The Ient Family: Family History

Japanese Reactions

So, how would the Japanese react to this? Well, we got back to the camp, there wasn’t a soul there, everybody had gone, except us; 140 to 180 blokes. Who’s going to feed us, where’s the food coming from? So we broke open the stores. We sat outside with the great coats and the boots and the army uniform and all the rest of it. Then a Japanese woman came up and we did a bit of barter, you know, you can have a blanket for this fish and so on. Shoes and boots were being swapped for this and that. That’s how we got the food. Then the next thing we got was word from the Red Cross. I’ve got a copy of the letter here, dated August 27^th 1945, it says:

“To prisoner of war from Fritz W Bellfinger, representative for the National Red Cross,

"The hour of your liberation has come. Representatives of the protecting powers, Switzerland, America, Britain, Australia, Sweden, The Netherlands etc., and the undersigned are in touch with the Allied High Command and will assist the Japanese authorities in your evacuation. A speedy and comfortable evacuation can only be assured if you collaborate and maintain order to the last, and we are very concerned about this. For this reason you are requested to follow the instructions of your camp representative who will be in contact with us and will receive the necessary information. Therefore please be patient and do not create any disturbance which may delay your evacuation. Japan should see you leave with all your honour and dignity."

What everybody was afraid of here, was which way would the prisoners go and which would the Japanese go, because here the lads, over three and a half years, had been kicked about from pillar to post, and this could well be payback time. On the other hand, we had been told, in no uncertain terms, that we were insurance against Japan being invaded, and the Japanese had made it perfectly clear that in the event of any allied soldiers setting foot on Japanese soil, prisoners of war would be beheaded. This was their insurance policy. So which way do you jump? It was a very tense situation, because nobody knew which way they were going to go. We were a bit vulnerable; I mean, we didn’t have a rifle between us in order to protect ourselves. The Japanese had guns all over the place – they’d all been in the army. Anyway, we ventured out, two or three at a time into the town of Habu. Well, we got all this. [Demonstrating bowing.] We got asked to come and have a cup of tea and all that. One or two of the Jap foreman got kicked about a bit. They had been a bit unkind to us. But that was that.


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