The Prisoner List, A Review

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I recently read a book that completely changed my understanding of a significant part of my own family history. The book here under review is entitled The Prisoner List and it was written by Richard Kandler. The book itself is based on conversations and interviews conducted by the author with his father, Reuben, referred to throughout the book as ‘Ben’ who experienced the events described in the book first hand.

My Great-Grandfather

My great-grandfather, John Hunter (1911-2004) was a Far East prisoner of war. As a child, I was told simply that he had been a Japanese Prisoner of War and informed that he simply refused to discuss anything remotely related to his experiences during the Second World War. I knew well enough to never raise the subject in his presence and told that the closest anyone had come to breaching the subject was when one young family member, a small boy at the time had asked him if he had a gun during the war. I never did discover whether or not he had answered that question. My Grandad John was kind but an incredibly quiet man, I was told this was partly due to his experiences during the war but also a result of an over talkative wife and he had learnt to keep his mouth shut.

Following my Grandad’s passing in 2004 as I reached adulthood, I began to take an interest in my family history. Other family members could tell me nothing of my Grandfather’s experiences, the most information they had was that his wife did not know whether he was alive if dead during his imprisonment. I had no idea where he had resided or how a factory worker from Oldham came to find himself in the far reaches of the British Empire.

More recently, following the passing of several family members, my mother and I made a joint effort to uncover some of these painful aspects of our family history. Whilst filling in this huge gap in our family history, we discovered my Grandad had been captured at the Fall of Singapore in February 1942. Whilst asking for any information regarding his movements on WW2 Talk, it was suggested that I contact Andrew Snow of the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre. He sent to me lots of ionformation regarding my Grandfather’s movements and was an incredibly useful anbd helpful contact.

My Discovery of The Prisoner List

Andrew recommended that I purchase the book The Prisoner List as it gave a detailed narration of my Grandfather’s movements. I was a little sceptical of how this book could help me in my quest to learn more about my grandfather’s movements, he was but one of many thousands captured in the far east.

I quickly discovered why the book bore this title. Ben, the subject and ultimately the narrator of the book, had drawn up a list of all the men within his contingent. The list included approximately 1000 names and my great-grandfather’s name was on that list. It included his name, date of birth, address and his next of kin. Ben had been asked by his commander to compile this list, which he did at great personal risk, as a means of providing information regarding any potential deaths within their camp to the deceased’s kin back at home. One cannot help but be moved when scrolling through the list which marks any deceased soldier’s entry with a cross.

The book details the state of affairs at the fall of Singapore in 1942 and the conditions of the camp in Thailand where my Grandad John was held along with 1000 other men. These men were under the command of Colonel Hugonin, a famous cricketer in his day.

Of these 1000 men, after months working hard labour with little food or medical care, 700 were transported to work on Burma railway. My Grandfather was one of these men along with Ben. The book details the harrowing experiences of these men, many of whom were worked to death in Kinsaiyok, the death camp. My grandfather caught dysentery which saw him in hospital for 9 months where conditions were no better than those in the main camp.

In fear of spoiling what is a fascinated, moving and gripping read, I will stop myself from giving any more details.

An Important Read

I literally could not put this book down. As someone who is genealogically close to this horrific episode in human history, I was completely shattered by the book. However, it also brought to life something which had been hidden from us for so long. I could not imagine what my grandfather had gone through, I felt to imagine was an insult to him and was prohibited. After reading The Prisoner List, I have an even greater appreciation for not only my grandfather’s sacrifice, but for those who waited behind at home, eagerly waiting for news of his whereabouts, his survival which would not come until August 1945.

Before reading this incredibly well written book, I could not quite comprehend why there was such silence around this subject. I now understand that their experiences were so harrowing they would be difficult to put into words. I would like to give my heart-felt thanks to the author, Richard Kandler for putting pen to paper in what must have been an incredibly difficult journey. Thank you for giving us a greater understanding of their sacrifice and an even greater thanks to his father, Ben for heroically sharing his experiences with us, complete strangers. Yet, I did often ponder throughout the book if perhaps some of the nameless individuals who appeared in the narrative were my Grandfather and how familair he was with Ben. Perhaps we are not complete strangers after all.

The Prisoner List is without a doubt the most impactful book I have ever read or will ever read and it has been a wonderful experience to create this review. The book gave our family a sense of closure on a hitherto unknown aspect of our family’s past and a greater understanding of the sacrifice of a marvellous generation.