Cambridgeshire man Lewis Herbert remembers the huge sacrifice of those who died in the Far East during the Second World War.
On Friday August, 15, we remember the sacrifices of more than 2,000 local Cambridgeshire soldiers in World War Two.
They were part of the 15,000 men from the 18th (East England) Division sent by Churchill into collapsing Singapore weeks before it surrendered.
Attend a local remembrance service if you can. Remember them, particularly the 784 who never made it back - that's four in every 10 who served.
Think of their loved ones too. Their deployment allowed them little time to do what they wanted most. Fight for Britain, win that war and defeat the then fascist nation of Japan as well as Nazi Germany.
Sadly, most of the Cambridgeshire men who died suffered a horrible fate as prisoners of the Japanese. From malnutrition, tropical diseases, near nil medication, overwork and punishment beatings.
In 1992, I took our unsuspecting family on a holiday to west Thailand and part of the trip included visiting the then small city of Kanchanaburi.
Idyllic for tourists then in many ways, like much of south-east Asia before the rapid change that transformed the lives and local living standards of local families. We stayed in one of 20 houseboats tethered on the large and fast flowing River Kwae Noi. What could be more charming?
Sadly, there was a far more distressing Cambridgeshire story to discover there. Visiting the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in the city, I saw the 6,858 graves of British, Australian and Dutch soldiers.
Row after row after row. Plus the nearby cemetery of Chungkai where there had been an Allied-run prisoner hospital.
A cemetery containing 1,739 more British and Dutch graves. It was immediately clear, though news then to me, that hundreds of local men from Cambridgeshire were among them. Men who had breathed their last nearby.
1943 was a particularly dreadful year for them, as they died as slave labourers building, under monstrous pressure, the “Death Railway” over to Burma that carved through the mountainous Thai jungle.
Many more died in 1944 and 1945, including the deaths of local men who never recovered from continuing starvation and serious illness. Row after row of Cambridgeshire soldiers remembered by brass plaques, including personal messages after it was all over from their nearest and dearest thousands of miles away.
They, and 15,000 soldiers from the east England, had been sent into Singapore after military analysts had already concluded the near certain expectation that Singapore would collapse – which it did on February 15, 1942.
This was scarcely two weeks after the last of the Cambridgeshire soldiers disembarked on Singapore docks, some during Japanese bombing raids.
More than 100,000 Allied soldiers were captured when Singapore and other outposts fell and 60,000 then became slave labourers of the Imperial Japanese Army on the Burma Siam railway.
Most arrived at Ban Pong station in Thailand in metal wagons like cattle trucks, after a torturous five-day railway journey north from Singapore.
More than 20 men per truck in sweltering hot conditions and near no water. They were then forced to march hundreds of miles to the railway site to start building with their bare hands.
Other Cambridgeshire prisoners died in captivity in Singapore, mainly at Changi prison, or when sent into slavery in the wider then-Japanese empire.
Many more died in what were described as "hell ships” sunk by American submarines.
Two hulks carrying hundreds of Cambridgeshire soldiers were sunk in September 1944.
In 1992, I stopped beside the Kanchanaburi grave of Corporal Herbert Mappledoram from Newmarket. He was an overworked slave labourer on a starvation diet. You don’t get to meet many Mappledorams in your lifetime, and I knew one very well.
I shared a desk at the county council at Shire Hall in Cambridge with her. She turned out to be Herbert’s niece. Had her dad also served with Herbert, she would have probably never have existed.
Close to 2,000 local families had loved ones who died or suffered in the Far East, a hurt that was so hard for many survivors to cope with.
Just imagine the horror of seeing some of your best friends die. Think about how difficult it is to cope with horrific memories that haunt you for decades.
Memories many ex-soldiers couldn’t explain to their nearest and dearest. Hiding them to protect their families, and only openly sharing their experiences with comrades who would have shared similar experiences.
No wonder that the Yasume Club (rest in Japanese) was set up by Don Few and his pals on Auckland Road in Cambridge was so important for nearly 60 years after war ended.
Their only real option was to meet others who really understood and could help deal with massive trauma, nightmares and triggered memory.
Many also suffered recurring tropical illnesses. A significant number wrote poignant accounts of the period when they were slaves. A cathartic experience for them, well worth reading for us.
As a long-time local Cambridge City councillor, I got to know many more local families in my ward with fathers or uncles, cousins or good friends who had been captured and survived.
Or tragically, who had died. Many, many families still carrying the horrible memories of the Far East living in and near Cambridge, supporting each other admirably.
Some had carried the pain of no news at all, until war ended. Some relatives had written letters week after week to one of the prisoners, only to discover in peacetime that none of the letters had got through.
This is why the 80th anniversary of VJ Day matters so much more to people in Cambridgeshire.
The last Cambridgeshire Regiment survivor was Jack Jennings, who died aged 104 last year, strong and proud to the end.
784 members of the Cambridgeshire Regiment died in the Far East during World War II including 20 officers.
This was alongside other Cambridgeshire soldiers who served and died in the Suffolk Regiment and wider armed forces. Men from the Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery also suffered major losses on the railway.
Most soldiers received £10 and a third class rail ticket on arrival back at Liverpool or Southampton ports after the war.
They returned months after war ended - from October to December 1945 - many needing to recover strength first. Most received no, or minimal, recovery support or advice – just got on with life.
In communities, where others had bad war memories too, but mostly nothing in comparison.
Food rationing at the time meant many lacked food supplements, vital in rebuilding their strength. Seeing a doctor was very expensive as the NHS was not launched until 948.
Missing out on medicines they badly needed. Few local doctors had knowledge of tropical diseases.
They had to find work again in post-war austerity. Many rural homes then were without electric, gas or mains sewage. Few local families had luxuries such as a car, a fridge or kitchen appliances.
Remembrance service at Great St Mary's Church, Market Square, Cambridge at 11am. All welcome.
With refreshments provided at the Guildhall by the mayor of Cambridge - Cllr Diana Pounds and her team.
On September 12, an event called 'Remembering Cambridgeshire's Far East Soldiers in WW2, will take place at the Guildhall at 2pm. Relatives and friends particularly welcome.
The event will include a history and tribute by Lewis Herbert with a welcome from the city's mayor. To book a place, email: opencambridge@admin.cam.ac.uk.
This is part of Open Cambridge. More details at: www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk.
If you have memories to share or want further information, please email Lewis at: alewisherbert@hotmail.com. Lewis is visiting all the Far East cemeteries and the graves of those from Cambridgeshire in Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar in November 2025, at the time of Remembrance Day.
A longer version of this article has been published on the Cambridge Independent website.
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