisoners of the Japanese During WWII (1943 - 1945)
John Hedley
John was a British civilian volunteer who served with 1st Battalion Federation of Malay States Volunteer Reserve as an engineer in Malaya from 1937 to 1941. He was then made an officer and was attached to the 1st Battalion Mysore Infantry Regiment in Singapore and Malaya from 1941 to 1942. He was then captured and became a POW in the Dutch East Indies from 1942 till the end of the war in 1945.
REEL 4 sees John talking about being forced into the signing of parole documents, promising not to escape. John then goes on to talk about the camp in Medan and what it was like along with rations, work parties and news about the war. It also contains information about the work parties sent to aceh to construct a road. Finally he mentions the joining of the railway between Pekanbaru and Muaro at the end of the war.
REEL 5 has John discussing the increase in rice rations after the dropping of the atomic bomb, along with finding out from the Japanese that the war had ended. John then goes on to discuss the transport of the prisoners from along the railway back to the airfield in Pekanbaru where John, along with other prisoners met with Lady Mountbatten.
More information about John, along with more of the recordings done with him by the Imperial War Museum can be found here.