December / January 2003

FORGIVE AND FORGET

We may forgive, but we must never forget, all the terrible Things that were done

 On a railroad that was built in the jungle, in the lands of the Rising sun

 Made to work for the enemy, with very little to drink or to eat

 From dawn till dusk without rest, in the hot and steaming Jungle heat

 Always working and living in fear, and just wondering what Tomorrow may bring

 A sadist beating from the guards, or how many mosquito Biting stings

 Living in conditions worse than any slums, where every bad Decease was ripe

 And sleeping on hard bamboo beds, and not feeling the bed Bug bites

 Fighting off bouts of malaria, dysentery, and with the threat of Typhus in the air

 Legs covered in ulcers, and with swarms of dirty flies, taking The germs every where

 Every sleeper laid claimed a life, some ones much loved father Brother or sun

When they were made to work so relentless, under the hot Eastern sun

 Now some say we should forgive and forget, I wonder do they Really care

 And I wonder what they would have to say, if they had themselves Been out there

 So we must not let this slip into the abyss, and forget all that terror And pain

 And we must make sure, in the long years to come, that this does Not happen again

BILL ESTALL 2002
 

This is dedicated to two friends of mine, Mr Jim King and Mr Alf Lambert of the 1st Cambridgeshire Regiment, living in Burwell, who worked on the railroad and all those who worked with them under these terrible conditions, and were set free after the Atom Bomb was dropped, and the guards fled leaving them on their own until the British Troops arrived to release them.