Douglas Hassall shares how he narrowly escaped a death sentence after spending three and a half years as one of Japan’s prisoners of war during World War 2. Douglas accepted early on that escaping would be foolish as any escapees were executed; the camp being located in Vietnam also left the nearest allies 1100 miles away. 

The Japanese employed beatings and other instantaneous punishments, something alien to a British soldier like Douglas, their neglectful medical care equally as shocking to him. Despite his horrible treatment Douglas highlights how incredibly lucky he was as the other camps had prisoners sleeping outside with no access to clean water. The few lenient guards allowed them to hold concerts and church services however over time the Japanese replaced them with cruel guards who murdered the prisoners’ pets.   

Douglas got his first hint of freedom after a British interpreter secretly told him that allies were closing in, both of them unaware that Japan’s prisoners of war were all destined to die. Prison labour had halted and transportation of prisoners to the execution site had begun when the second atomic bomb fell forcing Japan to free everyone at the very last second.  Unfortunately Douglas’ release was bittersweet due to the plane transporting one of his friends back to England crashing killing everyone on board.