Touching meeting for Japanese, British 'Death Railway' veterans

[webfact]

Touching meeting for Japanese, British 'Death Railway' veterans

LONDON: -- A Japanese engineer on the notorious World War II "Death Railway" and a British soldier forced to build the line clasped each other's hands tightly Monday as they met in reconciliation.

Mikio Kinoshita, 94, and former prisoner of war (PoW) Harold Atcherley, 96, whose Japanese captors made him work as a slave labourer on the track between Burma -- modern-day Myanmar -- and Thailand, sat quietly on a sofa together as they reflected on their shared experiences.

The two did not cross paths in the 1940s and despite only being able to converse through a translator, the warm rapport between the elderly men, both slowed by age but razor-sharp in mind, was evident at a reception in the Army and Navy gentleman's club in London.

As the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender ending World War II approaches in August, the two men hoped their rare meeting would encourage understanding between those affected by the "Death Railway" -- and foster remembrance of the suffering of those who worked and died building the line.

"This evening marks the reconciliation between Mikio Kinoshita and myself. It is 73 years ago since he and I worked on the construction of the Burma-Siam Railway," said Atcherley, who was then a young army captain.

Citing his former enemy's empathy, he said it was wrong to judge people for the group they happened to belong to rather than their character.

"We should, I think, remind ourselves that wars are not made by soldiers but by governments," he said.

- Brutality of slave labour -

More than 60,000 Allied PoWs worked as slave labourers on the Burma railway line in 1942-43 in brutal conditions. Some 13,000 PoWs and 100,000 indigenous workers died building the line.

The 420-kilometre (260-mile) track linking the Thai and Myanmar railway systems was aimed at resupplying the Japanese army as it fought British colonial forces and their allies.

Kinoshita and Atcherley were among 10 people -- five British survivors, five Japanese -- interviewed for a documentary by filmmakers HLA entitled "Moving Half the Mountain: Building the Death Railway".

On seeing it, Kinoshita said he wanted to meet the surviving PoWs and Atcherley invited him to London.

"I feel such a strong bond to you all," Kinoshita said on meeting the British survivors present.

Conscripted into service, he said he did not experience violence on his section of the line working with Australian PoWs, but when he heard of the "cruel conditions" elsewhere, he felt "deeply saddened".

He said he personally thanked almost every PoW who worked under him and "even now, I would like to see all of them again".

- 'Enemies can become friends' -

Kinoshita, honoured by Japan's emperor for his postwar work in youth crime prevention, said he had attended many memorial services in Myanmar for those who died -- 26 times over 39 years.

"When I consider the war, regardless of the winners or losers, it seems it is the people who were involved are the victims. I heartily hope that such sorrow will not be repeated ever again."

Kinoshita is making the most of his first trip to Europe, trying out fish and chips in a London pub and going for a bus tour of the city.

"It's a wonderful human story," Keiichi Hayashi, Japan's ambassador to Britain, told AFP.

"It's such a long time ago but still we find that there are so many people who lived through the ordeal and want to see their enemy and hold their hand.

"That should give us a lesson that this sort of tragedy should never happen again.

"Their friendship symbolises the kind of relationship our two countries have managed to cultivate over many years. Bitter enemies can make good friends after understanding each other."


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2015-06-23

[oldsailor35]

Not all former POW's of the japs can forgive their slavemasters, i guess it is an individual thing.

Living in Thailand, i have visited the line and Hell Fire Pass on several occaisions.

I had one cousin who was there, and he had two brothers in law, one of whom died there under terrible circumstances.

MY uncle was CHINDIT and had many tales of the disgusting tortures perpetrated by the Japanese on the native population of Burma,who seemed to love doing these things. My cousin also told me things that he experienced and saw whilst enslaved by the japs. From what they told me, they never saw any acts of compassion from the japs. When i visit Kanchanaburi i personally feel no empathy with those slave masters, no hatred, but just disgust and extreme dislike. As an ex serviceman i visited Japan on several occaisions in the 50's and despite the grovelling attitude of the men in those immediate post war days, i feel i can never trust them not to repeat the actions of their fathers given the opportunity.

Edited June 23, 2015 by oldsailor35

[bajajvivek]

Not all former POW's of the japs can forgive their slavemasters, i guess it is an individual thing.

Living in Thailand, i have visited the line and Hell Fire Pass on several occaisions.

I had one cousin who was there, and he had two brothers in law, one of whom died there under terrible circumstances.

