The Jungle Journal: Prisoners of the Japanese in Java 1942-45

By: Frank Williams and Ronald Williams

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Synopsis: This is the story of a young Royal Artillery officer, Lieutenant Ronald Williams, who was held as a prisoner of war in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies from 1942–45. It is a true account of the alternate horror and banality of daily life, and the humour that helped the men survive the beatings, deprivation and death of comrades. Told through the diary and papers of Williams and others, Jungle Journal includes many cartoons and poems produced by the prisoners, as well as extracts from the original Jungle Journal, a newspaper created by the men under the noses of their guards. Ronald Williams was the ‘editor’ of this potentially fatal ‘publication’. Jungle Journal describes the survival of hope even in desperate straits, and is a testament to those men whose courage and fortitude were tested to the limit under the tropical sun.