The Bombers of Ballale - Continued

I spent the first of my three nights on Ballale trying to sleep on a wooden bench in a open shed next to the airfield. Plagued by ants and mosquitos, I decided to spend the rest of the night sleeping on the boat jetty that stretched out over the reef that surrounded the island.
The next morning, enticed by the crystal clear water lapping around the jetty, I decided on a quick swim. As always, I was careful to scan the white, coral seafloor for any ominous black shapes cruising nearby before I jumped in.

I had been splashing around for a few minutes when a sudden, overwhelming desire to get out of the water sent me scrambling up onto the jetty. As I stood there naked and dripping wet, I was horrified to see a shark, of no mean proportions, swim casually by and circle the end of the jetty before disappearing over the edge of the reef. I would be a liar if I did not admit it gave me quite a scare.

During my stay on the island, I came across and photographed numerous Japanese aircraft including an Aichi ‘Val’ dive bomber, lots of ‘Betty’ bombers and a few crumpled wrecks of the famous ‘Zero’ fighter. During all this time I had the unsettling feeling that I was not alone. But despite circling the island once or twice and criss-crossing it numerous times, I did not see a single human being until my bush pilot friend arrived to pick me up.

You can imagine how I felt when, on my return to Australia, my research on Ballale revealed that, towards the end of 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy shipped over 500 Allied prisoners of war, captured mostly in the fall of Singapore, to the island to construct an airfield. The prisoners were brutally ill-treated and, after the airfield was completed, the survivors were forced out into the open to die during Allied air raids, or were eventually executed and buried on the island.
A British website operated by the Children and Families of Far Eastern Prisoners of War, www.cofepow.org.uk tells their terrible story.