Themes

Article Highlights

• Introduction

• Conditions at North Point

• The move to Argyle Street

• Prisoner of war clothing

• Food in the camp

• Diseases in the camp

• Evacuation of the prisoners

Prisoner of war clothing

At the point of capture few prisoners of war possessed adequate clothing for a life of confinement. Initially the prisoners wore cast-offs from other armies who had recently surrendered which produced some extremely bizarre outfits. After a few months in captivity, however, these supplies ran out. The prisoners repaired their clothing until they could not mend them anymore or made their own clothes from scraps of material left lying around the camp. For those prisoners who ran out of shorts or trousers the Japanese issued traditional Japanese underwear called the ‘fundoshi’.

llustration by Mervyn Scott-Lindslay showing the decline in prisoners' clothing. Japanese guards also made the captives shave their heads (RNM)

Discover more images from Mervyn Scott-Lindslay's prisoner of war sketchbook

To learn about food in the camp, select Next