Transcript
There was another thing. This is the worst thing that happened to me. I can't tell you, it wasn't bicycle camp, it was a camp on two sides of the road. The sergeants, and men, and the doctors were on our side, the officers were on the other side of the road. There was Cliff Orchurch, Ralph Blessing, and Laurie McIntyre. Cliff wasn't very well, and we were sitting on our bunks, and they said, "What the devil can we do with this rice, it tastes that shocking."
We come up with the idea, if we could toast it, it might taste all right, you see? So we had to devise a means by where we could find a bit of tin, a couple of rocks and some wood, and some matches. Well, this was all duly found by one way or another, and I got appointed as cook. So we borrowed... We got four bowls each. So I went out and I cooked the 12, and we finished them. Clifford, he wasn't well, he woke up and he said, "What are you eating?" We said... We told him what we'd done. "Oh," he said, "Chook, you wouldn't mind doing mine would you?" I said, "Yeah, all right."
So I go out there and I light the fire. We get it going, and they're almost cooked, and I'm not kidding, a stone about that big missed my nose by that much, and went flat bang right in the middle of poor old Cliff's doovers. It was the Japanese guard. We didn't know you weren't allowed to light a fire, nobody had told us anything about it. So I went in to Cliff, I said, "Look, Cliff, if you want your rice, you'd better go out and scrub it off the ground." So that's okay.
So about a quarter of an hour later, we were all rounded up to go out into the square to line up. There was a lieutenant chap there, and a sergeant, and Captain Godley was our doctor, terrific bloke. He spoke with the Japanese lieutenant, and Tim Godley said, "I've been asked for the man who lit the fire in the yard to step forward." There was no way I'm going to step forward. So we just stood there. After about five minutes, there was a bit more conversation. Dr. Tim said, "The officers advised me if the man doesn't step forward within the next three minutes, we will start shooting from the front line, each man, until he does, or otherwise you'll all be shot."
Well, I had no alternative. So I was led to the middle of the road, and a Colonel Black in the other camp, I got him and an interpreter, and I don't know what the interpreter said to the sergeant, but he really got mad. Well, the whole object was, I was to be made a show of. The captain, our captain had to hit me, and the Jap sergeant hit me from this side. Of course, our captain he was just tapping me. I said, "Look, shape your fist and give me a donger and I'll go down."
He's trying to, because they hit you with that part, and you're just shudder. You're trying to ride it." So in the finish, I don't know what's going to happen here. He had his rifle up, I thought, "Oh God." So out of the blue, not me, somebody said, "Look him in the eyes." I thought to myself, "I'm not looking... That's going to aggravate." I had no choice then. We looked...We looked at one another. It must have been about three seconds, he put his rifle down and walked off.
