War dog who risked all to save 'secret' Allied prisoners
Aug 25, 2015 0:25:01 GMT -5
Post by J.J.Gibbs on Aug 25, 2015 0:25:01 GMT -5
Amazing story...you've got to read it...
War dog who risked all to save 'secret' Allied prisoners
Judy knew exactly how to protect starving inmates in Far Eastern camps - and how to avoid being shot dead herself. Her remarkable story - involving shipwreck, near-drowning and heroism - has been pieced together
Frank visited Judy in quarantine after they came back to Britain
Jane Dalton
UNITED KINGDOM
THE Japanese guards suspected. The game was up - the prisoners knew it. The guards began searching the barracks, and any minute now would lift the blanket to discover the sack of rice, filched from the Japanese officers. The half-starved British prisoners trembled with fear. Discovery would mean a savage beating for every Prisoner of War in the camp - or worse.
They had hoped the rice might keep them alive for a little longer; now it seemed it would be the death of them.
The prisoners scarcely dared breathe. And then something extraordinary happened. A streak of brown and white tore into the room, charging around the guards, carrying a human skull in its mouth.
The Japanese had a superstitious horror of death symbols such as bones and skulls, and were alarmed by the creature hurtling around, eyes glowing. Just as one guard raised his rifle to shoot at the dog, it hared out of the barracks and disappeared into the Sumatran jungle surrounding the camp.
Inspection forgotten, the inmates were left alone. Not for the first time, Judy the pointer - who was to become the only official canine Prisoner of War (PoW) of the Second World War - had saved the lives of the men who had adopted her.
Recalling this incident years after the war, former prisoner Les Searle said: “I think animals have a built-in radar system which picks up all radiations of different sensations such as fear, happiness, panic and sorrow. Judy certainly sensed the danger in that room and she knew what to do about it.”
It was 1942, and conditions in Sumatra’s prisoner camps were beyond endurance for many of the thousands of inmates: rations were disgusting and in short supply, reducing to skin and bones the sleep-starved men who were forced into gruelling manual labour. Malaria, dysentery, skin ulcers, worm infestations and beriberi were widespread; medical care was non-existent. PoWs were reluctant to admit being ill, because it meant even smaller food portions.
The Japanese and Korean guards, dehumanised, left the inmates living in fear: vicious beatings were routine. One had his eardrum pierced when a pencil was forced into his ear. Prisoners were punched and hit with shovels for the "crime" of dropping their tools. Lives hung constantly by a thread.
These were "secret" wartime prisoners, held in camps of which the Allies had no knowledge until three months after the fighting in Europe had ended, because of the island’s isolation. At least six Allied spy operations to Sumatra failed.
Desert island life-saver
Among the 1,200 PoWs at one of the worst camps - Gloegoer - was Frank Williams, a shy young man from Portsmouth, brought up by his widowed mother. Too tall to become an RAF pilot, Frank trained as a radarman, and was posted to Singapore. He had been captured after the Japanese invaded in early 1942 and was put to work in the searing heat of the jungle, where the men building an elaborate Japanese temple were besieged by biting insects.
Judy, born in Shanghai dog kennels in 1937, had been brought to the camp by the men from the gunboat on which she had served as a mascot. She was already a proven life-saver, having located a fresh water spring on the desert island where the survivors of the bombed gunboat had been washed up.
Given the mayhem of war and the fact that dogs were considered a culinary delicacy by the Japanese, that she had already made it this far was astonishing.
The extraordinary story of how Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Frank Williams and pointer Judy met at Gloegoer and helped keep each other alive has been pieced together by author Robert Weintraub for a book published in time for the 70th anniversary of victory over the Japanese.
"When a guard threatened to retaliate, Frank would click his fingers and Judy would hurtle off into the jungle, only to reappear at his special whistle... there was a complete understanding between them"
No Better Friend
Most prisoners were, naturally, preoccupied with their own survival, but Frank noticed that no single person cared for Judy. Periodically kicked and stoned by the Japanese, she was left to forage for food at night. Frank started taking an interest in her plight. After the war, he recalled: “I remember thinking what on earth is a beautiful English pointer like this doing here with no one to care for her.”
Despite - or perhaps because of - the desperate conditions, “something wobbled in his soul”, as Weintraub puts it. “It was all he could do just to survive himself. But the sight of this dog wasting away… was intolerable to him.” That day, after queuing for his meagre portion of watery, maggoty rice, Frank poured some into his palm and offered it to her. Judy, with her “watery brown eyes”, remained frozen but whined. Despite his own hunger, Frank put down his whole bowl for her, the grateful dog hungrily ate - and a lifelong bond was forged.
Another radarman, Tom Scott, said: “I was always fascinated at the complete understanding between Frank and Judy - they were truly an amazing team... Thin, half-starved... her eyes only softened when Frank touched her or spoke to her...Whenever she found herself too close to a guard, her lip curled back in a snarl and her eyes seemed to glow with almost a red glare.”
