POSTCARDS FROM A POW
Does anyone remember Private Frank William Black of the 1st Leicesters?
Some of the items in the collection in our care have no known donor. For example, we have two postcards sent to a Mrs F Black, 28 Wellington Street, Loughborough, from a prisoner of the Japanese in WW2. We would like to find out more about them.
The sender was Frank William Black, born in Loughborough on New Year’s Day 1912, who served with the 1st Leicesters, service number 4863780. Army records show that Frank enlisted in July 1940 and joined his battalion in Malaya. There were several engagements with the Japanese throughout 1940, 1941 and the first weeks of 1942, culminating in the fall of Singapore on 15th February 1942. Frank was taken prisoner and sent to Changi prison camp.
A March 1942 article in the Leicester Chronicle, headed ‘Missing in Malaya’ names Private Black and a friend, Private George Beech, also in the 1st Leicesters, as missing.
POW in Singapore
Frank’s ordeal as a POW was now underway, first as one of a work party in Havelock Road camp, Singapore. Conditions in this camp, were, compared with others, fairly bearable at this time. The prisoners worked unloading ships and trains, and had decent supplies of food, alcohol and cigarettes. There were refinements such as a library and places of worship, and relatively humane treatment by the Japanese guards.
POW in Thailand
This was not to last. In October 1942 Frank Black was transported by train to Thailand, and put to work unloading construction materials in the railway goods yard. The materials were destined for the building of the notorious ‘Death Railway’ between Thailand and Burma.
Frank Black, along with thousands of other Allied prisoners, spent about 18 months on this massive construction project, which claimed the lives and health of many.
One of the postcards comes from the time he was held in Thailand. Information on the card is a list of printed statements, some of which have been crossed out, thus implying that “My health is excellent” and “I am working for pay”, neither of which would have been accurate, as the POWs were used as slave labour and disease and injury were rife. The prisoner had a space in which he could ask that certain people would be taken care of. Frank added “Tony and Dorothy”. The card finishes with the printed message “My love to you.”
The second postcard gives no clue as to when it was sent or from where, but contains a touching handwritten message. “Darling wife and kiddies, I’m safe and well, hoping to find you and the kiddies just the same. Give my love to all. Frank.”
Hell Ship to Japan
By the middle of 1943 the Thailand-Burma railway was almost complete, and Frank was taken back to Singapore and briefly held in Havelock Road camp.
Any respite he enjoyed here was soon to end, and be replaced by what was arguably the worst experience of his captivity; on board the ‘Hell Ship’ Hiyoki Maru bound for Japan. These ships, accurately named as seaborne hells, transported the already weak and sick prisoners in unimaginably horrific conditions, packed into airless holds like cargo, denied food and water. As the ships were not marked as carrying non-combatants, as required by the Geneva Convention, they were targets for attack by Allied bombers and submarines, with the result that many Allied POWs were unintentionally killed.
POW in Japan
In June 1944 Frank Black arrived at Nagoya 3B camp in Funatsu, Japan, along with eight others from the 1st Leicesters. One can only imagine their physical and mental condition by this stage, and perhaps regimental comradeship was their only comfort.
In Funatsu, POWs were used as forced labour, mining and refining lead and zinc for the Mitsui Mining Company. Affidavits made by prisoners after the camp was liberated in September 1945 make for sickening reading; filthy conditions, lack of food and medical attention, brutality and torture by the guards.
On 15th August 1945 came relief in the form of unconditional surrender by the Japanese. For many, repatriation took several months. Frank made the journey home by US Pacific Command via Manila, Hawaii, New York, and finally Southampton. On board these ships, the men were clothed, cleaned, fed, hospitalised if necessary, and had their dignity restored.
Returning home
Frank Black was discharged from the Army in December 1945.
Home was 28 Wellington Street, which has been replaced by modern flats The 1939 Register shows him to be living there along with Martha Mason. Frank, a builder’s labourer, was listed as single while Martha (‘housewife’) was described as married. They were about the same age; Martha was born in 1911 and Frank in 1912. The household also included Dorothy Mason (b 1933) and Anthony Mason (b 1938).
Were Dorothy and Anthony Martha’s children from a previous relationship? They didn’t change their surname in later life, so presumably Frank was not their father. However, his concern for the ‘kiddies’ on the postcard proves that he certainly had paternal feelings for them, as well as love for Martha.
Frank and Martha later married, but not until 1958. However, the POW postcards were addressed to Mrs Black, presumably for the sake of propriety.
A shocking incident
In May 1952 Frank was involved in a shocking incident of domestic violence, although he was not the perpetrator. His younger sister Mary had married a man called John Phillips. After a lengthy session in the pub he returned home to subject Mary to a horrifying assault, hitting her with the handle of a carving knife, dragging her across the floor by her hair and shoving her head into the oven. She was hospitalised, but her husband got away with a £5 fine. The following day, Frank Black avenged Mary by punching Phillips so hard that he too was taken to hospital. Frank admitted his crime and was also fined £5.
Frank’s later life
It’s impossible to know how Frank Black’s POW experiences shaped the rest of his life, but his suffering must have affected him. He died in Loughborough in
1971, at the not-very-great age of 59. Strangely, both he and George Beech, who also survived the POW camps, are commemorated on the Loughborough Carillon’s list of the WW2 fallen. How did this happen? When the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, there were no accurate records of POWs who had survived, or even the locations of all the camps. When the camps were liberated, many of the men were too ill to be transported home immediately. The first Far East POWs arrived in Southampton by ship in October 1945 and there were further arrivals throughout the rest of the year. Others returned home via America or Canada. After VJ Day, it would have been logical for their families and their regiments to think they were dead if they had had no news, and their names were commemorated. Amongst Frank’s papers are his Armed Forces Electoral Registration card and his National Insurance card, ready for his re-entry to civilian life. Neither however have been filled in with details.
Can you help?
To return to the postcards, it would be interesting to know how they came to be in the collection in the care of Loughborough Carillon. We would love to hear from any of Frank Black’s descendants. Martha Black died in Coalville in 1980. Dorothy, Martha’s daughter, married a Fred Tester and she died in 1988. Their children were Pam and Ian. There are no conclusive records about Anthony Mason, although oddly, his birth record gives Walkerston as his mother’s maiden name. Frank and Martha don’t appear to have had any children together, but the records are not infallible so it is possible that they did, as Martha would only have been in her mid-thirties when the war ended.
Please get in touch if you have any information.
