IT was a momentous day yesterday for former prisoner of war Les Browne, who fittingly celebrated his 100th birthday on the eve of Anzac Day.
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Mr Browne spent three years in Singapore’s infamous Changi POW Camp following the Japanese occupation during World War II.
He enlisted for active service in June 1940 in the AIF headquarters 8th Division, remaining in service until December 3, 1945.
When Singapore fell, his troop was marched the 200 miles [321 kilometres] to Changi along the notorious Burma-Thai Railway.
Mr Browne’s daughter Kim McArdle said the men were forced to walk for 13 days straight in the most terrible conditions imaginable to reach the camp.
In his secret diary, Mr Browne recorded that of the 7000 plus interred with him more than 3000 died of disease, wounds or starvation.
He used this diary, which he had to keep hidden, to record the deaths, and the dates and circumstances of those deaths. He was able to bring that record home with him when the camp was liberated, bringing closure to thousands of families.
None of the men who died in the camp could be buried, so they were all cremated.
Ms McArdle said her father was part of a group who collected the ashes, then buried them in tins marked with a cross bearing their name.
“He could not refuse, but when the Japanese made the prisoners bow to the setting sun, he would keep his eyes not on the sun, but on those crosses,” she said.
“For a long time he didn’t talk about Changi, then he became aware that people were genuinely interested, and he started to talk.
“He showed no bitterness.”
Mr Browne met his wife Noelene after the war and came to Bathurst in 1950, where the couple raised children Ian, Kim, Lesley and Kate. Eleven grandchildren and nine great grandchildren followed.
Mr Browne celebrated his birthday milestone with family and the community following a special Anzac Day ceremony yesterday at Macquarie Care Centre.
In addressing the gathering, Ms McArdle said her father’s war service had a huge impact on his life, but so had the more than 60 years he had spent in Bathurst.
His daughter Lesley Begley said her dad had volunteered his clerical, accounting and organisation skills to many local charities, groups and service organisations over the years.
“He did it hard,” Ms Begley said. “But he came through it and found the peace he has today.”
