They survived the bloody aggression with all physical bodily functions
intact, but unfortunately for those who experienced the mayhem and lived the
nightmare, elucidating the feelings and psychological damage induced, had to be
repressed or they risked a susceptibility to insanity.
Particular photographs of Ted serving in Burma and India
depicted numerous atrocities of war. One was a snap taken at the capitulation
of the ‘Imperial’ army in August 1945 in Rangoon; ‘Japanese’ military
officers disembarked from an aeroplane in their final surrender, just as they
would have done in many other locations around the world in which they tried to
conquer. The photo is accompanied by a letter of surrender, itself written in
‘Japanese’. Don has this letter in his possession and had always been going to
have it deciphered but never seemed to find the time or relevant people capable
of doing it. Ted witnessed much death and destruction as did most who served
for their country, he was usually secretive of incidences regarding
confrontation with the enemy, but there was one story he told me in relation to
that day. It was one of war hatred, a crime committed due to the years of fight
against oppression. It went like this; as a high ranking ‘Japanese’ soldier
walked off the plane and through a ‘rank’ of ‘allied’ soldiers one of those
soldiers stepped out of his regimental line, pulled his pistol from his hip
holster, and shot him dead. The soldier probably killed many Japanese while
serving his country and developed an abhorrent attitude towards them, but on
this occasion war made this soldier a murderer. The ‘allies’, rightly or
wrongly, understood and accepted his impulsive action and charges were not
laid. Apparently they flew him home immediately and covered the incident in
bureaucratic ‘red-tape’. In general it was difficult to get Ted to talk about
the times he spent at war and the best one could drag from him was remarks
like;
“It was a waste of five years
of my life,” and;
“It’s in the past, the
memories of war are memories best left alone.” Or;
“It was a stupid waste of
lives and money for all involved.”
As Don
grew older he began to understand the devotion his parent’s had for each other
and their children. There was an implicit bond between the two, born out of a
hard difficult period, maybe such adversity could adduce for their morals and
ethics bearing such high standards, and why they would always be together; at
war’s end and onwards they were always by each other’s side. They had their
indifferences, but the strong connection between them never faltered, even when
they were forced to endure further demoralising obstacles. The memories of
those who lived the terror of war could never be entirely erased, but it could
be said some things good came from the scourge; one of those would have to be
the character and personalities it caste in the individuals who experienced it.
The mental and physical scars would endure a lifetime but the futurity in Don’s
parents reckoning was, few problems could shape up to being as hurtful and
damaging as those war years. Naturally they were then oblivious to any future
phenomena, and their committed and positive outlook was to be tested many
times.
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