KEANE John VX27987 C Coy [Ch]

John (Jack I Snowy) Keane

John Keane VX27987 "C" Company. 2129th Battalion AIF

Dad joined the army in about 1940; he was about 30-year-old. He suffered from stomach ulcers and should never been accepted for duty in the army. As Australia was under threat from the Japanese, they took anyone who was reasonably fit.

He was a member of the 2129 Battalion which was sent to Singapore to try and stop the Japanese. They were overrun, captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp called Changi. During the next three and a half years of captivity Dad was shot once and bayoneted in the back. He was also operated on by the famous Doctor Weary Dunlop for his stomach ulcer.

The prisoners of war were treated as slave labour, were beaten and starved with many dying. The Burma rail line was built by the prisoners and most died. Dad did not work on this project as he was just too ill, lucky for him if you can call it that.

They had good Doctors in the camp, but very little medical supplies or equipment to treat all the prisoners, as well as being mistreated. There were many tropical illness' that the men died of because of the effects of starvation.

Dad survived all of this and was shipped home in 1945, extremely ill and weighing under 6 stone. He spent some time in a Brisbane hospital before being taken down to Melbourne.

He died in 1969 at 56 years of age because of what he endured during the war years. My poor Dad.

John Keane (your loving son)