Description
Written by museum research volunteer Stewart Mitchell, this book tells the inspiring story of the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders during the period from 1934 to 1945. Many books have been written about the Regiment or about individual Far East prisoners of war but there is no comparable book dealing with a single unit as prisoners of the Japanese, with all the hardship and cruelty that entailed. The story takes the reader from their peacetime role to the desperate battle to save Singapore with its loss, the tragic consequences. The men became prisoners of the Japanese and sent to work on the infamous Thai-Burma (Death) railway, Formosa, Borneo and Japan where they endured hard labour on a starvation diet while often suffering from deadly tropical diseases. The book brings to light, for the first time, many moving examples of self-sacrifice, tragic loss and amidst this their strength of spirit and humour in adversity shines through.