Download or read book Medical Officers on the Infamous Burma Railway written by and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1944, a compilation of medical reports from the main prisoner of war work camps along the infamous Thailand-Burma railway was submitted to General Arimura Tsunemichi, commander of the Japanese Prisoner of War Administration. The authors stated that the reports were neither complaints nor protests, but merely statements of fact. The prisoners received only one reply – that all copies of the documents must be destroyed. As one officer later recalled, ‘Of course, this was not done’ and copies of these reports survived, stored away in dusty files, for future generations to learn the truth. Work on the railway began in June 1942, the Japanese using mainly forced civilian labour as well as some 12,000 British and Commonwealth PoWs. Such is well-known. So are the stories of ill-treatment and brutality, many of which have been published. The vast majority of these accounts, however, were written after the war, colored by the sufferings the men had endured. The reports presented here are quite unique, for they were written by the medical officers in the camps as the events they describe were unfolding before their eyes. The health and well-being of the PoWs was the medical officers’ primary concern, and these reports enable us to learn exactly how the men were treated, fed and cared for in unprecedented detail. There are no exaggerated tales or false memories here, merely facts, shocking and disturbing though they may be. We learn how the medical officers organised their hospitals and dealt with the terrible diseases, beatings and malnutrition the men endured. As the compilers of the reports state, 45 per cent of the men under their care died in the course of just twelve months. But equally, we find that the prisoners did have a voice and had the facilities, and the courage, to write and submit such reports to the Japanese, perhaps contradicting some of the long-held beliefs about conditions in the camps. Through the words of the Medical Officers themselves, some of the detail of what really happened on the Death Railway, for good or ill, is revealed here.
Download or read book Burma Railway Medicine written by Geoffrey V. Gill and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'Death Railway' was very well named. More correctly called the Burma or Thai-Burma Railway, it was a major project during Allied Far East imprisonment under the Japanese. Over 60,000 prisoners worked on its construction, the majority of whom were British, and some 20 per cent died before release in 1945. Working conditions were appalling, the climate inhospitable, and food supplies grossly inadequate, making the POWs terribly vulnerable to a plethora of tropical infections and syndromes of malnutrition. No medical care was given by their Japanese captors, and it fell to the Allied POW doctors and medical orderlies to treat the sick, which they did with little in the way of medical equipment or drugs.
Download or read book The War Diaries of Weary Dunlop written by Edward E Dunlop and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2005-03-01 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This extraordinary first-hand account of Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop's experiences as senior medical officer in the infamous prisoner-of-war camps in Java and on the Burma-Thailand Railway, is not only an account of great historical significance but also a testament to the ability of the human spirit to overcome the most unbearably cruel conditions. 'I have the testimony of hundreds of Australians who had served with me and who accompanied Weary to Burma and Siam that he was both their inspiration and the main instrument of their physical and spiritual survival.' Laurens Van Der Post 'His experiences – and the manner in which he handled them – are what have made Weary Dunlop one of our most loved and most respected countrymen.' Herald Sun 'Sir Edward's care and concern for his men and his unbreakable spirit made him a living legend.' Sunday Times
Download or read book The War Diaries of Weary Dunlop written by Ernest Edward Dunlop and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Readhowyouwant 16 point large print. This extraordinary first-hand account of Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop's experiences as senior medical officer in the infamous prisoner-of-war camps in Java and on the Burma-Thailand Railway, is not only an account of great historical significance but also a testament to the ability of the human spirit to overcome the most unbearably cruel conditions.
Download or read book The War Diaries of Weary Dunlop written by Ernest Edward Dunlop and published by . This book was released on 2011-05-24 with total page 888 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This extraordinary first-hand account of Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop's experiences as senior medical officer in the infamous prisoner-of-war camps in Java and on the Burma-Thailand Railway, is not only an account of great historical significance but also a testament to the ability of the human spirit to overcome the most unbearably cruel conditions.
Download or read book From Hell Island To Hay Fever written by Paul Watkins and published by eBook Partnership. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When celebrating his 106th birthday, Dr Bill Frankland was asked why he had lived to such an age. His reply was quite straightforward, 'Because I have been so near to death so many times.This is the biography of a truly remarkable man. Growing up in the Lake District, he qualified as a doctor in 1938. A year later he joined the Army, and served his country throughout World War 2. It was only the toss of a coin which saved him from certain death in Singapore in February 1942. Imprisoned on Hell Island he suffered terribly under his Japanese captors. After the war he decided not to talk about his experiences. Instead, focussing on his career in medicine, he worked for Sir Alexander Fleming, developed the pollen count and helped thousands of patients suffering from hay fever. An internationally acclaimed expert, he has treated presidents and paupers around the world.Using his own words, this book tells the story of an outstanding doctor, one who has lived through two world wars, served his King and Country and made major contributions to medicine.
