Henry Hudson: English Explorer of the Northwest Passage

Kenneth Harrison went to war to fight Germans and instead fought the Japanese in Malaya. He was also a POW in Singapore, Malaya, Thailand and Japan. As with most of his generation who fought, they witnessed events that young men and women should not; death and destruction, cruelty beyond compare and bravery that defied belief. Many have written their eyewitness accounts but few have been able to write with such humility, humanity and forgiveness of their enemy.

Harrison's story is one that must be unique. He fought in 2 battles at Gemas and Muar on the Malay Peninsula. After capture he worked as slave labour on the infamous Hellfire Pass on the Burma Thailand Railway as well as being used for slave labour at the Nagasaki shipyards and coal mining at Nakarma. After the bombing of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki and with the Japanese surrender he was one of the first four non-Japanese to enter Hiroshima. He wrote on that experience “......we felt no sense of either history or triumph. Our brother Man went by crippled and burned, and we knew only shame and guilt.” He and his companions stayed for less than a day such was the experience that shocked them. He was embarked back to his home in Melbourne Australia via Nagasaki and describes the impact of it's bombing with great sadness.

His reflections took him deep into himself; how he felt about the Japanese in both terms of their cruelty and his feeling of “privilege” as to fighting against such brave soldier's. Their cultural differences were amazing to him, a mixture of admiration and loathing. He wrote of the eventual strained relationships with many who had lost relatives, they did not understand his attitude. He wrote of the dead comrades that he liked and admired; “My story is their story. We shared all the same hopes and fears. We starved together; we exulted together; and only in the final adventure of all did our paths turn slowly away. They are long dead now in far off lands and I wish them well. Sleep, my comrades, and soft winds bring peace.”

I have found this a truly thought provoking book just for the sheer humanity that Kenneth Harrison presented his wartime experience. On a personal level I feel that I am unable to do this book review justice.