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Work parties started at each end of the Burma- Thai railway. ‘A’ Force, under the command of Brigadier A H Varley, was shipped in an old hulk of a ship to Moulmein in Burma. From there they were sent to Tavoy to start work from the Burma end of the line.
Their camp was close to the coast, not far away from India. While it was early in our years of captivity, the boys were well aware of the dangers of attempting to escape. They also knew that this was the closest they would ever get to India and offered the best chance they would ever have of escaping. It was now or never
Burma lay in the path of their freedom but the natives were not at all friendly to the British. Furthermore the Japanese had assured the Burmese they would be well rewarded for turning in any prisoners of war they caught attempting to escape.
The boys saw it as their duty to escape, and several of them got together to plan the best means of getting to India. With all the courage in the world, eight of them decided to give it a go before the opportunity passed. They were Sergeant Major Matt Quittenden, Sergeant Danny Dannaher, Bombardiers -Tommy Cumming and Alan Glover, and Gunners - Snow Emmett, Lofty Reeves, Jimmy Wilson and Allan Jones.
They left the camp in the dead of night, and all looked well until the fifth day, when a Jap truck arrived at the guardhouse with all eight men standing on the back, their hands tied behind them. They had walked into an ambush set up by Burmese natives.
The Camp Commander Colonel Sheena, told Brigadier Varley they would be shot in the morning and ordered our boys to dig their graves. Brigadier Varley pleaded for their lives in vain, but such was their cruel and callous nature, the Japanese Commander even refused to allow our Army Chaplain Charles Bashford, to administer their last rites.
Next morning, the men were tied to posts behind their graves. They refused to be blindfolded. Brigadier Varley and Army Chaplain Charles Bashford were ordered to witness their execution by the firing squad.
In a letter to Tommy Cumming’s mother, Padre Bashford reported, “The way the men died was simply magnificent. Immediately before their death they sent a “cheerio” to each other and then a “cheerio” to all. It was a really marvellous display of courage and complete contempt for an enemy who ignored all human laws of warfare. To me it was an inspiration and made me proud to be Australian.
“Remember that his death was brought about by following the high ideals set for him. By that supreme sacrifice of doing one’s duty, cost us what it may, and of such is said ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that he laid down his life for his friends’ ”.
“With such brave and noble men as these to remember and inspire us, we never need fear the future of our country. Then again it should be an inspiration to us all to pray and work for world peace that such happenings will not occur again”.
Brigadier Varley reported “They were brave men. They were men above all men. We can be ever proud of them. They should forever be an inspiration to us all.”
May they be an eternal inspiration to all young Australians.
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