Will to Survive

Three and a Half Years as a Prisoner of the Japanese

Taken prisoner after the fall of Singapore in 1942, Arthur Godman spent the next three and a half years on the Burma-Siam railway, living in camps along the River Kwai. Like other POWs, he experienced disease and malnutrition and witnessed the painful deaths of many of his comrades. Yet somehow he retained his sense of humor and perspective, recalling, among the casual cruelties inflicted by the Japanese, small acts of kindness between guards and prisoners which enabled him to retain his faith in humanity. In order to survive he attempted to achieve a relationship with his captors based on their common experience of adversity; learning Thai, teaching bridge, and stealing food. This glimpse of the terrifying world of the POW includes pictures by two other famous artists who were captives.