13th September 2025 Meeting Report: Richard Berry FRPSL Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day: Far Eastern POWs
- Nick Colley
- Nov 13, 2025
- 2 min read
To commemorate the 80th Anniversary of VJ (Victory over Japan) day, Richard gave an eighteen frame display of FEPOW (Far East Prisoners of War) philatelic and related material to an audience of 11 members and 4 guests (which included his wife, son and daughter).
The display was dedicated to Richard’s (Great) Uncle Joe (Berry) who was captured at the fall of Singapore, worked on the Burma-Siam Railway and was transferred on a ‘Hellship’ to Japan to provide slave labour there. A frame of newspaper cuttings relating to him was shown.
Richard showed correspondences, postcards and letters from and to those incarcerated. The display also showed material to and from interned civilians. Also shown were original reports of the plight on those incarcerated including Red Cross reports and (for example) articles from the Prisoner of War Relatives Association’ magazine.
All theatres where FEPOW and interned civilians were incarcerated were shown including: Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Burma and on mainland Japan. Some back stories of the individual FEPOWs were given. This was especially poignant when material from the Burma-Siam and Sumatra ‘Death Railways’ was shown.
Richard asked two friends to contribute to the display and explain their material. Peter Cockburn FRPSL showed a frame of Borneo material and Richard Morel FRPSL showed a frame of Japanese propaganda postcards to give additional context.
The inhumane conditions and brutality were explained but the main focus was on the few items sent by those incarcerated and the letters sent to them from home which often never arrived.
