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On the 15th August 2002 The National Ex Service Association in association with Roger Robinson ex mayor of Camden Town London, and The Returned internees.
Corporal Altman has talked about his work in the camps as a clerk to the chief medical officer.
There are no memorials to men like Ernie and Lewis and their friends who died in the Japanese Labour camps, which is why former mayor, Councillor Roger Robinson, is trying to raise £5,000 to put a memorial in Camden.
Of about 22,000 men who were captured and forced to work by the Japanese, 7,000 died or were killed. Thousands more suffered wretched illnesses that affected them for the rest of their lives. Ernie always suffered from malaria, and Lewis still walks with a limp. Records he kept for one camp of about 2,000 men for one day, November 11 1943, show 84 cases of dysentery, 477 cases of malaria, one case of tuberculosis, 436 cases of beri beri and 425 cases of ulcers. In all 1,686 men were ill or injured.
"Camden has donated a plot of land in Lincoln's Inn Fields," to erect a memorial dedicated to all those who perished at the hands of the Japnese says Councillor Robinson. "The design is ready, Now we just need the money to pay for it."
All donations marked FEPOW memorial fund should be sent to:
NESA
61 Charles Street
Stockport
SK1 3JR
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