A Soldier's Story

I can still see the nicotine–stained fingers of my father. He was a smoker when he joined the Australian Army in 1941. When he returned to Australia after being a Japanese POW, he was still a heavy smoker. It was the only cure for his nerves. In the end, smoking did what the Japanese couldn’t do; it killed him. This is part of his story. He was a journalist before the war. After his discharge, he returned to journalism and stories of that terrible time in Changi Prison and on the Burma Railway appeared as a series in his local newspaper, the Maryborough Chronicle. I have reproduced those articles here, as he wrote them, for others to read. I welcome your comments.

Cpl Brian Keighley-Gerardy QX 21301 2/26th Battalion