MY uncle was CHINDIT and had many tales of the disgusting tortures perpetrated by the Japanese on the native population of Burma,who seemed to love doing these things. My cousin also told me things that he experienced and saw whilst enslaved by the japs. From what they told me, they never saw any acts of compassion from the japs. When i visit Kanchanaburi i personally feel no empathy with those slave masters, no hatred, but just disgust and extreme dislike. As an ex serviceman i visited Japan on several occaisions in the 50's and despite the grovelling attitude of the men in those immediate post war days, i feel i can never trust them not to repeat the actions of their fathers given the opportunity.

British enslaved half of the world population and treated them terribly. Should that half world never forgive the British? French, Dutch, Spanish did the same things to the people of their captured lands. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. It’s better to forgive and start friendships rather than keeping hatred inside one's self.

[sabian]

Well if we hadn't had the British Empire we wouldn't of been able to free Asia from the grips of the Japanese, and the cruelty dealt out by the Japanese is legendary, as far as I remember we never murdered hundreds of thousands like in the rape of Nanking. I'm not saying imperialsm is right but a lot of our former colonies seem to be doing pretty well for themselves after adopting our education and governmental systems. We didn't just take as it is always mentioned, we also shared a lot of our success and provided stability to a lot of these countries who had been at conflict for years. Also the sheer brutality of the Japanese is something still not forgotten in the UK and it's the continued arrogance of the Japanese to these events which hasn't helped. Comparing the two I find quite insulting really.

[NickJ]

Whoa.....Hold the Fort....The British did what?????.......

[Usernames]

Well if we hadn't had the British Empire we wouldn't of been able to free Asia from the grips of the Japanese, and the cruelty dealt out by the Japanese is legendary, as far as I remember we never murdered hundreds of thousands like in the rape of Nanking. I'm not saying imperialsm is right but a lot of our former colonies seem to be doing pretty well for themselves after adopting our education and governmental systems. We didn't just take as it is always mentioned, we also shared a lot of our success and provided stability to a lot of these countries who had been at conflict for years. Also the sheer brutality of the Japanese is something still not forgotten in the UK and it's the continued arrogance of the Japanese to these events which hasn't helped. Comparing the two I find quite insulting really.

Other than their initial surrenders, the British role in the Pacific theater was minimal. A few things in Burma and little else.

[bangon04]

Well if we hadn't had the British Empire we wouldn't of been able to free Asia from the grips of the Japanese, and the cruelty dealt out by the Japanese is legendary, as far as I remember we never murdered hundreds of thousands like in the rape of Nanking. I'm not saying imperialsm is right but a lot of our former colonies seem to be doing pretty well for themselves after adopting our education and governmental systems. We didn't just take as it is always mentioned, we also shared a lot of our success and provided stability to a lot of these countries who had been at conflict for years. Also the sheer brutality of the Japanese is something still not forgotten in the UK and it's the continued arrogance of the Japanese to these events which hasn't helped. Comparing the two I find quite insulting really.

Other than their initial surrenders, the British role in the Pacific theater was minimal. A few things in Burma and little else.

He said "The British Empire" , not the British. In your zeal to belittle the British, you entirely missed the point of the legacy of the empire, which was not entirely negative. Education and transport infrastructure, government systems have been mentioned.

And are you also belittling the Pacific theatre military contributions and sacrifice of the ANZACs, the Gurkhas, the Sikhs, the Malays, among others?

[tigermoth]

And don't forget the Thais who were also forced to work and died in their hundreds at the hands of their Japanese masters. This was in spite of the fact that Thailand did not oppose the Japanese, in fact Bangkok was bombed by the allies on many occassions,

[lostoday]

And don't forget the Thais who were also forced to work and died in their hundreds at the hands of their Japanese masters. This was in spite of the fact that Thailand did not oppose the Japanese, in fact Bangkok was bombed by the allies on many occassions,

Thais were hired and worked as paid labor for the Japanese. You forget the Thais and the Japanese were allies. The Japanese built two railroads and Thai engineers were paid and worked as surveyors for the Japanese in addition to laborers. I think you may be confusing Thais with other Asians who were forced to work on the railroads and died in large numbers.

The Allies bombed Bangkok because they were at war with Thailand. Thailand declared war on both the US and UK in the early part of 1942 I believe. You can google for the exact date.