Continued at link
War dog who risked all to save 'secret' Allied prisoners
Judy knew exactly how to protect starving inmates in Far Eastern camps - and how to avoid being shot dead herself. Her remarkable story - involving shipwreck, near-drowning and heroism - has been pieced together
Frank visited Judy in quarantine after they came back to Britain
Jane Dalton
UNITED KINGDOM
THE Japanese guards suspected. The game was up - the prisoners knew it. The guards began searching the barracks, and any minute now would lift the blanket to discover the sack of rice, filched from the Japanese officers. The half-starved British prisoners trembled with fear. Discovery would mean a savage beating for every Prisoner of War in the camp - or worse.
They had hoped the rice might keep them alive for a little longer; now it seemed it would be the death of them.
The prisoners scarcely dared breathe. And then something extraordinary happened. A streak of brown and white tore into the room, charging around the guards, carrying a human skull in its mouth.
The Japanese had a superstitious horror of death symbols such as bones and skulls, and were alarmed by the creature hurtling around, eyes glowing. Just as one guard raised his rifle to shoot at the dog, it hared out of the barracks and disappeared into the Sumatran jungle surrounding the camp.
Inspection forgotten, the inmates were left alone. Not for the first time, Judy the pointer - who was to become the only official canine Prisoner of War (PoW) of the Second World War - had saved the lives of the men who had adopted her.
Recalling this incident years after the war, former prisoner Les Searle said: “I think animals have a built-in radar system which picks up all radiations of different sensations such as fear, happiness, panic and sorrow. Judy certainly sensed the danger in that room and she knew what to do about it.”
It was 1942, and conditions in Sumatra’s prisoner camps were beyond endurance for many of the thousands of inmates: rations were disgusting and in short supply, reducing to skin and bones the sleep-starved men who were forced into gruelling manual labour. Malaria, dysentery, skin ulcers, worm infestations and beriberi were widespread; medical care was non-existent. PoWs were reluctant to admit being ill, because it meant even smaller food portions.
The Japanese and Korean guards, dehumanised, left the inmates living in fear: vicious beatings were routine. One had his eardrum pierced when a pencil was forced into his ear. Prisoners were punched and hit with shovels for the "crime" of dropping their tools. Lives hung constantly by a thread.
These were "secret" wartime prisoners, held in camps of which the Allies had no knowledge until three months after the fighting in Europe had ended, because of the island’s isolation. At least six Allied spy operations to Sumatra failed.
Desert island life-saver
Among the 1,200 PoWs at one of the worst camps - Gloegoer - was Frank Williams, a shy young man from Portsmouth, brought up by his widowed mother. Too tall to become an RAF pilot, Frank trained as a radarman, and was posted to Singapore. He had been captured after the Japanese invaded in early 1942 and was put to work in the searing heat of the jungle, where the men building an elaborate Japanese temple were besieged by biting insects.
Judy, born in Shanghai dog kennels in 1937, had been brought to the camp by the men from the gunboat on which she had served as a mascot. She was already a proven life-saver, having located a fresh water spring on the desert island where the survivors of the bombed gunboat had been washed up.
Given the mayhem of war and the fact that dogs were considered a culinary delicacy by the Japanese, that she had already made it this far was astonishing.
The extraordinary story of how Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Frank Williams and pointer Judy met at Gloegoer and helped keep each other alive has been pieced together by author Robert Weintraub for a book published in time for the 70th anniversary of victory over the Japanese.
"When a guard threatened to retaliate, Frank would click his fingers and Judy would hurtle off into the jungle, only to reappear at his special whistle... there was a complete understanding between them"
No Better Friend
Most prisoners were, naturally, preoccupied with their own survival, but Frank noticed that no single person cared for Judy. Periodically kicked and stoned by the Japanese, she was left to forage for food at night. Frank started taking an interest in her plight. After the war, he recalled: “I remember thinking what on earth is a beautiful English pointer like this doing here with no one to care for her.”
Despite - or perhaps because of - the desperate conditions, “something wobbled in his soul”, as Weintraub puts it. “It was all he could do just to survive himself. But the sight of this dog wasting away… was intolerable to him.” That day, after queuing for his meagre portion of watery, maggoty rice, Frank poured some into his palm and offered it to her. Judy, with her “watery brown eyes”, remained frozen but whined. Despite his own hunger, Frank put down his whole bowl for her, the grateful dog hungrily ate - and a lifelong bond was forged.
Another radarman, Tom Scott, said: “I was always fascinated at the complete understanding between Frank and Judy - they were truly an amazing team... Thin, half-starved... her eyes only softened when Frank touched her or spoke to her...Whenever she found herself too close to a guard, her lip curled back in a snarl and her eyes seemed to glow with almost a red glare.”
Continued at link
