Back in June, I gave a lecture for Royal Asiatic Society Korea about Allied POWs in Korea during WWII, which can be watched here:
While researching this presentation (a topic I've been interested in for almost 15 years), I made use of material generously given to me by Chris Sullivan, whose grandfather was a POW in Seoul, including a copy of the excellent book You Must Endure: The Lancashire Loyals in Japanese captivity, 1942–1945. as well as his scans of Nor Iron Bars, a magazine made by Loyals officers while in captivity, and the Diary of Capt. John Lever. Lever's observations about the end of his captivity - and the advent of liberation for Korea - make for interesting reading, particularly on the 80th anniversary of Liberation:
Diary of Capt. John Lever, Lancashire Loyals
August 15th
The air raid warning has just sounded (1.5 pm). This is the third day in succession. On the 12th we saw about 30-40 planes (American) that dropped no bombs on Keijo but yesterday I heard a few bumps which I judged to be about 10 bombs dropped about 10 miles S.E.. Ushihara, the interpreter, who lived in America in his happier days, said they had brought 2 down and that the Americans had stooped to the base trick of imitating Japanese markings on their planes. Things have hotted up since the rescript.[?]
5 officers arrived here this morning from the civil jail - Kershaw, Collinson, Jacobs, Woods, Butler. They have completed the savage 2 years sentence they were awarded for letting Joe Moore and Sgt Bosworth have money for their attempted escape. Unfortunately Mullins has still a year to do and Sgt Bosworth 4 years. Pigott has rather more than a year as his sentence was held over whilst he was in the hospital. So they are not here yet.
Friday August 17th
So much has happened since I wrote the above, two days ago. I couldn't keep pace with it if I were writing in shorthand all the time. Pigott, Mullins, Sgt Bosworth, Sergeant Griffiths and Broyghton walked in this morning under their own steam. They just walked out of the civil jail, the Koreans were storming round the place all night. All of our Korean guards went about midnight, couldn't sleep last night, it's the excitement of waiting to be reborn. We should be out again in the wide wicked world with all its temptations. Hold us back! Our resistance is low. A Yankee airman was brought in yesterday afternoon about 4:00 p.m. in handcuffs. We were able to tell him the war was over, he didn't know.
Wednesday afternoon we were having our usual game of Mah Jong when the gardeners [officers who were allowed to tend a garden that was likely on the present day Yongsan Garrison] came back and said they felt sure the show must be over. We accepted it with reservations, fearful to give full credence to it in case there was any mistake. Yesterday afternoon the news was unrefutable. We had it translated from a paper. Korean flags were flying. There is one outside this morning that has been altered and adapted out of a Jap flag. The original crimson circle on a white background is now the peculiar looking Chosenese flag.
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Harry Varge gave me the story as it struck a gardener yesterday. They left camp in the morning looking for indications that the show was over but there were very few people in the streets and nothing to indicate a change. Most of the gardeners felt down, as, so far as they could see, it might be a false alarm. By noon there were indications. Koreans were rushing up to the fence shouting “Tomodachi,” meaning you and me pals, and giving the thumbs up sign.
On the way back odd Koreans were trying to be demonstrative but were being chased off by the sentries. Gradually as they progressed into the more populated parts this got more and more out of hand, the sentries were mopping their brows and finally had to cave in in a muck sweat. [As the POW Camp was next to the train tracks, they could see that] Trains had been commandeered and were packed tight and oozing over with wildly cheering Koreans waiting flags. They were getting in the way flinging their arms up and shouting “Banzai,” “Japanese Koto” ([Kofuku?] surrendered) and all sorts of things, rushing amongst our fellows shaking hands with them and generally flowing over with bonhomie. They are deliriously happy Japan is beaten. Nobody loves the Japanese, especially a government produced Japanese.
August 26th
Yesterday morning a message from the office to place P.W. in yellow letters on a black background in the middle of the square so that one of our planes could drop supplies (food and medical). This was done in 20 ft letters. A plane started to hover around at about midday at about 30,000 ft but after an hour or so went away without coming any lower.
August 27th
A plane was round again yesterday up to the same trick, but went away without coming down low at all. The same happened again this morning. We have P.W. in large letters in the square and a Union Jack on the canteen roof and we are still patiently waiting. We are still getting Japanese papers daily and having the bits we want translated into English. This was going on for a long time before the Nips packed in but I never dare to mention it in these notes in case the Nips did a search and found it. There would probably have been a lot of trouble all around if we had been found out. The last bit of news we got officially was about a fortnight after the landing on the continent in June last year just before Tojo ceased to be Premier. We had one Red Cross parcel each still to be issued on the 14th when hostilities ceased. This was issued on the 19th. Had the war going on until next spring I think we should have had a very thin time this coming winter and it would have been most improbable that we should have received any further Red Cross supplies. The natives would have gone as hungry as ourselves, but they are more accustomed to bad treatment having been under Japanese control since 1910.