Edited June 23, 2015 by lostoday

[jesimps]

Well if we hadn't had the British Empire we wouldn't of been able to free Asia from the grips of the Japanese, and the cruelty dealt out by the Japanese is legendary, as far as I remember we never murdered hundreds of thousands like in the rape of Nanking. I'm not saying imperialsm is right but a lot of our former colonies seem to be doing pretty well for themselves after adopting our education and governmental systems. We didn't just take as it is always mentioned, we also shared a lot of our success and provided stability to a lot of these countries who had been at conflict for years. Also the sheer brutality of the Japanese is something still not forgotten in the UK and it's the continued arrogance of the Japanese to these events which hasn't helped. Comparing the two I find quite insulting really.

Other than their initial surrenders, the British role in the Pacific theater was minimal. A few things in Burma and little else.

I have just one reply to that nonsense. Blx! To the tune of Colonel Bogey.

[steveG]

Not all former POW's of the japs can forgive their slavemasters, i guess it is an individual thing.

Living in Thailand, i have visited the line and Hell Fire Pass on several occaisions.

I had one cousin who was there, and he had two brothers in law, one of whom died there under terrible circumstances.

MY uncle was CHINDIT and had many tales of the disgusting tortures perpetrated by the Japanese on the native population of Burma,who seemed to love doing these things. My cousin also told me things that he experienced and saw whilst enslaved by the japs. From what they told me, they never saw any acts of compassion from the japs. When i visit Kanchanaburi i personally feel no empathy with those slave masters, no hatred, but just disgust and extreme dislike. As an ex serviceman i visited Japan on several occaisions in the 50's and despite the grovelling attitude of the men in those immediate post war days, i feel i can never trust them not to repeat the actions of their fathers given the opportunity.

British enslaved half of the world population and treated them terribly. Should that half world never forgive the British? French, Dutch, Spanish did the same things to the people of their captured lands. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. It’s better to forgive and start friendships rather than keeping hatred inside one's self.

You are obviously a British hater. The British did not enslave peoples in their colonies nor did they generally treat then terribly. Talking about slavery - the British were first to abolish the slave trade. Your statements are complete rubbish.

As mentioned in other posts many good things were introduced by the British.

The British colonised to create trade and business unlike some of the other colonial nations such as Spain, for example, who went to South America to steal all the gold (which the British then relieved them of much of it as it was being transported back to Spain - Francis Drake I think). The British bought raw materials and products from their colonies and then manufactured things from them back in UK to then sell back to the world = trade. The British East India Company is a good example of this. In order to do this efficiently infrastructure was built and a system of governance introduced.

At that time in the world colonialism was the norm. When one looks at the main colonial nations and understand that colonisation would happen, be it one coloniser or another, then it is a question of which colonising nation would you prefer to have been colonised by. Many of the old British Colonies are now very successful democracies (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Arabian Peninsula, South Africa, Malaysia etc etc). Where are the old Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch colonies these days. Most are highly corrupt.

[7by7]

I am a Brit and proud of it; but there is much in our history which is nothing to be proud of!

Never enslaved anyone? Well there was that nice little earner for the British; the triangular trade for starters.

Never massacred anyone? One example being the Massacre of Amritsar; there are many others.

Never mistreated prisoners? During the Boer Wars in just one year 10% of the Boer population died in British internment camps; including over 22,000 children. At the same time over 10,000 black Africans were worked to death by the British in slave labour camps.

Tried the same thing in other countries as the Empire crumbled, such as Kenya in the 1950s. If only a fraction of what is reported to have happened in those camps actually happened, it makes the concentration camps in the Boer Wars look like a theme park!

There is a lot in our history, including that of the Empire, of which we can be proud; but just as much of which we should be ashamed.

Fortunately for us, most of our former victims have forgiven us, just as we must forgive the Japanese.

The Thai's, and other 'Romusha' recruited to work on the Railway thought they were going to be well paid, fed and looked after; they were misled!

Not that very many Thai's worked on the railway for long; once they discovered the truth about the working conditions they had a tendency to disappear; an advantage of being in one's home country.

"The conditions in the coolie [Romusha] camps down river are terrible...They are kept isolated from Japanese and British camps. They have no latrines. Special British prisoner parties...bury about 20 coolies a day. These coolies have been brought from Malaya under false pretences – ' easy work, good pay, good houses!' Some have even brought wives and children. Now they find themselves dumped in these charnel houses, driven and brutally knocked about by the Jap and Korean guards, unable to buy extra food, bewildered, sick, frightened. Yet many of them have shown extraordinary kindness to sick British prisoners passing down the river, giving them sugar and helping them into the railway trucks."