Download or read book Battle Tales from Burma written by John Randle and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Written with modesty, clarity and a light touch, Battle Tales of Burma covers the bad days of retreat from Rangoon, the dramatic turning point at Imphal when our troops realised that the Japs could be defeated, and the ensuing advance before ultimate victory. We read of the actions and deeds of both British and Indian soldiers and their regiments and the fanatic fervour of a resourceful and ruthless enemy."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Death Railway written by Cornelis B. Evers and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Survivor's account of the building of the Burma-Siam Railway during World War II and subsequent war crimes investigations.
Download or read book One Fourteenth of an Elephant written by Ian Denys Peek and published by Doubleday UK. This book was released on 2004 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In February 1942, Singapore fell to the Japanese. Denys Peek and his brother were just two of tens of thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers and citizens taken prisoner. Six months later, he and his comrades were packed into steel goods wagons and transported by rail to Siam. They were to become part of the slave labour force destined for the massive construction project that would later become infamous as the Burma Thailand Railway. He would spend the next three years in over fifteen different work and 'hospital' camps on the railway, stubbornly refusing to give in and die in a place where over 20,000 prisoners of war and uncounted slave labourers met their deaths. Narrated in the present tense and written with clarity, passion and a remarkable eye for detail, Denys Peek has vividly recreated not just the hardships and horrors of the railway and the daily struggle for survival but also the comradeship, spirit and humour of the men who worked on it.
Download or read book Bamboo Doctor Saving Lives on the Railway of Death in World War Two written by Stanley S. Pavillard and published by Memoirs from World War Two. This book was released on 2023-07-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A harrowing account of one man's fight against death and disease in the Japanese hell-camps during the war in the Pacific. Perfect for fans of Laura Hillenbrand, William Meffert and Alex Kershaw. Thousands of Allied prisoners-of-war died building the infamous Bangkok-Burma railroad. Many of those who survived owed their lives to the efforts of doctors like Stanley Pavillard. Their captors looked on with callous indifference as dysentery and disease ripped through the camps while Pavillard and his fellow doctors carried out life-saving operations in brutal conditions: giving blood-transfusions with jam-jars and unclean syringes, removing appendixes by candlelight, operating with razors and bent spoons and going to any length to get the drugs and food which kept so many of the sick and starving prisoners precariously on their feet until the end. Pavillard's memoir Bamboo Doctor is a stark but inspiring record of the triumph of humanity in even the most difficult circumstances. 'conditions such as POWs can rarely have experienced anywhere on this earth since the Middle Ages' Yorkshire Evening News 'Frank, factual... highly realistic ... a record of what human spirit can surmount' Liverpool Daily Post 'On the side of the captors, it is a disgraceful story; on the side of the doctors a heroic one' The Irish Press 'By his professional skill and his ingenuity in finding some way to defeat the odds against him, he saved many from perishing miserably in mud and filth.' Survivor
Download or read book The Burma Siam Railway written by Robert Hardie and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Study Relates To The Notorious Burma-Siam Railway On Which Japanese Employed Thousands Of Allied Prisoners Of War. It Presents A Diary Kept By A Medical Officer Who Was A Prisoner Which Shows The Houses Of Captivity.
Download or read book Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent written by Leo Suryadinata and published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. This book was released on 2012 with total page 1611 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a bold project recording the lives of a particular group of Southeast Asians. Most of the people whose biographies are included here have settled down in the ten countries that constitute the region. Each of them has either self-identified as Chinese or is comfortable to be known as someone of Chinese ancestry. There are also those who were born in China or elsewhere who came here to work and do business, including seeking help from others who have ethnic Chinese connections. With the political and economic conditions of the region in a great state of flux for the past two centuries, it is impossible to find consistency in the naming process. Confucius had stressed that correct names make for the best relationships. In this case, Professor Leo Suryadinata has been pursuing for decades the elusive goal of finding the right name to give to the large numbers of people who have, in one way or another, made their homes in, or made some difference to, Southeast Asia. I believe that, when he and his colleagues selected the biographies to be included here, they have taken a big step towards the rectification of identities for many leading personalities. In so doing, he has done us all a great service." - Professor Wang Gungwu, National University of Singapore
