Private Robert J Read
1st Battalion Manchester Regiment
Service Number 3527870
1st Battalion Manchester Regiment
Service Number 3527870
Robert (Bob) James Read was born in Nottingham 2/10/1916 and worked as a Miner by trade at the Wollaton Colliery (Number 529). Bob enlisted at Nottingham with the Regular Army and joined the Manchester Regiment, 1st Battalion on 28/02/1935 at the age of 18.
The 1st Manchester’s arrived in Singapore around September 1939 and was part of Fortress Singapore for more than 2 years before war commenced in the Far East. It is not known, however, if Bob was present from the beginning or was transferred here later.
This Battalion was given the role of beach defence of Singapore. From the outbreak of war until December, 1941, the Battalion worked incessantly on strengthening their line with wire, anti-boat obstacles of local pattern and the construction of supporting posts.
After much fighting, the surrender was arranged on the 15th February 1942 and the Battalion was ordered to assemble at a place called the Pineapple Factory. The Battalion now had to endure three years of captivity while 60 of all ranks fell in action up to the time of the surrender, no less than 370 officers and men succumbed to the ill-treatment that they suffered at the hands of the captives, but none failed in endurance or courage.
Robert was imprisoned in Changi, Singapore where the men were moved back into the city to assist with cleaning up bomb damage and restoring the infrastructure. Robert was interned in the Tanjong Rhu Camp with 33 enlisted Manchesters and 3 Officers, as well as a number of other units.
Then on October 20th 1942 he was herded to the docks and boarded the Japanese hellship named Dainichi Maru. Approximately 2,500 men were onboard, and 80 died on the voyage. The men were locked down in the cargo holds for a journey to Saigon, Vietnam. After 3 days here the ship sailed again arriving on November 14th at the Southern port of Takao (now Kaohsiung) in Formosa (known today as Taiwan).
Upon arrival at Takao, 900 prisoners were taken off (including Robert) and 300 Americans were put on board.
He was moved by local train to Heito Camp East of Kaohsiung and the present day city of PingTung.
The 1st Manchester’s arrived in Singapore around September 1939 and was part of Fortress Singapore for more than 2 years before war commenced in the Far East. It is not known, however, if Bob was present from the beginning or was transferred here later.
This Battalion was given the role of beach defence of Singapore. From the outbreak of war until December, 1941, the Battalion worked incessantly on strengthening their line with wire, anti-boat obstacles of local pattern and the construction of supporting posts.
After much fighting, the surrender was arranged on the 15th February 1942 and the Battalion was ordered to assemble at a place called the Pineapple Factory. The Battalion now had to endure three years of captivity while 60 of all ranks fell in action up to the time of the surrender, no less than 370 officers and men succumbed to the ill-treatment that they suffered at the hands of the captives, but none failed in endurance or courage.
Robert was imprisoned in Changi, Singapore where the men were moved back into the city to assist with cleaning up bomb damage and restoring the infrastructure. Robert was interned in the Tanjong Rhu Camp with 33 enlisted Manchesters and 3 Officers, as well as a number of other units.
Then on October 20th 1942 he was herded to the docks and boarded the Japanese hellship named Dainichi Maru. Approximately 2,500 men were onboard, and 80 died on the voyage. The men were locked down in the cargo holds for a journey to Saigon, Vietnam. After 3 days here the ship sailed again arriving on November 14th at the Southern port of Takao (now Kaohsiung) in Formosa (known today as Taiwan).
Upon arrival at Takao, 900 prisoners were taken off (including Robert) and 300 Americans were put on board.
He was moved by local train to Heito Camp East of Kaohsiung and the present day city of PingTung.
Dainichi Maru - Previously named 'Ibuki Maru', a Japanese hellship where 80 prisoners died on the voyage from Singapore to Japan from starvation, suffocation or disease. Robert was amongst the survivors transported on this ship.
In the Heito Camp the POWs were expected to pick a quota of rocks and stones between early morning to late afternoon from a vast area to clear the land and ready it for planting sugar cane. Some also worked in sugar cane harvest which was also brutal work. The POWs wore little more than shorts or a loin-cloth and many suffered from heat stroke and sunburn while working in the blazing heat.
Disease was not uncommon with malaria, dysentery and malnutrition running rife amongst the men amongst other diseases. The Japanese captors would provide little or no medicine for the camp doctors to use to help the men. Altogether 134 men died at Heito Camp.
Visited Here for more information on Heito Camp.
Disease was not uncommon with malaria, dysentery and malnutrition running rife amongst the men amongst other diseases. The Japanese captors would provide little or no medicine for the camp doctors to use to help the men. Altogether 134 men died at Heito Camp.
Visited Here for more information on Heito Camp.
Robert remained at Heito until 12/11/1943 when he received the news that he was to be sent to the dreaded Kinkaseki Copper Mine Camp Along with 74 other POW's. On arrival at the camp he was given camp number 1061.
This would be a number he would remember all his life as they had to number off at tenko in Japanese.
He would always remember Juu Roku Ichi (10.6.1.)
The POW's in this camp were subjected to the most inhumane treatment imaginable. POW's were forced to march the laborious journey up the hill behind the prison camp and down the other side of the mountain to enter the mine and work in the dark depths for long hours.