Boggett, David, "Notes on the Thai-Burma Railway. Part II: Asian Romusha: The Silenced Voices of History", p. 145

Edited June 23, 2015 by 7by7

[sabian]

Well if we hadn't had the British Empire we wouldn't of been able to free Asia from the grips of the Japanese, and the cruelty dealt out by the Japanese is legendary, as far as I remember we never murdered hundreds of thousands like in the rape of Nanking. I'm not saying imperialsm is right but a lot of our former colonies seem to be doing pretty well for themselves after adopting our education and governmental systems. We didn't just take as it is always mentioned, we also shared a lot of our success and provided stability to a lot of these countries who had been at conflict for years. Also the sheer brutality of the Japanese is something still not forgotten in the UK and it's the continued arrogance of the Japanese to these events which hasn't helped. Comparing the two I find quite insulting really.

Other than their initial surrenders, the British role in the Pacific theater was minimal. A few things in Burma and little else.

Initial surrender in Singapore, and minimal response, you winding us aren't you? Ah yeah you are!

[sdanielmcev]

It is very good to see former enemies embrace each other. Would be nice to see more of that.

[bangon04]

It is very good to see former enemies embrace each other. Would be nice to see more of that.

Many countries are still waiting for the Japanese elite and press to publicly acknowledge atrocities of Imperial Japan. Until they show a genuine regret, the cause of reconciliation between the Japanese and their former enemies will be slow and painful. At least until the older generation is dead .

The younger generation are not informed about their ancestors aggression. We can hope that we learn from past mistakes.

The Germans have reconciled very comprehensively with their Nazi era. Again the younger generation needs to understand the lessons and move on.

[Usernames]

Well if we hadn't had the British Empire we wouldn't of been able to free Asia from the grips of the Japanese, and the cruelty dealt out by the Japanese is legendary, as far as I remember we never murdered hundreds of thousands like in the rape of Nanking. I'm not saying imperialsm is right but a lot of our former colonies seem to be doing pretty well for themselves after adopting our education and governmental systems. We didn't just take as it is always mentioned, we also shared a lot of our success and provided stability to a lot of these countries who had been at conflict for years. Also the sheer brutality of the Japanese is something still not forgotten in the UK and it's the continued arrogance of the Japanese to these events which hasn't helped. Comparing the two I find quite insulting really.

Other than their initial surrenders, the British role in the Pacific theater was minimal. A few things in Burma and little else.

He said "The British Empire" , not the British. In your zeal to belittle the British, you entirely missed the point of the legacy of the empire, which was not entirely negative. Education and transport infrastructure, government systems have been mentioned.

And are you also belittling the Pacific theatre military contributions and sacrifice of the ANZACs, the Gurkhas, the Sikhs, the Malays, among others?

Australia had been independent for four decades before Japan launched its attacks in the Pacific. As for the British, I don't want to get into too much of a long drawn out "discussion." I just don't have the time. But be aware that Japan was Britain's primary ally during the first part of the 20th century, including after World War I. And Britain certainly endorsed the Japanese takeover of the former German colonies in Micronesia that put them directly on America's doorstep all but assuring war. More, records in the British Foreign Office from the 1920s indicate the British were ready to support the Japanese against the US in case of a war. The fact that these British war veterans found themselves imprisoned by the Japanese was due in no small part to their own government's attempts to undercut the US and side with the Japanese against America. Admiral King had the number of the British. Too bad FDR didn't follow his advice more fully.

[Ricardo]

Well if we hadn't had the British Empire we wouldn't of been able to free Asia from the grips of the Japanese, and the cruelty dealt out by the Japanese is legendary, as far as I remember we never murdered hundreds of thousands like in the rape of Nanking. I'm not saying imperialsm is right but a lot of our former colonies seem to be doing pretty well for themselves after adopting our education and governmental systems. We didn't just take as it is always mentioned, we also shared a lot of our success and provided stability to a lot of these countries who had been at conflict for years. Also the sheer brutality of the Japanese is something still not forgotten in the UK and it's the continued arrogance of the Japanese to these events which hasn't helped. Comparing the two I find quite insulting really.

Other than their initial surrenders, the British role in the Pacific theater was minimal. A few things in Burma and little else.

