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Article: Death, disease and starvation . . . but the spirit survived; Wirral People.(News)
- Article from:
- Daily Post (Liverpool, England)
- Article date:
- November 21, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 MGN Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: David Charters
TERRIBLE moments came every day as the men died from starvation, disease, and their untreated beatings.
Some were friends, others strangers, but every going left a sense of loss among the survivors.
That's how Bill McCombe remembers it. At one point, the death count was so high their Japanese guards stopped them sounding the Last Post.
Perhaps they thought its melancholy strain would lower the morale of the slave workers. Yet, in all this misery, there were examples of the human spirit remaining so stout and true that you would wonder if it could ever be broken.
When he closes his eyes, Bill can still ...