The O’Haras had lived in Burma from the 1850’s. Working in many occupations including doctors, in the police, in the administration of public works, forestry and in my grandfather’s case as a diver in the construction of the Rangoon Harbour. Around 100 were born there.
It is estimated that in 1940 around 1 million Indians or those of Indian descent lived in Burma. As the Japanese moved into Burma, around 600,000 left, amongst them were about 100 O’Hara’s and relations, including my mother who left around 1941.
But by April 1942 when the Japanese overran most of Burma and then the capital Rangoon, the British rulers belatedly “organised” a hasty withdrawal. For more details of this debacle, I would recommend The Evacuation of Civilians from Burma by Michael D Leigh.
Of the 400,000 who were caught up in the evacuation, 20% died on route. As in all wars accurate figures are hard to come by, but of the available records, 60% were Indian, 36% Anglo Indian and the remaining 4% Burmese.
Over 50 descendants of O’Hara’s were recorded as being evacuated, many were not able to get out of Burma and endured severe physical and mental torture in the internment camps and subsequent life long trauma . Other O’Haras and relations were also in internment camps in Jakarta or were caught up in the evacuation of Singapore, many of whom never lived to see the end of the war.
Like many survivors, and their families, it was not much spoken of, except when Tenko appeared on the television in the early 1980’s and then stories could be related.
Unsurprisingly, many found it difficult to forgive the brutality of these events, and I for one never felt able to visit Japan whilst my mother was alive.
Memorial at the Hypocentre of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb
But, last year I had the privilege of visiting Nagasaki to see the Peace Memorial Hall which holds the list of 40,000 victims of this atrocity and the memorial at the hypocentre of the bomb of 9 August 1945 (above).
My reaction to this at the time was “since that day in August 1945, not a single moment has passed without a war somewhere on the planet”. The number to die as a result of these wars has been calculated to be 41 million people from 1945-2000.
Whether the use of the atomic bomb can be justified as a means to end the Second World War, (which I think that it was not either strategically or ethically) what it clearly has not done is made a planet where the brutality of war has been in anyway reduced or prevented. That is not a legacy which respects the estimated one million who died as a consequence of the Japanese invasion of Burma, Malaya and Singapore.
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