100-year-old North Ayrshire veteran shares terrible tale on VJ day as Three Towns Legion remembers fallen

Robert John Ransom – better known as Jack Ransom – was captured by the Japanese and forced to work on the construction of the infamous Burma railway has spoken movingly about his lost comrades and how he believed he was just weeks from death before the dropping of the Atom Bombs brought the Second World War to an end.

The Royal British Legion Scotland, Stevenston, Ardrossan and Saltcoats Branch came together at memorials at 11am this morning, August 15.

Across the nation, virtual events organised by Armed Forces charities Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland will see the milestone anniversary marked.

As with VE Day, commemorations followed COVID-19 regulations and associated restrictions for the safety of all.

Victory over Japan Day also known as VJ Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end.

Mr Ransom, originally from London but who now lives in North Ayrshire, described his vivid memories from his time during the six-year conflict.

He said: “I joined the Territorial Army at the beginning of 1939. When War was declared on the first Monday of September 1939, I was already in uniform at Woolwich Barracks, in London. I was attached to the 118 Field Regiment Royal Artillery.”

When he left to go to war two years later, he thought he was being sent to north Africa.

He said: "Due to the fact that Japan was now in the War, I think the government was worried about Malaya. The Australian government wanted back-up, so instead we would go to the Far East. We were sent to India for three weeks while they made their mind up. We went back to Bombay and sailed for Singapore, arriving towards the end of January. We never got off the island as the Japanese were too far down and had pushed the Australians back.”

But it wasn’t long before Mr Ransom and his comrades were compelled to surrender. He said: “I never saw the Japanese until I was taken prisoner on Singapore island. We were given the order to surrender. We didn’t surrender; we were ordered to surrender.

“For a while in captivity, we led our own lives. We grew vegetables, we chopped down trees for firewood, we got a ration of rice which we cooked for ourselves. We didn’t get any parcels or mail, or anything from the Red Cross whatsoever. We looked after ourselves as best we could.”

However, things would take a dramatic turn for the worse, as Mr Ransom explains: “It all changed when the Japanese penetrated into Burma. They had to find a way to get supplies to their troops and could only do it via Thailand, so they had to construct the railway from Thailand into Burma. The plans they used were old ones that had been formulated by the British. For the building of that railway they needed labour. They transferred most of the prisoners of war to Thailand to build it.

“The POWs went up to the railway in Thailand in groups and I went up in the final group. By that time, hundreds of POWs that had gone up previously had died from cholera and various other diseases. When I arrived, they needed people to work on the railway at the Burma border, so we marched from the start of the railway up to Burma. It was about 200 miles. Well, some of us got there, some of us didn’t.

“Eventually we got to a small camp and we were put to work building the railway embankment. We were on that for quite a time… After the railway was more or less up and running, we were put on the job of supplying ballasts for the railway, which meant working in quarries breaking up stone, which in itself was a hazardous job. Flints fly into your legs and your arms and your body and these turn into tropical ulcers… not so nice.

“Attempts to escape were made by one or two individuals, but they were caught. But where would you go? There was nothing around for hundreds of miles. Those that were caught were brought back and beheaded. Once the railway was up and running, they needed us somewhere else. Those left were put on trains and taken back before being divided into two lots. One group went to Japan to work in the mines, and the group I was in was sent back to Singapore where I worked for the Japanese digging defence tunnels.”

But Mr Ransom and his comrades then began to get a sense that the tide was turning in favour of the Allies, as he describes: “By this time, in 1944, the Americans were starting to push back the Japanese. We started to realise that things were not going too well for our captors. So, at least we had a thought of something to look forward to.

“We knew nothing about VE Day and we didn’t know that the Atom Bombs had dropped, but we thought that things might be going our way. I was working on the defence tunnels in Singapore. You worked from daybreak until night. We worked seven days a week apart from one single day when it was the Emperor’s birthday.

“Every morning we were collected by the Japanese guards at dawn, but one morning they didn’t turn up. We didn’t know why. We returned the next morning, but, again, the Japanese didn’t come. Then the rumours started. Somebody said that the Japanese were about to surrender. We didn’t believe it. But eventually, of course, it became true.

“The first sign that I had was a paratrooper walking up the road towards the jail. I said: ‘Good morning!’ I was a scarecrow, I was in rags, no shoes – I only weighed six stone. We were fed on only one bowl of rice a day. I was so pleased to see somebody. Then, suddenly, the rations got better for us. And more clothes were found – mainly coloured T-shirts.

“Eventually, Earl Mountbatten arrived and accepted the surrender of the Japanese. Then he came up to the Changhai jail. We knew he was in charge of everything, so we turned out a Guard of Honour. It must have been the most non-descript Guard of Honour he has ever seen. No two were dressed the same. Some had shoes, some did not. He walked down the Guard of Honour of 90 of us as if he was at Buckingham Palace.

“I had to wait until the end of September for transport, and I came home on a Polish ship. It took a month to get home and we docked at Liverpool. We were kitted out and I got my stripes back again – I was a Sergeant. I was checked by doctors and got away the next morning to King’s Cross. There, we were picked up in cars and taken home. I went up to the front door and my Father opened up. And there I was. Home. I hadn’t been back since 1941.”

During the war the Fourteenth Army which was part of the British 11th Army Group, became responsible for operations against the Japanese in 1943.

A number of Scottish Units served with distinction in Burma including, The Royal Scots, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the Scots Guards, but the majority of the army was built around the British Indian Army, which was stated to be the largest all-volunteer army in history with 2,500,000 men.

Key to the surrender of Japan were the events of August, 1945.

On August 6, The USAF dropped a bomb, known as Little Boy, this was an atomic bomb and for the first time the world witnessed the man-made weapon of mass destruction in action. The weapon dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the horrific outcome: more than 100,000 killed by blast, fire, and radiation.

This was followed by another atomic bomb three days later.

Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, with over 80,000 killed.

Both weapons left a legacy of radiation poisoning that would affect many generations for years to come.

Six days later the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and Japan surrendered bringing an end to WW2.