The WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society; Registered Charity No: 1148116

Captive Memories: Starvation – Disease – Survival

Meg Parkes and Geoff Gill record FEPOW testimonies, medical struggles, and the families who carried them home.

Captive Memories book cover
Author
Dr Meg Parkes and Dr Geoff Gill
Publisher
Palatine Books
Price
£12.99
ISBN
9781910837009
Published
2017

Captive Memories: Starvation – Disease – Survival by Dr Meg Parkes and Dr Geoff Gill

When Far East prisoners of war returned to Britain in 1945 many could not speak of what they had endured. Meg Parkes and Geoff Gill draw on Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine archives to chronicle their physical and psychological battles: starvation diets, rampant disease, improvised surgery, and forced labour on the Burma Railway. The authors also highlight the wives and families who supported men scarred by nightmares and long-term illness.

The book breaks the post-war silence, documenting resilience, camaraderie, and resourcefulness in the face of impossible odds. It offers medical insight that later influenced how modern veterans are treated and stands as a testament to those who refused to be broken.

Palatine Books. £12.99. ISBN 9781910837009.