Christopher Hitchens anecdote about his old boarding school Tonbridge, as told by a Japanese POW survivor. Well, we were in a cell that was probably built for six but was holding about sixteen of us. There wasnt much food and we hadnt been given any water for quite a while. The heat was absolutely ferocious. Dysentery had begun to take its toll, which was distinctly disagreeable at such close quarters … Added to this unpleasantness, we could hear one of our number being rather badly beaten by the Japanese guards, with rifle-butts it seemed, in their guardroom down the corridor. At this rather trying moment one of my young subalterns, whod managed to fall asleep, started screaming and flailing and yelling. He was shouting: No, no – please dont…Not any more, not again. Oh God please. Hideous noises like that. I had to take a snap decision to prevent panic, so I ordered the sergeant to slap him and wake him up. When he came to, he apologised for being a bore but brokenly confessed that hed dreamed he was back at Tonbridge.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 23:38:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015