Letters: Japanese veterans' bad dreams

From Mr Chris Devine

Sir: P. Marchese (Letters, 16 August) infers that those British service personnel who suffered in the Second World War have no right to complain, as we too behaved in a questionable manner towards the enemy.

May I, on behalf of Far East veterans, "whinge" to Mr Marchese on the subject of being force marched for days on end through severe jungle under a blazing sun, by brutal Japanese soldiers, while dressed in rags, starving, suffering from dehydration, malaria, dysentery, rotting open wounds, made to work building a railway in appalling conditions, being beaten senseless with a rifle butt and losing an eye or limb in the process. All this while watching your friends die in agony all around you.

Spread this over three years and then enquire: "Had this happened to Mr Marchese, would he like to whinge about it?"

Yours faithfully,

Chris Devine

Salisbury