I Think we Were Among the First POWs to be Taken

Heroes Remember

I Think we Were Among the First POWs to be Taken

Transcript

Battles in the other ships that were she was loaded with, she had about four crews on her then, four merchant ship crews and we sailed up into the, by the end of that month we got up into the Indian ocean where it was warm and calm and they transferred us to a supply ship in rubber rafts just at dusk at night. And when we come up to the supply ship, we climbed up the rope ladder and the German up on top he spoke just like an American. Of course, he was a merchant seaman I guess and knew the languages. So on the supply ship they put us in the foredeck of the ship and all this time we slept in hammocks in the foredeck of the ship and we just laid around the Indian ocean for about two months. And then we took off for Japan. I didn’t know where we were going but that’s where we were going, Japan. And we were allowed on deck but they had machine guns on us you know over us all the time and we . . . when we went through the East Indies they put us down below. They wouldn’t let us on the deck going through the East Indies like Sumatra and them places. Then they put us below when we went into Yokohama harbour and then they transferred us to another supply ship and it was another supply ship that was at the dock. It had been at the dock for quite a while and we were on that one for about two or three weeks before the Japs decided to take us. I think we were one of the first POWs to be taken into the Japanese, into Yokohama. And, they drove us through to the camp in trucks and we got into the camp, Kawasaki #1, Tokyo area.

Description

Mr. Yeadon describes the sea voyage to Yokohama and being sent to Kawasaki #1 POW camp.

Francis Edison Yeadon

Francis Edison Yeadon was born in Spryfield, Nova Scotia, on September 24, 1924. He was the youngest in a family of eight. After leaving school at the age of 16, he joined the Merchant Navy in Halifax. Mr. Yeadon completed one successful North Atlantic convoy, before being captured at sea while transporting a shipload of arms to India. He remained aboard the German “raider” for several months, finally being turned over to the Japanese at Yokohama. Included is a good account of the American bombing(s) which led to Japan’s capitulation. Mr. Yeadon remained in the merchant marine after the war, due, as he says, to the lack of educational opportunities offered to Veterans of the Armed Forces.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 3:06
Person Interviewed:: Francis Edison Yeadon
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Japan
Battle/Campaign:: North Atlantic
Branch:: Merchant Navy
Occupation:: Seaman

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Date modified:: 2019-04-03