We read that MacArthur and 7,200 troops are to land in Tokyo tomorrow (Aug. 28th), Landings on Kyushu to take place on September 1st. 32,000 prisoners and civilian internees to be taken to Manila as soon as possible where they will get relief. It can't happen too soon for us. We are speculating which way we shall go home. Most of us would like to go via America but I'm afraid we shall be going home via Suez. Our food is somewhat unbalanced but I feel better and more mentally alert since the pack up, since when we have had more bread and less rice. We have also eaten 4 of our pigs and several rabbits, a few chickens, more potatoes and beans and more tinned food from our parcels.
The last fortnight has been the hottest for 10 years so it is not the weather for feeling hungry. I'm having about three cold baths a day. We use mosquito nets at night. There is one suspected case of malaria in the camp.
The day after Dallas Yergain, the American pilot of the P-47, was brought in, a friend of his was brought in also. He was one of the parties searching for Yergain and he was brought down whilst on the job. According to the Japanese paper 12 American planes were brought down with no loss to themselves. According to [William] MacDaniel (the 2nd American), 12 Japs were brought down and 2 American. McDaniels’ squadron leader brought 5 down himself. There are seven P-38 just landed on the aerodrome. I've just been out watching them circling around. May be we shall have a visitor in camp today.
August 29th Wednesday
Those P38s mustn't have landed, they disappeared low behind the trees and we didn't see them again, but they must have crept away again, they must have just inspected the aerodrome.
It is now 15 days since hostilities ceased and nothing has happened as far as we are concerned except for some pamphlets dropped. The wording showed they were printed before Japan packed in. Then there was the message to hurry up and stick the letters P.W. on the ground so that supplies could be dropped. This was done hurriedly 5 days ago. The C.O. sent a message to be broadcast from Tokyo which said we are all in good enough health and gave the names of all of us in the camp. Pigott has become seriously ill since then, there's no hope of his recovery. He will probably die before we are relieved.
Kinloch, in charge of prisoners in Konan, is having a tough time. The Russians are there and he can't keep the fellows in the camp. Apart from about five officers, they are all other ranks who have been working in a place making carbide. I am told the works and factories cover a tremendous area about 6 miles around. Kinloch rang up the C.O. yesterday and said he had 46 men missing. When nothing whatever happens in a fortnight it is only natural that the men get restive. No one has ever sent us a postcard. We've had no incidence here yet with the Japanese but this sort of thing cannot go on indefinitely if we have no communications whatsoever.
I went to the cemetery yesterday. The last time I was there was December 1942 when Jackie Whiteing and Colonel Dyson's ashes were put in the ground. After looking at the graves and a short prayer we walked up to the top of the hill which looks over a large area including half of Keijo, the view was excellent, but to hell with Keijo, we want a view of Manila.
The Japanese are still officially in charge here though naturally we relaxed considerably when we got news of the wrap up. We started to smoke wherever we liked and put lights on whenever we liked without asking permission. We've had one or two concerts, we look out of windows whenever we like and in our own cookhouse the last two days and so the Nips have begun to regain their poise a bit and [Capt. E.W. ‘Jiminy’] Paque the adjutant seems to have had continuous arguments about not setting the place on fire with our cigarettes, and not waving to Koreans out of the windows.
If they don't pipe down and we don't keep control of ourselves there will be a bust up. They probably have been bust ups in less orderly camps. We had a very amusing race meeting the other evening with sweepstakes, token bookies and everything. There were five races and six horses in each race, they were moved up on the throw of the dice. The horses had comic names such as Major O'Donnell's RICE-BALL by WANGLED out of FENNEY. Apparently Tim O'Donnell has been wangling an extra bit of rice out of Fenney who is one of the cooks. Capt. F.K. Beattie’s PATCH of HAIR out of PLACE. Frankie Beattie’s hair has been falling out lately and he has a bald patch on one side of his head. I lost steadily until the last race when I picked Major Holohan’s ANTIQUARIAN and won everything back and a few yen. Bill Fugham? backed No.2 horse in each race and all he got was a good run for his money as No.2 was second in each race oddly enough.
