John Craven opened up about his dad’s ordeal as a prisoner of war (Image: BBC)
‘s John Craven shared an axtract from his autobiography, Headlines and Hedgerows as he recounted the emotional story of his father’s return from being a prisoner of war in Japan.
The star describes the poignant moment when his father, Private Willie Craven, returned to Yorkshire in 1945 after enduring three-and-a-half years of captivity. Despite being weakened by illness and mistreatment, his father lifted him onto his shoulders at Leeds station, a memory that remains vivid for Craven.
The family reunion marked the end of a long and painful separation.
He penned: “My mother clung to hope for years, with me as the living emblem of their love, never knowing if my father was still alive. My arrival coincided with the Battle of Britain’s most intense day, and following two months, dad joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as a mechanist. Before long, he found himself in Malaya, and from Singapore, he managed to send a telegram for my first birthday which read: ‘Loving Birthday Greetings. I wish we were together on this special occasion. Fondest love and kisses. Daddy Craven.'”, reports the Mirror.
John Craven wondered how his dad managed to survive his ordeal (Image: undefined)
He continued: “As Singapore capitulated mere months afterwards, my father was taken captive alongside thousands by the Japanese forces.
“Ordered to remain whilst his comrades fled to Java, charged with crippling vehicles and armaments, he took defiant action amidst chaos—driving trucks into the harbour, sharing a few beers, then bracing for capture. This marked the start of three and a half torturous years spanning Changi Jail, Thai PoW camps, and the notorious Death Railway’s construction.”
John then described the ordeal the “coolies” or South East Asian workers faced, as 100,000 died, as well as 13,000 Allied prisoners of war, during the construction of railways and bridges. They faced lack of food, rest, medication and a number of tropical diseases.
He was sent to war just as John was born (Image: undefined)
He continued: “My father, who was among the first to travel north from Singapore by train on November 3, 1942, had to endure three days and nights locked in metal goods wagons with no rest stops, no latrines and little food. The heat and stench were unbearable, and those who died were discarded from the wagons by the guards.
“Upon arrival, they found that what they had been led to believe was a Red Cross camp was actually Won Rum, the first of three work camps my father would be assigned to along the Death Railway.” He then admitted his dad refused to discuss his time in the camps after his huge amount of suffering.”
John added that there appeared to be a “pact of silence” among the survivors as they struggled to deal with their “unimaginable suffering at the hands of their brutal captors”, as he wondered how his dad, who he described as “slender and slightly built”, managed to survive.
He wrote: “Perhaps it was due to a combination of good fortune and his resilient Yorkshire spirit, but he did survive and lived until the age of 80. He only shared a few stories about his lengthy imprisonment with me, including the night he collapsed alongside the railway line after a long day of laying sleepers and struck his head on what he thought was a rock.”