Lieutenant Commander John Goodwin OBE, RNZVR gave a first-hand account of his escape from Hong Kong in July 1944, after having been captured by the Japanese on Christmas Day, 25th December 1941. During World War II, the Japanese Armed Forces had captured nearly 140,000 Allied military personnel from Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States in the Southeast Asia and Pacific areas. They were forced to engage in the hard labour of constructing railways, roads and airfields to be used by the Japanese Armed Forces in the occupied areas. About 36,000 were transported to the Japanese Mainland to supplement the shortage of the work force, and compelled to work at the coal mines, mines, shipyards, munitions factories, and repair of the extensive Allied bombing.
Recorded on 11th April 1980.
Duration is 52 minutes
