Suicide in POW Camp

Heroes Remember

Suicide in POW Camp

Transcript

Interviewer: When the prisoners, the people, your, your comrades your comrades died in prison, did they have any ceremony when they were being buried? It all depends. I was in different camps, it all depends you know The military camps were much more organized. You know, there was style and respect. But then the civilian camp was nothing, you know. Interviewer: How did they bury them? What did they do? It was a sack over the head and a sack over the feet and dump you in the hole, you know. Interviewer: That's it? Oh yeah. Interviewer: No respect at all for them? Now with all this treatment in there, you'd think that a lot of people would consider suicide. Did many people commit suicide? I, I heard about it and I knew that the, on the last day before we were freed actually. See we had boreholes we called it, you know were we used for latrines you know. It was just drilled in, into the sand and there was about two feet wide I guess, and there was one man missing on the appel for the night and that man was found in a borehole. He drowned himself in the latrine actually. Interviewer: Now I would think that a lot of people would consider committing suicide... Oh I think there was quite a few, you know but... Interviewer: They considered it, but... Well, yeah...

Description

Mr. Maro recalls hearing of suicides in POW camps, and describes an instance of suicide the day before the camp was liberated.

Harold Maro

Mr. Maro was born in Norway in 1917, and had begun going to sea with his father at age 15. During the Second World War, Mr. Maro sailed with two Norwegian Merchant Navy ships; the Atesbull and Prominence, both of which were sunk. Mr. Maro and other crew members washed up on the beaches of Indonesia five days after the Prominence was sunk and were placed under Japanese supervision; however, they were not taken prisoner until Norway declared war the following year. Transferred from camp to camp over the course of 3 ½ years, Mr. Maro was interned in Chang, Singapore when he was liberated in 1945. As the war came to an end, Mr. Maro eventually returned to Norway, but was soon lured to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for work , moving with his wife. They both soon became Canadian citizens. Mr. Maro continued to sail until his retirement in 1976.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 01:46
Person Interviewed:: Harold Maro
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Asia
Branch:: Merchant Navy
Units/Ship:: Prominence

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Date modified:: 2019-04-03