£76 in 1951 didn't transform my grandfather's life in 1951. In 2026 money, that would be £2100, for 3 years of torture and abuse, loss of pay. I think he spent it on a second hand car. Here's how that compensations was paid: Japan paid in total £1.6m to the UK government for the suffering of POWs. This amounted to £25 per prisoner Thailand provided compensation, through the sale of the Burma-Siam Railway, of £3 per prisoner The remainder was through the sale of Japanese assets in the UK by the UK government. You are arguing that £76 is or was ever a "life changing amount"? The reality was Japan never compensated the POWs. They compensated a government. The government decided what to do with that money.
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