'VE celebrations muted due to Far East prisoners'

The end of World War Two in Europe was both a time of celebration and a "very, very mixed thing emotionally" for thousands of East Anglian families.

While VE (Victory in Europe) Day celebrations were taking place across the country, many were still waiting to hear news about the men from the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire regiments, captured by the Japanese at Singapore in 1942.

Felix Jackson, from Ely Museum, Cambridgeshire, said "no official celebrations were planned at all" in the city, although a dance was held for "the younger ones".

"We talk about the impact of heavy casualties on the World War One Pals Battalions [units comprising men for the same area, workplace or social group] but the fall of Singapore was just as devastating on these communities," he said.

"It's beyond imagination, really, because everybody's gone in the battalion at the same time, down to the lowest private, and there's a lack of information and clarity about what's happened to them for months and, in some cases, years."

Many of those who survived - like Tom Allard from Swaffham, Norfolk - could never bring themselves to talk about their treatment at the hands of the Japanese army, according to Swaffham Museum archivist Sue Gattuso.

Conscripted into the Suffolk Regiment, Mr Allard "described how he was captured and marched to Changi Prison with the shells falling all around them", she said.

Mr Jackson said: "We know now how badly treated they were and how many of them died from malnutrition, disease, starvation and torture."

After the war, Mr Allard became treasurer of Swaffham's FEPOW (Far East Prisoner of War) Association branch.

Another founder member, postman George Whalebelly, was captured with the 4th Royal Norfolks and spent nearly four years as a prisoner of war.

Dr Gattuso said: "He described building huts in the swamps at Changi and when he was moved to another camp, being made to build a shrine on a golf course to the fallen Japanese, before being sent to build a railway through the jungle.

"He was put on medical work and they had to use anything at hand for dressings; rice poultices were used on ulcers."

His family had received a postcard from him while in captivity, so unlike many, they had had some news.

"But I've always wondered about the families whose loved ones were captured or whose fate was unknown. What did they feel about VE Day?" she said.

"No end of people have approached the museum asking how was it was celebrated in Swaffham in 1945. We've just one photo; they held their celebration the next year."

The captured Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk battalions were Territorial Army units that drew upon their traditional recruiting grounds across East Anglia.

This meant in places like Ely or Swaffham, "everybody knew someone" who had been captured, said Mr Jackson, co-founder of the Cambridgeshire Regiment Research Trust.

"They were open about the fact VE Day was a very, very mixed thing emotionally for Ely; there were celebrations, but they were muted," he said.

The 1st and 2nd Cambridgeshire battalions were about 1,900 strong when they reached Singapore; by 1945, 784 officers and men had died fighting or while prisoners.

Three of the Royal Norfolks' territorial battalions were captured at Singapore - about 2,000 men - and about 600 were to die in captivity.

Huge efforts were made to find the last known locations of the men who went missing at Singapore, even during the war, said Mr Jackson.

"There's a powerful story of a chap from the Ely Signal Corps who was part of the force to recapture Singapore - he had a list of names of friends who had disappeared three years earlier," he said.

In the aftermath of VE Day, the war effort switched to the Pacific conflict.

Mr Jackson said: "For a lot of the service personnel, there was the fear and awareness that 'The job's not done, you're now off to the Far East.'"

No-one was aware that World War Two was in its last few months, with liberation for Allied prisoners of only coming after the dropping of nuclear bombs on Japan.

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