On my return to the main camp, I found that working parties were going to the docks daily, loading and unloading ships. The work was strenuous, but we were able at times to help ourselves to a little sugar and rice, which was a great help and although we were, of course, searched on our return to the camp, we invariably managed to bring something back for the sick and ourselves. We worked alongside Japanese civilians and, as we had our orders given in Japanese, we soon became proficient in our knowledge of that language. Our pay was about five sen a day, and there was a small canteen where we could buy tea, sauce, and occasionally cigarettes. Whilst working, we also received a monthly issue of a hundred cigarettes, some soap, and toothpowder.
Our daily routine at this time was as follows: -
- 5.00 a.m. - Reveille
- 5.30 - Morning meal (rice and vegetables)
- 6.00 - Roll Call
- 6.30 - Working parties left
- 7.00 - Started work
- 12.30 p.m. to 1.00 p.m. - Rest period, with a meal, if we had saved anything from breakfast
- 5.00 - Ceased work (sometimes)
- 6.00 - Evening meal, again rice and vegetables, with meat once a month.
- 8.00 - Roll Call; turned in.
Once a month was a rest day, for purposes of washing, etc., but since we had only one set of clothes, washing these meant walking around draped in a blanket all day. Lice were a great nuisance, but it is certainly an ill-wind that blows nobody good, for when the sentries entered our rooms, we started de-licing, which swiftly sent them elsewhere! The Japanese did not show much antagonism towards us, and so long as we obeyed them, they did not interfere with us, although if we showed any signs of defiance we were at once brutally punished.
Not long after our arrival in Japan, a few of us were fortunate in being allowed to send a short, recorded message to our families, to let them know we had survived the Lisbon Maru episode. I subsequently discovered that this was the first news received of me by my family in Australia since the fall of Hong Kong.
In this way, life dragged on in a monotonous cycle of eating, sleeping, and working, and in an effort to break this monotony, during the hour before we turned in at night, we organised small concert parties and quizzes, and out of odds and ends managed to make chess and draughts sets.