Australian ABC radio POW show

[Mike K]

Been listening each morning .

The episode today centred on the Sandakan death march 1945 .

Of the approx. 2000 Australians and 500 British soldiers transported to Borneo to build an airfield , only six survived . They were doing OK until mid 1945 when they were force marched into the interior of Borneo , along the way they were shot and bayoneted to death . Four of the survivors were interviewed during 1984 . They ate snakes , snails, rats , dogs . After the war some of the guards were prosecuted for war crimes , they were Koreans and Taiwanese as well as Japanese . I think a few of the higher ranking officers were sentenced to death , some of them got jail terms , but were released in the 1950's .

Mike