You might not recall early British involvement in the Manhattan Project, which had somewhat of an impact, towards the end of the war in the Pacific.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_contribution_to_the_Manhattan_Project

[losgrad]

Are agression, atrocities and war part of a entire nations civilian DNA? Or Is it a behavioral characteristic of individuals within the military?

[Soutpeel]

Not all former POW's of the japs can forgive their slavemasters, i guess it is an individual thing.

Living in Thailand, i have visited the line and Hell Fire Pass on several occaisions.

I had one cousin who was there, and he had two brothers in law, one of whom died there under terrible circumstances.

MY uncle was CHINDIT and had many tales of the disgusting tortures perpetrated by the Japanese on the native population of Burma,who seemed to love doing these things. My cousin also told me things that he experienced and saw whilst enslaved by the japs. From what they told me, they never saw any acts of compassion from the japs. When i visit Kanchanaburi i personally feel no empathy with those slave masters, no hatred, but just disgust and extreme dislike. As an ex serviceman i visited Japan on several occaisions in the 50's and despite the grovelling attitude of the men in those immediate post war days, i feel i can never trust them not to repeat the actions of their fathers given the opportunity.

British enslaved half of the world population and treated them terribly. Should that half world never forgive the British? French, Dutch, Spanish did the same things to the people of their captured lands. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. It’s better to forgive and start friendships rather than keeping hatred inside one's self.

You are obviously a British hater. The British did not enslave peoples in their colonies nor did they generally treat then terribly. Talking about slavery - the British were first to abolish the slave trade. Your statements are complete rubbish.

As mentioned in other posts many good things were introduced by the British.

The British colonised to create trade and business unlike some of the other colonial nations such as Spain, for example, who went to South America to steal all the gold (which the British then relieved them of much of it as it was being transported back to Spain - Francis Drake I think). The British bought raw materials and products from their colonies and then manufactured things from them back in UK to then sell back to the world = trade. The British East India Company is a good example of this. In order to do this efficiently infrastructure was built and a system of governance introduced.

At that time in the world colonialism was the norm. When one looks at the main colonial nations and understand that colonisation would happen, be it one coloniser or another, then it is a question of which colonising nation would you prefer to have been colonised by. Many of the old British Colonies are now very successful democracies (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Arabian Peninsula, South Africa, Malaysia etc etc). Where are the old Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch colonies these days. Most are highly corrupt.

Er..I am British and the British were the biggest drug dealers the world has ever seen (Opium) and the founding of a lot of the Colonies were established to support that drug trade, Hong Kong being one of them, and all the stuff your talking about came on the back of the drug trade, yes they were the first to abolish slavery, but please don't paint the picture that the British Empire was some noble thing, with the happy natives tolling away in the fields and being glad of their lot in life...it wasn't

[lostoday]

Are agression, atrocities and war part of a entire nations civilian DNA? Or Is it a behavioral characteristic of individuals within the military?

It depends. If you are a racist poster and anything bad is mentioned about anything, computers or what have you then your response is, "typical Asian." Or replace Asian with Thai or Cambodian or Greek.

[Lissos]

Opportunist and Exploitative are terms I'd use for the British Empire.

I use those terms rather than more harsh ones simply because much of the exploitation that went on was with the full cooperation of various local 'nobles' who were quite willing to sell out their fellow countrymen and women (who they were already exploiting and viewed as cattle for their convenience) for that regal costume supplied by London.

Old photos of African tribal Kings on a throne wearing a grass skirt with slave girls at their feet and wearing a robe and crown supplied by the British, illustrates well.

India's education system loves to gloss over the fundamental role of Maharajas for example, in making the East India Company work and expand. Much of the Empire could not have worked had it not been for the local elites who sought to benefit. Otherwise, resistance would have prevented it. In the later days of British India, a relative handfull of administrators ruled millions of people, and that can only come about due to local participation in the exploitation. It applies just as much to the situation in Africa too, where the British similarly saw an 'existing' local trend (slave trading) and then tapped its potential, albeit to a whole new level of industrial organisation. Slave trading had been going on for many centuries in the Mediterranean by cooperation of Arabs, Turks, Vikings and even Jews, long before the well known British phase. On top of 'opportunistic' and 'exploitative', cunning and sneaky describes the Empire.

It was an industrial scale organisation of exploitation and opportunism, but comprising of nothing which hadn't already been going on in the world for many centuries already, was going on still and nor were various elements involved alien to the people of the areas which came under the vast net.

Debate about major Empires always come back to that - "What have the ?????? ever done for us", with similar results.