11 Sep 1945, Andrew Salmon Personal Diary Pacific 1939-1945

Submitted by kensalmon on

On the 11th September 1945, we were taken to the railway station (except for about 50 volunteers who offered to stay behind with the occupation troops, to act as guards, and to facilitate finding the location of the POW camps in the mountains), on the first stage of our journey home.

We derived great satisfaction from seeing the Japanese Colonel and staff, who had ruled us with an iron hand for so many years, humiliating us at every opportunity, and causing the deaths of so many of our comrades, bow low to every POW who boarded the train. Stripped of all badges and guarded by ex­POWs, they themselves were now humiliated and had lost all their arrogance and swagger.

Date(s) of events described