The Burma Railway and PTSD: A Family Memoir

During the Second World War, a young girl named June experienced the bittersweet homecoming of her traumatized father, Jack, after his imprisonment at the hands of the Japanese in the Far East. They quickly realized how ill-prepared they were to deal with Jack's post-war traumas, and their only way to cut through his decompression was by exercising incredible patience and talking it through with brutal honesty. Thirty years ago, June would have been nervous to put her story down on paper, but today, we are acutely aware of what those unfortunate returning prisoners of war were suffering back in 1945. The military and government put immense pressure on them not to speak of their experiences in captivity, and many of them took the instruction seriously and never discussed it with their families or friends. Jack recalled how they were told Britain was over the war and that people were moving on with their lives, and they were given leaflets concerning the matter on board their repatriation ships as they sailed homewards.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 04 July 2023
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Many books and memoirs have been written on prisoner of war captivity in the Far East during the Second World War. Some contain incredible detail concerning the fall of Singapore and are full of military historical facts. This book is not like that. Instead, it is written from the viewpoint of a young girl who experienced the bittersweet homecoming of her traumatised father, Jack, following the end of the war. June and her mother, Beatrice, had lovingly prepared for Jack's long-awaited return from his imprisonment at the hands of the Japanese out in the Far East. June recounts that they quickly realised how ill-prepared they were to deal with Jack's post-war traumas. The man who returned home did not resemble the man who had left in 1941. It proved to be a troubled journey as they navigated a path back to a semblance of normal family life. Their only way to cut through Jack's decompression from three and a half years of intensely cruel mental stress in the notorious POW camps was by exercising incredible patience and, ultimately, talking it through with brutal honesty. Jack was not a man who would have sought out help, especially concerning how he felt inside. Today, we comfortably talk about mental health and, in Jack's case, PTSD. Following recent conflicts across the world, the topic of mental suffering has been thrown wide open. It has become part of our everyday language and is viewed with compassion. There is no shame in any type of mental health issue. However, June admitted that thirty years ago she would have been nervous to put her story down on paper. We are now acutely aware of what those unfortunate returning prisoners of war were suffering back in 1945. There is no shame to call out what it was - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This was a psycholog.

Weight: 602g
Dimension: 163 x 241 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399049894