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And exclusive photo album..scroll down.!
And exclusive photo album..scroll down.!
"Return from the river Kwai"
The Japs kept us POW, and me and my fellow prisoners had to built bridges and railroads across the river Kwai to Birma.
This film starts about where "The Bridge on the river Kwai" ended. Destroyed bridges, air attacks by the Americans to prevent the build of the railroad.
Our camp commander was George Takei ( aka dr. Sulu from the Star trek-movies with mr. Spock, the Ears). And he was a tough commander, order and discipline, hard work and cruel punishments.
The main characters were cast on dialect, like Edward Fox, a purebred Cockney gentleman on the British side and Nick Tate with a Crocodile Dundee Aussie accent on the other side. Most prisoners were from other origin and nationalities but that didn't matter cos most of us had no lines. So there was a British wagon and an Australian one. I joined the antipodeans and became 'mates' with Nick Tate and his guys, singing 'Walzing Mathilde' while marching to the camp. . But I was also playing 'Rule Brittania' on the harmonica.....
There wasn't only the 'prisoner-commander' relation between George and Brad Altman...They married in september 2008, after 20 years of ' dating' asa Californian laws allowed them to do such..
George was ( and still is..!) a likeable guy with a penetrating voice which he used to use in the lower vocal cords. The character he played in this movie was in a total contradiction with his real personality.
The contrast was very noticeable to us, as he played an asshole, death threatening commander but when he joined us during a 'take 5 men' pause he was such a cool gentleman, passing us the salt...
Then Chris Penn, Sean's brother, literal fell from the sky when his plane was shot down by the Japanese and added a total different turn to the story. To me it was a dialect paradise, the Eden of languages. His American slang, Edward's Cockney, Nick's Aussie, the locals in Tagalog of course and Taglish, and some other guys I could speak German with....
Anyway, Chris' appearance became a reason for the Jap guards to even treat us worse than before which resulted in several executions and other reprisals. At the camp side we were exposed to the hot sun for hours, no drinks... Then, just in time to prevent another execution, a higher commander arrived an told us in his unintelligible English we were to be evacuated. To Japan....! First by train on the rails we constructed, a journey through the jungles of Burma, Thailand , Cambodia all the way to Saigon, Vietnam, a French colony at that moment. The Brazil Maru was our target, the boat to JAPAN.
But we weren't there yet..! Hell no. Camera's were aimed at our wagons,('cattle coupé de luxe') and the Japanese head quarters in a more furnished environment. Shots were taken inside and outside the vehicles. It was a long trip, hot again and there was no water for the prisoners.
It was the 2nd day on the train I found out about another guy doing non regular healings, I wasn't the only one to cure peeps..! He was an American who fought ailments with needles, an Acupuncturist. So first thing next stop I found my way to the other wagon where I met with Bob from St. Paul's-Minneapolis. Surname: Kelley..! R. Kelley to say, hehehe but this Bob didn't sing. ( smoked pot though..) We became close friends and I learned a lot about Acu..
He suffered from a small cramp which was easily found and neutralized. He was a very pleasant person to be with, extremely polite, a gentleman full of attention and always with a big smile on his face. Proud to have met him.
And so it happened that Bob and I both had our practice on board the 'Deathtrain". Oh, there were a lot of guys who came by for a treatment. Can say our 'load' of prisoners made it to the place of destination in a much better health than the guys who made this trip for real and very often didn't survive till the end...
A real happening when we marched the streets of Saigon, from the railroad station up to the harbour....with pride in the heart and a straight back we were defying the Japs and sang all the way. But our straight backs bend when we approach the harbor, yes, there she was, the Brasil Maru, but we had to work, the cargo had to be stowed....no rest.
I just had thrown my bundle in the ship's hold and was on my way back to the gangway when I noticed turmoil at the quay, people running around and screaming. And they moved in a weird way. An earthquake was going on and that wasn't in the script.
It took a second before I realized what was going on, the ship was rolling a little as it did all day and I didn't feel the quake at all. The peeps on the quay did...! It was funny to see those moves from a 'solid' position. I wanted to feel that so I hurried to the gangway and walked down to only feel the last and milder tremors halfway the plank. It was over when I disembarked....
Back to work and so were the camera's. Sweating and stumbling we did our coercion labour and again thirst was our main grieve but the Japs wouldn't let us drink and some more prisoners were about to perish when we were packed and stored inside the sweltering hot hold.
Edward Fox' protests weren't heard and he pointed a couple of men with enough physical power left to resist the enemy with mutiny..I got a wink from Ed and an ear to ear smile when he selected me to be one of the mutineers. Bentford's men..!
It seemed to be a piece a cake to take over the ship, most of the guards were eliminated but not yet the officers. I was down below in the machine room when disaster came over us. An allied submarine scored a bulls eye-torpedo-hit and the Brasil Maru went down and sank in the Chinese Sea.
Me, I'm guzzled by the deep waters..and some with me. We gave our lives...... But others survived by holding floating fragments and were rescued by the same sub.
Book-cover
Edward Fox an English gentleman.
Edward Fox and Timothy Bottom
Bombing the bridge we built. The prisoners were blaimed for the attack by the Americans who distroyed our bridge. 4 of us were to be executed as reprisal.
Edward Fox
George Takei
Tatsuya didn't speak a word of English and surprised us all by his phonetic performance. We didn't understand a word of it but that didn't matter, we got the message though...
Inside the Submarine, Alex Blaise and ?. These guys fired a torpedo at our ship.
Jim Mckenzie
The commander in an old classic car (1929 Chrysler). This was at the POW camp. We are on transport by train from Thailand to the harbor of Saigon. Australian prisoners in one wagon( Nick Tate) and British in an other one (Edward Fox). The dialogues between those two are a pleasure for the ear.
In the steets of "Saigon", with a classic 1932 Plymouth.
Watch the classic Ford super de luxe sedan 1947 and a Willys MB jeep.
The march from the railroad to the ship.
We are singing: Waltzing Matilda:
We are singing: Waltzing Matilda:
Once a jolly swagman
Camped by a billabong,
Under the shade
Of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me"
Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me"
Down came a jumbuck
To drink at the billabong,
Up jumped the swagman
And grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he stowed
That jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me"
Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me."
Down rode the squatter,
Mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up came the troopers,
One, two, three,
"Where's that jolly jumbuck
You've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me"
Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me."
Up jumped the swagman,
Sprang into the billabong,
"You'll never catch me
Alive," said he,
And his ghost may be heard
As you pass by the billabong,
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me.
Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me."
Under the shade
Of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me"
Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me"
Down came a jumbuck
To drink at the billabong,
Up jumped the swagman
And grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he stowed
That jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me"
Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me."
Down rode the squatter,
Mounted on his thoroughbred,
Up came the troopers,
One, two, three,
"Where's that jolly jumbuck
You've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me"
Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me."
Up jumped the swagman,
Sprang into the billabong,
"You'll never catch me
Alive," said he,
And his ghost may be heard
As you pass by the billabong,
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me.
Waltzing Matilda,
Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched
And waited 'til his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing,
Matilda, with me."
For the music lovers, here's André Rieu's version of:
Waltzing Matilda in Sydney Australia.
Waltzing Matilda in Sydney Australia.
The Brazil Maru is waiting for us at ..pier 5, Manila harbour.
George Takei, a nice guy
Call sheet, march 1988. I'm one of Benford's commandos, takin' over
the ship. . we beat the Japanese guards
,
...but then we got torpedo'ed by a submarine.