Conditions were hot and dangerous, so much so that local Taiwanese and Japanese miners refused to go there. As with the previous camp, quotas had to be met, failing to meet these quota's resulted in horrific and severe beatings.
Many men died in the camp and when others became too sick and weak to work in the mine any longer, they were moved out to other camps and replaced by more fit men. This occurred several times during the three years the POWs slaved in the mine.
After the mines closure in early March 1945, the men were held in the camp on half rations until it was decided to move the men to a camp further inland and one was set up in the mountains south of Taihoku (Taipei). In mid-May the first group of POW's left Kinkaseki and later in May and June the rest of the men moved to this new camp called Kukutsu.
Visited Here for more information on Kinkaseki Camp.
This would be a number he would remember all his life as they had to number off at tenko in Japanese.
He would always remember Juu Roku Ichi (10.6.1.)
The POW's in this camp were subjected to the most inhumane treatment imaginable. POW's were forced to march the laborious journey up the hill behind the prison camp and down the other side of the mountain to enter the mine and work in the dark depths for long hours.
Conditions were hot and dangerous, so much so that local Taiwanese and Japanese miners refused to go there. As with the previous camp, quotas had to be met, failing to meet these quota's resulted in horrific and severe beatings.
Many men died in the camp and when others became too sick and weak to work in the mine any longer, they were moved out to other camps and replaced by more fit men. This occurred several times during the three years the POWs slaved in the mine.
After the mines closure in early March 1945, the men were held in the camp on half rations until it was decided to move the men to a camp further inland and one was set up in the mountains south of Taihoku (Taipei). In mid-May the first group of POW's left Kinkaseki and later in May and June the rest of the men moved to this new camp called Kukutsu.
Visited Here for more information on Kinkaseki Camp.
View from Kinkaseki camp showing the hills where the mine is.
Robert was one of the men who had survived the treatment at Kinkaseki, and now moved onward to what they called the "Jungle Camp" - Kekutsu. The men thought nothing could be worse than Kinkaseki, but Kukutsu was a brutal time for them.
This was basically an extermination camp for the remaining Kinkaseki POW's.
There were no buildings for the POW's to stay in so they had to build huts made from trees, bamboo and grass. Food was not provided except what they could fetch from the nearby town 6 miles away every couple of days. They were put to work on the nearby mountainside, planting sweet potatoes and peanuts on an old tea plantation. They first had to hack out and dig up the old tea bushes before planting the crops which they never did get to eat.
They were starved and beaten and ate whatever they could find - mice, rats, snails, snakes and local vegetation. Many of the POW's have said that it was the worst time they had as POW's - even more so than the copper mine, and that if the war had not ended when it did they likely would all have died there.
On August 15, 1945 the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan which brought the war to an end. After the Japanese surrendered, the men were sent back to Taipei and temporarily housed in a makeshift evacuation camp called Churon.
Visited Here for more information on Kukutsu Camp.
Roberts freedom occurred about a week later. On September 5th 1945, the USS Kretchmer and USS Thomas J Gary (destroyers) made their way into the harbour through the minefields. The first of the men were taken by train to the dockside and these two ships took them off “Devils Island”. Waiting offshore were two aircraft carriers, USS Block Island and USS Santee, and the men were transferred to them. The following day two more destroyers, USS Finch and USS Brister helped with the evacuation. By midday on September 6th all men were safely aboard and all six ships sailed for Manila in the Philippines, where they arrived on September 9th.
Robert was taken to the carrier USS Block Island where he was cleaned up - likely had his head shaved, as most of the men suffered with lice and were generally filthy from the poor living conditions, and then given preliminary medical treatment and food.
After a couple of days of evacuating the prisoners the US Task Force set out for Manila in the Philippines, arriving there on September 9th where the men were transferred to an Australian-run hospital and care center. Here they received proper medical care and treatment and then as soon as transportation could be found they were sent on their way home again.
No documentation has yet materialised that details how the men then journeyed home. Many sailed home westwards via the Suez canal and arrived in Liverpool, but many sailed eastwards for Hawaii and then either San Francisco or Vancouver in Canada. Journeying by rail across country, most arrived in New York and thousands sailed home on either the Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth into Southampton.
For the return trip Robert was likely transported across the Pacific - either by British aircraft carrier or US transport ship to the port of Victoria BC Canada. Here he would have been treated to about two weeks of home hospitality by local residents and then transferred to Vancouver and put on a train to travel across Canada - either to Halifax or New York. Knowing he came home on the Queen Mary, he likely went to New York via Montreal. After a few days sailing, the Queen Mary arrived back in Southampton on November 13th and from there he would have been given a train ticket or pass to journey home.
Documents Mentioning Robert J, Read
CHA = Changi. OVL – POW left Singapore overland. OVS – POW left Singapore by sea.
Bob Read with his Grandson Brian. (mid 90's)
Images of camps, camp rolls and memorials kindly provided by Mike.
Thank you to Michael Hurst MBE, for all additional information.
For more information regarding the POW camps please visit the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society website at: www.powtaiwan.org