Download or read book Lithium A Doctor a Drug and a Breakthrough written by Walter A. Brown and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The remarkable untold story of a miracle drug, the forgotten pioneer who discovered it, and the fight to bring lithium to the masses. The DNA double helix, penicillin, the X-ray, insulin—these are routinely cited as some of the most important medical discoveries of the twentieth century. And yet, the 1949 discovery of lithium as a cure for bipolar disorder is perhaps one of the most important—yet largely unsung—breakthroughs of the modern era. In Lithium, Walter Brown, a practicing psychiatrist and professor at Brown, reveals two unlikely success stories: that of John Cade, the physician whose discovery would come to save an untold number of lives and launch a pharmacological revolution, and that of a miraculous metal rescued from decades of stigmatization. From insulin comas and lobotomy to incarceration to exile, Brown chronicles the troubling history of the diagnosis and (often ineffective) treatment of bipolar disorder through the centuries, before the publication of a groundbreaking research paper in 1949. Cade’s “Lithium Salts in the Treatment of Psychotic Excitement” described, for the first time, lithium’s astonishing efficacy at both treating and preventing the recurrence of manic-depressive episodes, and would eventually transform the lives of patients, pharmaceutical researchers, and practicing physicians worldwide. And yet, as Brown shows, it would be decades before lithium would overcome widespread stigmatization as a dangerous substance, and the resistance from the pharmaceutical industry, which had little incentive to promote a naturally occurring drug that could not be patented. With a vivid portrait of the story’s unlikely hero, John Cade, Brown also describes a devoted naturalist who, unlike many modern medical researchers, did not benefit from prestigious research training or big funding sources (Cade’s “laboratory” was the unused pantry of an isolated mental hospital). As Brown shows, however, these humble conditions were the secret to his historic success: Cade was free to follow his own restless curiosity, rather than answer to an external funding source. As Lithium makes tragically clear, medical research—at least in America—has transformed in such a way that serendipitous discoveries like Cade’s are unlikely to occur ever again. Recently described by the New York Times as the “Cinderella” of psychiatric drugs, lithium has saved countless of lives and billions of dollars in healthcare costs. In this revelatory biography of a drug and the man who fought for its discovery, Brown crafts a captivating picture of modern medical history—revealing just how close we came to passing over this extraordinary cure.
Download or read book Last Man Out written by H. Robert Charles and published by Motorbooks. This book was released on 2006 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From June 1942 to October 1943, more than 100,000 Allied POWs who had been forced into slave labor by the Japanese died building the infamous Burma-Thailand Death Railway, an undertaking immortalized in the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai." One of the few who survived was American Marine H. Robert Charles, who describes the ordeal in vivid and harrowing detail in Last Man Out. The story mixes the unimaginable brutality of the camps with the inspiring courage of the men, including a Dutch Colonial Army doctor whose skill and knowledge of the medicinal value of wild jungle herbs saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow POWs, including the author.
Download or read book Airmen Behind the Medals written by Graham Pitchfork and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2015-08-10 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of the many human characteristics, few evoke greater admiration and respect than gallantry in the service of one's country. Here, Graham Pitchfork describes the outstanding bravery of twenty-one air men who served in the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. These accounts encompass most theaters of operation as well as a host of aircraft types and aircrew categories. Accounts of the gallantry of those who served on the ground in support of flying operations are also relayed in this substantial anthology. rnrnThe book explores the gallantry of airmen who fought in a variety of contexts, including that band of men who are so often forgotten, the Burma veterans. A gallant RAF sergeant and an RAF doctor who cared for and inspired fellow prisoners in Japanese camps are both included here, as are stories relating the extreme bravery of a Fleet Air Arm pilot, a Pathfinder pilot and a Typhoon wing leader.rnrnThe valorous acts of these airmen serve as inspirational examples to a new generation of flying men and women. Graham Pitchfork extracts the drama and poignancy of their tales, enlivening them to great effect in this riveting publication that is sure to appeal broadly to enthusiasts of the era.Links End Links Author End Author
Download or read book Fighting Fit written by Kevin Brown and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2008-09-01 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twentieth century saw two world wars and many other conflicts characterised by technological change and severity of casualties. Medicine has adapted quickly to deal with such challenges and new medical innovations in the military field have had advantages in civil medicine. There has thus been interplay between war and medicine that has not only been confined to the armed forces and military medicine, but which has impacted on health and medicine for us all. These themes will be examined from the Boer War to the dawn of a new century, and a 'war against terror;' the experiences of individuals as doctors, nurses and patients, are highlighted, with personal, sometimes graphic, first-hand accounts bringing home the realities of medical treatment in wartime.
Download or read book The British Empire and the Second World War written by Ashley Jackson and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-03-09 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1939 Hitler went to war not just with Great Britain; he also went to war with the whole of the British Empire, the greatest empire that there had ever been. In the years since 1945 that empire has disappeared, and the crucial fact that the British Empire fought together as a whole during the war has been forgotten. All the parts of the empire joined the struggle and were involved in it from the beginning, undergoing huge changes and sometimes suffering great losses as a result. The war in the desert, the defence of Malta and the Malayan campaign, and the contribution of the empire as a whole in terms of supplies, communications and troops, all reflect the strategic importance of Britain's imperial status. Men and women not only from Australia, New Zealand and India but from many parts of Africa and the Middle East all played their part. Winston Churchill saw the war throughout in imperial terms. The British Empire and the Second World War emphasises a central fact about the Second World War that is often forgotten.
