Japanese POWs - Those Who Returned:

Today, 8 May, 1945,
War in Europe ended.
For my grandad and others,
Slavery extended.

A cruel journey
Was just beginning—
For in Far East Asia,
No side was winning.

From railway to railway,
Sutured scars clung.
From bridge to bridge,
Bodies fell beneath the sun.

Marched aboard a hell ship,
Hopes of life disappeared.
Starving men ate each other—
Sin dripping from their beard.

Their torpedoed ship sank,
Yet somehow a few survived.
Confused U.S. pilots shot them—
Still, some stayed alive.

Curious sharks soon circled,
No flesh on bone to chew.
Stick-like frames kept drifting—
Survival instincts grew.

A fishing crew saw their plight,
With love suturing their fate.
They hauled the men upon the deck
To show kindness conquers hate.

The Japanese POWs returned,
Long after August '45.
Strangers to their families—
But grateful to be alive.