Doctors War

by Richards Rowley

One of the last great stories to emerge from World War II, this is an account of the horrors of battle, imprisonment and survival as seen through the eyes of a young doctor.Eminent surgeon Rowley Richards was a young doctor and officer in the army reserve when war broke out. He embarked for Singapore in 1941, a year before the Allies capitulated to invading Japanese forces. Richards became a POW and, as a medical officer, found himself tending to other prisoners in shocking conditions. In a diary, he recorded the horrors he witnessed as well as the courage, humour and mateship of his fellow prisoners. As the Allies advanced, he buried his writings in a bottle in a soldier's grave and made a map of the site which, remarkably, stayed intact during his transfer and imprisonment in Japan. Dr Rowley Richards' memoir begins with his carefree childhood in Australia, covers time spent in conditions which could - and did - prove fatal to so many others, and describes a vigorous and busy post-war career as a doctor. An engagingly personal story, it's also a reflection on humanity and on the will to survive.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, War, Australia

386 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the most unemotional memoir of a WWII that I've ever read. Rowley Richards was a doctor who was captured with the fall of Singapore and he kept painstakingly accurate statistical records of his experiences as a prisoner of war. Time and again he writes that he couldn't tell you how he felt about such-and-such a situation; he had been raised to hide his feelings and the horrors of the war numbed him even more. His clinically objective observations are off-putting and at the same time mesmerizing because you know things were much worse than he states.

I was fascinated by his attitude toward the British officers because the Australians had a more egalitarian army where the officers fraternized with their men. The British, on the other hand, had a strong sense of hierarchy and many of the officers in the camps kept a lonely distance from their soldiers. I also found it interesting that many of his childhood experiences uniquely prepared him for survival in the POW camps.

Although he had been brought up in the church he writes," I often thought of my mother's words, 'Trust God and fear no man,' but as far as I was concerned, there was no sign of God in the jungles of Burma." He envied the men who could find comfort in religion, but saw it as a false comfort. Salvation, to him, was his work and obsessive sense of duty.

I've read a dozen books about POWs in the Pacific, and although this is not a favorite of that genre, I was intrigued to read about the experiences of the River Kwai POWs from a unique perspective.

[Carroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't want to feel pasion, anger, hate and dispare then this isnt the book for you. However; if you want to know what it was like for our POW's and understand their pain then you need to read this.
The Japanese had/have no mercy, compassion for a human life and their "attempt" at an appology for their cruilty to our soldiers is an insult.
I read this book a few years ago now and i still feel the anger from it.
It will stay with me for a long time to come.

[Olga Cahill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rowley's story is one that will stay with me forever. Rowley passed this year at the age of 98. His family are people I have been blessed to meet. I wish that I had met Rowley, I would have loved to look into his eyes and see the light and courage in them. I am humbled by his story. This book was an amazing memoir.

[Mavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thought provoking book