Every few hours we dropped off other sick and wounded POWs, at Kokura and Hiroshima. At last, we arrived at Kobe and about 500 men were taken off the train, to walk to their destination Kobe POW Camp. The remainder of us were taken by train to our camp at Osaka. The date was the 12th October 1942. There were just over 300 of us.
Our first few weeks in Osaka surprised us: our camp was a two-storeyed wooden building in the midst of the dock area, and our food was reasonably good. This, however, was only in order to get us back to health and strength, so that we could be used for labour.
We had as our POW Commandant, Col. Murata, who soon forced us to learn Japanese commands and orders. We were made to bow, to all Japanese officers and troops, although we attempted to fight against doing this, any such attempt meant a vicious beating. The seriously ill and wounded were taken to a hospital a few miles away, which consisted of converted dressing rooms of an old sports arena, called Ichioka (Itchioka). Lt. Cdr. Jackson, R.N.V.R., a Naval Surgeon, took charge there and although drugs, medicines, and instruments were scarce, he saved many lives due to his skill and perseverance, at times performing operations with only razor blades and scissors.