New book shines light on Thai-Burma railway

[Antipodean Andy]

Book shines light on Thai-Burma railway horror - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The number of surviving Australian prisoners of war who were used as slaves on the Thai-Burma railway in World War II is dwindling.

As Anzac Day approaches this year, a new book has been released telling the stories of these men.

For many who gave interviews for the new book, The Men of the Line: Stories of the Thai-Burma Railway Survivors, it's the first time they've talked about their experiences.

Many cite their families as the reason for breaking their silence, the feeling they need to record their experience before it's too late.

Former POW Colin Hamley says it hasn't been easy.

"It's probably becoming easier these days to talk about it, but I still get emotional when I open up and think about all my friends and relations and my family," he said. "I had a brother die on the line as well."

It's the deaths of friends and relatives - unnecessary deaths in appalling conditions - that have left the most indelible marks on the memories of these men.

"About the middle of 1943, we were mostly without boots, so we had to work in bare feet and walk miles to the working sites in bare feet," Mr Hamley said.

"And the terrible conditions in the camp were shocking. We lived with lice and bugs all the time. We had no facilities to keep ourselves clean and keep the lice at bay."

Despite the demeaning hardships, there were moments of light. Snowy Youens says he agreed to talk about the lighter side, upholding the Anzac tradition of irreverence and humour. He said the only way to cope was to push the bad thoughts away.

"If you worried about it, you never got through," he said.

"My mate, he was a worrier. We'd get sugar. He would want to save it and I would want to eat it now. See ... he couldn't take it. And we were great mates.

"He saved my life on the line. I couldn't save his. But that's the way it is."

Author Pattie Wright is persuasive woman, single-handedly convincing many of these men to talk for first time.

"I was after the authentic voices of the railway, before they all left us," she said.

"And sadly there aren't very many left today, only a few. But they are absolute treasures."

Wright became passionate about the stories of the Thai-Burma railway survivors after making a film about Weary Dunlop, who was one of the doctors on the line.

"My idea was to find one man per camp, to walk up the line and tell a story, find a story of a day or a moment in these men's lives so that we could remember and feel just a little bit, just a little bit of what it was like for them. We can't imagine how awful it was," she said.

[Antipodean Andy]

Video - Thai-Burma POWs open up for first time in new book - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The number of Australian prisoners of war who survived being used as slaves on the Thai-Burma railway during World War II is dwindling and as Anzac Day approaches a new book has been released telling the stories of these men.