Museum of the Manchester Regiment

Prisoners: The Story of the Regiment’s Far East Prisoners of War 1942-1945

The Museum of the Manchester Regiment has mounted a special temporary exhibition, to open on 2nd January 2008, running until 27th June 2008, entitled: Prisoners: The Story of the Regiment’s Far East Prisoners of War 1942-1945.

Between 1942 and 1945 many men, women and children suffered great hardship at the hands of their Japanese captors. The exhibition will highlight some of the experiences of the men of the Regiment that endured those years of hard work and deprivation. Many men of the Regiment worked on the infamous Burma-Thailand 'Death' Railway during the construction of which 16,000 allied prisoners of war died.

It will celebrate how each mans sense-of-humour, regimental pride and stoicism gave him the strength to go on. It will also remember some of those many local lads who did not return from the Far East as a result of serving their country.

The exhibition will include many previously unseen and poignant objects, including the bamboo crutch made and used by Private Ernest Jones of Failsworth during his captivity in the Far East, who survived his ordeal and returned home in 1945.

The Museum of the Manchester Regiment is interested to hear from anyone who was, or had a relative, serving with the Manchester Regiment and who became a prisoner of war in the Far East, during World War Two.