Aug 31st Fri
I left off writing on Wednesday to dash out and see a B-29 circling round. They finally concentrated on us and flew over the camp several times quite low we could read on the wings PW SUPPLIES. They had a long look-see as I didn't expect they had thought our square that they had to drop the supplies on would be so small and so hemmed in by slums finally just after 12:30 they flew over at a few hundred feet with the traps open underneath, did another circle round, then flying in from E[ast] to W[est] let the supplies go. They missed our packet handkerchief of a square (maybe deliberately). A lot of the stuff dropped in a plowed field about a hundred yards beyond. A number of the parachutes failed to open properly before the stuff landed. Several hovels and houses were damaged, some of the canisters going clean through the roof of one or two of the houses. One woman was killed almost instantly, a canister taking off her leg when it dropped through into her house. I was surprised when I saw the battered canisters brought into camp, they were made from 40 gallon oil drums welded together. They dropped a considerable amount of stuff, a lot of which has since been dished out. Boots, socks, underpants and vests, shirts, trousers, jackets, hats. Chocolate, tobacco cigarettes, matches, tinned food, cocoa and syrup. The food is mostly M[eat]&V[egetable] soups, tinned fruit, C rations and K rations. It is rather sloppy food, which is as well, as we couldn't suddenly switch on to good solid food too rapidly after the rubbishy food we have had for the last 3 ½ years. I don't feel hungry now, I'm eating to capacity, keeping in the borderline of indigestion. It was in July that the Emperor proclaimed that the Japanese could get all the nourishment they required from ground fishes heads and sweet potato leaves as they had no fear of being starved into submission. This was soon followed by a drastic cut in the rice ration. Thank goodness the Nips have packed it in and we haven't another winter to face.
Pigott died at 6:30 p.m. on Wed. 29th Aug. with Tubercular Meningitis. We had a funeral service the following morning at 9:00 a.m. All [nine of] the Russian [POW]s attended and the two Americans. I went to the cremation later in the morning with a few more of his friends.
On Thursday afternoon another B-29 arrived and with less preamble than on the previous day dropped more supplies. It was an impressive sight. They dropped the stuff from a slightly greater height and the parachutes opened better but very little actually dropped in the camp.
Sept 3rd Mon
Just got back from the trip into the country. We went out in trucks at 1:00 p.m. and got back about 5:00 p.m. It was most amusing, a good time was had by all.
We went right through the town and out into the country on the other side and de-bussed at a spot near the river. We had about 2 hours to roam around, the whole thing was organized with Japanese efficiency, we were free to roam along until we reached a Jap soldier and we must not walk any further than that. I walked along with Geoffrey Barnes and we came to a Jap soldier almost at once. We walked across the sand down to the river, got a small boat and rowed the half mile or so across to the other shore, then wandered about at will. The chaps had failed to cover their flanks. We met one of the other fellows who had brought some money out with him, the only currency I had was 2 bars of chocolate and 1 yam, so we bought a little fruit then went to a house and had some SHAMSHU [likely makgeolli]. It’s whiteish like milk and tastes like a distant poor relative of champagne. Geoffrey and I then strolled along till we came to a small Korean cottage, making ourselves welcome, we walked in [and] were invited to sit in the porch [and] admired the baby and gave the boy (about 10 years old) some chewing gum. The Koreans seem very fond of chewing gum. I think the Allies could have conquered this country with chewing gum if they had known. We got a lot of chewing gum with the supplies that were dropped. I don't use it personally so I keep some with me when I go out and want to get friendly.
Tomorrow morning at 8 we are going to the old Emperor's palace and shall be back at noon.
On the way home the natives were all very friendly, waving and cheering as we went by. I'm feeling rather tired now, the comfortable tired feeling after fresh air, maybe the drink has helped the tired feeling, for in our stroll this afternoon we wandered along exchanging greetings with the locals till we came to a small village. We went into a small sort of barber’s shop and a pleasant young fellow there asked us to have a drink. He had a very friendly smile and a nice looking little daughter about 5 years old. I gave her a bar of chocolate. Our host produced a sort of small teapot. I was afraid for a moment we were going to have a cup of tea, [but] my fears were unfounded [as] it was sake. After a little while we found it best to keep hold of the cup, as he kept filling it every time we put it down. We handed round our American cigarettes and after a pleasant little interlude said goodbye to most of the village who by that time were trying to congregate into the shop.
We
have had a visitor tonight, a R.C. priest named Quinlan.
So ends Lever's diary. Thomas Quinlan, a missionary from Ireland, was appointed Prefect of Shunsen (Chuncheon) Dec. 8, 1940 and resigned Feb. 9, 1942 (after the outbreak of the Pacific War). “Quinlan was placed under house arrest and survived as a prisoner until the Americans' victory in the Pacific in 1945.” He was later held prisoner in North Korea during the Korean War and survived the ‘Tiger death march’ in late 1950. Here is a photo of him upon his release:
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