Prisoner Under The Rising Sun

Harold Evans started to write down his war time experiences after a stroke in 1984. To help his memory he used a poem he had written during his days as a Japanese POW.

Eary1939-RAF-Cpl-2tn Harold, sometimes known as “Bill”, “Chota”, and “The Best Leggi Man in the Business”, was born in Bootle, Merseyside on 11^th August 1908 of Walter and Margaret Evans. He had two sisters, Margaret and Dorothy. He married the seven years younger Joyce Marty Johnston Hall on 5^th August 1939, during RAF leave. They took a short weekend break as a token Honeymoon before he returned to his duties as an RAF Corporal and was posted to the Far East.

Thanks to Harold´s `never give in´ approach to life we can now all share this remarkable story.

This is Harold´s story - The Best Leggi Man in the Business.

* Leggi means more, as in Oliver Twist, it was a name given by the prisoners for an extra helping of food, i.e. as in Leggie Queue.

Prisoner Under the Rising Sun

By Harold “Bill” Evans

I, along with two to three hundred other Royal Air Force personnel should never have become prisoners of war under the Japanese. We were not captured after an heroic battle, but handed over by the Dutch. There was no glory - not even a fight to preserve our freedom - we were delivered on a plate to them and the Japanese thought us feeble not to have fought to the last man.

Our capture was ignominious.

Preface by Stephen P. Evans