The day before Mark Campbell joined the navy in 1987, his grandfather, George Jolley, sat him down for a talk.
The story he was told was one of extraordinary survival during World War II.
In the lead-up to Remembrance Day on November 11, the Tarneit resident shared his grandfather’s story and that of a planned epic undertaking to re-trace his steps along the Thai-Burma Railway.
George Jolley was a sergeant in the Royal Indian Corp signals reservist section.
During the fall of Singapore in February, 1942, he was among more than 100,000 soldiers captured by the Japanese. His next 18 months can only be described as a living hell.
Mr Jolley and his mates were herded into cattle wagons for a 10-day train journey to Bangkok in sweltering conditions with very little water.
At the end of the journey, they were forced to walk through jungle before being ordered to prepare the railway on the side of a cliff.
“He suffered very badly and had to work every day building a viaduct, before being marched 100 kilometres along Hellfire Pass through some of the worst terrain you can imagine,” Mr Campbell said. “Many died from dysentery, cholera, malaria or as a result of being tortured or beaten by the Japanese and Korean guards.”
In October, 1943, the railway was completed but Mr Jolley was soon fighting for life once again. Battling a severe case of beriberi, due to a lack of vitamin D, his body had swollen to such an extent he was unable to move.
“They couldn’t find a pulse on him and he was put with the rest of the dead bodies,” Mr Campbell said. “He came to and scared the bejesus out of the Japanese guards.”
Mr Jolley worked at Petchaburi Airfield in Bangkok and only discovered the war had ended when he woke one morning to find the Japanese guards had left in the middle of the night following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
For Mr Campbell, following his father and joining the Royal Navy at age 18 before transferring to the Royal Australian Navy was something he was destined to do.
In November next year, Mr Campbell will lead a 325-kilometre trek along the railway to honour his grandfather and raise money for charities including the Thai-Burma Railway Centre, Legacy and Autism Spectrum Australia, a disorder which affects his three boys.
The journey will become a DVD, Jolley’s Crossing, with Mr Campbell needing to raise a further $50,000 before the trek can go ahead.
For details, visit www.deathrailwaytrek.com.
