the changes which had occurred in Britain during the previous years. This process continued throughout their homeward journeys. As Allied personnel entered camps the former prisoners were suddenly exposed to new expressions and new words, however some of the information contained in the papers which began to reach camps highlighted the changes which had occurred in the previous years. As illustrated papers such as arrived in the camp library ‘Punch’ one prisoner noted that the jokes fell flat, as of the jokes refer to things which do ‘most not mean a thing to Other publications such as Weekly Illustrated and Picture us.’ Posts nonetheless, filled prisoners with nostalgia and homesickness. However, some of the news was far less welcome and one prisoner only learned of the death of his wife as he read The Times which was dated two weeks previously. Major Dicker noted that when newspapers began to arrive from Britain, the stories did not always match the idealised picture of home that many had dreamed of over the previous years. He was struck by the amount of crime which was reported after having lived in a ‘crime He stated, British newspapers recorded their catalogues of free’ environment. ‘the murder, rape and robbery, apparently the Britain of 1945 was not quite the kind of paradise we had thought it was, in fact I had a sneaking feeling that if might be better if we stayed where we This pointed to the fact that the idealised picture of Britain were.’ that many prisoners had built up over the years of captivity did not necessarily represent the reality the former prisoners could expect on their return. As will be discussed below when former prisoners received replies to their initial contact with family and loved-ones, some found that circumstances had changed in the years they had been away. The use of aircraft allowed a relatively large number of prisoners to be transported quickly from French Indo China and Bangkok to reception centres in Rangoon. In addition, the efforts to supply Java enabled some prisoners to also be flown from the area rapidly to Singapore, on transport planes which had been used to land supplies. Similarly, some prisoners were able to be flown directly to Australia and New Zealand by the 27th of September. Official figures suggested that during the evacuation by air from Siam and French Indo China some 16,624 were flown to Rangoon, and 5000 to Singapore and a further 2,500 direct to their home countries.
the changes which had occurred in Britain during the previous years. This process continued throughout their homeward journeys. As Allied personnel entered camps the former prisoners were suddenly exposed to new expressions and new words, however some of the information contained in the papers which began to reach camps highlighted the changes which had occurred in the previous years. As illustrated papers such as ‘Punch’ arrived in the camp library one prisoner noted that the jokes fell flat, as ‘most of the jokes refer to things which do not mean a thing to us.’ Other publications such as Weekly Illustrated and Picture Posts nonetheless, filled prisoners with nostalgia and homesickness. However, some of the news was far less welcome and one prisoner only learned of the death of his wife as he read The Times which was dated two weeks previously. Major Dicker noted that when newspapers began to arrive from Britain, the stories did not always match the idealised picture of home that many had dreamed of over the previous years. He was struck by the amount of crime which was reported after having lived in a ‘crime free’ environment. He stated, ‘the British newspapers recorded their catalogues of murder, rape and robbery, apparently the Britain of 1945 was not quite the kind of paradise we had thought it was, in fact I had a sneaking feeling that if might be better if we stayed where we were.’ This pointed to the fact that the idealised picture of Britain that many prisoners had built up over the years of captivity did not necessarily represent the reality the former prisoners could expect on their return. As will be discussed below when former prisoners received replies to their initial contact with family and loved-ones, some found that circumstances had changed in the years they had been away. The use of aircraft allowed a relatively large number of prisoners to be transported quickly from French Indo China and Bangkok to reception centres in Rangoon. In addition, the efforts to supply Java enabled some prisoners to also be flown from the area rapidly to Singapore, on transport planes which had been used to land supplies. Similarly, some prisoners were able to be flown directly to Australia and New Zealand by the 27th of September. Official figures suggested that during the evacuation by air from Siam and French Indo China some 16,624 were flown to Rangoon, and 5000 to Singapore and a further 2,500 direct to their home countries.
PLANNING%20AND%20REALITIES%20HAND%20IN%20with%20changes%20%285%29.docx