December+31st,+1942

//December 31st, 1942 // 

Diary, it’s been about a year since I wrote the last entry. From February 8, 1942 - the start of battle of Singapore until now, I have been living in hell. You know, why? Great Britain lost to the bloody Japanese, who are smaller, uglier than us. How can this happen? How can a small, dirty, bald guys beat the great and powerful people from Britain? How could the Japanese, who used to come to our country for learning superior military tactics and attaining wide Western knowledge, take British to their land and enslave us in prison camp? This can not happen. I cannot get humiliated by Asian people, but this is the time that I should realize the brutal reality. They are superior to us and we were capitulated to the Japanese force. Let me tell you how one of our worst disasters took place. Starting from January 31, 1942, Japanese started to capture refugees in our island. When we attempted to get more manpower in the battle, we could not get any because Japanese, taking the refugees as their sources for soldiers. Still, we had more than 70,000 soldiers in our hand, three times the number of the Japanese forces. From that point on, I thought we will win, but it was a dream that I should not even dare to dream of. We were poorly equipped; we even ran out of ammunition for the coastal defense guns and our ancillary equipments were literally useless. They had the superior naval and air forces. In other words, they bombarded our base on sea and on land, whenever they felt liked it. And the thing is we could not defend ourselves properly against their powerful attack. In seven days of chaotic war, all I saw and heard were British soldiers, screaming to death and blowing their heads off and persuading me to kill them. There was not even a single drop of joy from winning the fight with Japanese. Eventually, the bastard and inefficient commander in chief, Perceiver, surrendered about 130,000 soldiers, including myself, in our army and drew the entire army from Singapore. Now, I am stationed at the barbarians’ prisoner camp in the place, so called “SHINAGAWA.” Everyday and night, I work for my enemies. Everyday, we move the heavy things that I have never even touched in my life. I can see every part of the bones in my body. I literally look like a skeleton, haha. You would think I might sound like I enjoy this situation and render me as mentally ill. As a matter of fact, I don’t enjoy it and I am mentally fine. The reason why I seem so happy is that I got help from a Japanese lady, named Ms. M. In body language, she promised me that she would get me out of prisoner's camp if I give something precious to her. I had my wedding ring, covered with gold, which I keep under my tongue; I bought wedding ring for my future wife, Annette, before the Battle of Singapore. I will give her this and get freed from this horrible and disgusting land. Until my freedom, bye diary!

Bibliography:http://www.kunsman-eichlin.net/Feature%20-%20Eichlin,%20Herbert.htm