Alistair Heather: Nae ‘victory’ in VJ Dey

Thir were the wirds o ma great-granny at Glasgow Central Station, as ma granda, her son, arrived hame fae lang years as a Japanese prisoner o war. Mibbie he wisnae sae easy tae recognise. As he himsel screivit in his autobiography: “My nose was broken, my teeth were smashed, my head had been shaved, my childhood squint had worsened in the camps.”

The dey is VJ Dey – fir Victory in Japan. It mairks the enn o conflict in the East during WW2, on the anniversary o the Japanese surrender in 1945. We’re also six deys on fae the anniversary o the moment the seccont, Nagasaki, bomb wis drapt, turnin tens o thoosans o fowk tae ash, an creatin Earth’s seccont nuclear holocaust in a maitter o deys aifter Hiroshima.

Thirty mile aff fae the flattened city o Nagasaki, ma granda – Andy Coogan – an the ither POW sojers luikit oot owre tae the direction o the bombsite. There wis an unco colour in the lift, an there’d been a hoor o a rummle. Fowk were sayin mibbie it wis a volcano, sic things bein common eneuch roon aboot the Pacific. They had nae idea whit had gone on.

Ma granda an I debattit aboot whether or no sic an action – the drapt bombs at Hiroshima an Nagasaki – could be seen as richt, weel intae his nineties. He wis aye trauchled wi it. Wioot thae bombs, particularly the latter ane, he wadnae hae seen the enn o the war, but wad hae dwined awa an deed like so mony ithers did at the camps.

Aifter deekin oot at the queer reek abuin Nagasaki, aff granda an the ither Scots, Australians, Dutch, English, Korean sojers went tae their sair dey’s darg, cuttin a new mine shaft intae a hill. They didnae ken it at the time, o course, but this wisnae a mine. The lang tunnel they were ettlin at cuttin intae the side o a hill is meant tae be a mass tomb fir the POWs. Whan the Japanese were ready, they wad blaw doon the roof on it, an crush aabdy inside it. It wis the third time ma Granda had been forced tae dig his ain grave durin his time as a POW.

The tunnel wis pairt o the Japanese “final solution”. In August 1944, the Japanese highheidyins pit aboot an authorisation tae aa the mony POW camps aroon their sphere o influence in the East. Gin things stairtit tae turn agin their imperial forces, or if owre mony o the POWs escapit or itherwise becam a threat, then they were tae be exectutit, ilka ane o them. It wis thon directive that the Japanese sojers were pittin intae practise makkin ma Granda an ithers dig oot a tunnel. The text o it is gey callous;

(a) Whether they are destroyed individually or in groups, or however it is done, with mass bombing, poisonous smoke, poisons, drowning, decapitations, or what, dispose of them as the situation dictates.

(b) In any case it is the aim not to allow the escape of a single one, to annihilate them all, and not to leave any traces.

Twa great evils – the cauld calculatit murder o thoosans o stervit prisoners at the enn o a lang period o torture an abuse in the Japanese POW camps, an the equally cauld, equally calculatit murder o the fifty thoosan fowk wha’d dee in Nagasaki – mairk the enn o the conflict in the East. Mibbie thon’s how we dinnae celebrate the “victory” in VJ Dey.

Certainly, fir ma granda an his fellow survivors, it didnae feel sib tae victory. Whan the Americans freed them aifter their sair fecht sooth, they celebratit no victory, but survival. Afore they left their camps, the noo ex-POWs invitit the locals fae the clachan doon the brae tae come up an share food wi them.

An auld guard, cried Dogface, wha had aye been safter on the prisoners, took ma Granda back tae his hame – a planters shack. There he shawed that hidden ahind a pictur o the Emperor on the wa wis a crucifix. Auld Dogface wis a secret Christian, wha’d been prayin fir an enn tae the war fir years. Ma Granda gied him the socks, cigarettes an a pair o sheen the Americans had brocht wi them.

As granda left the camp, it wis the stairt o a lang journey back tae Scotland. It wis also the stairt o a langer journey back tae civility.

On the ootside o Nagasaki, as my granda an the ithers were traivellin wi the Americans tae be transportit hame, they met wi stervin Japanese. Their een were blin an their skin burnt fae the atomic bomb. They lined the streets, beggin fir food aff the newly released POWs. Tae a general stamagaster through the American escort, these POWs – mair than hauf-stervit theirsels – stapped tae gie oot whit little food they had tae these puir sowels o Japanese.

As ma Granda notit in his memoir Tomorrow You Die: “We knew what it was to be hungry, and it was the Japanese army who had been cruel to us, not the ordinary folk.”

At Okinawa, awaitin a ship, ma granda an a freen were tane sightseein tae an auld castle up on the cliffs. Doon ablow them in the waves they saw mibbie their final traumatic vision o the war. Hunners o bodies floatin in the waves, crashin aff the rocks. Maistly women an bairns. Japanese propaganda had telt fowk that the Americans were cannibals wha wad destroy the population, sae mithers an their bairns had loupit fae the rocks tae escape sic a horrible fate.

On the boat hame, granda an the ithers had tae sign undertakins wi the British government that they wadnae speak aboot their time as POWs, an wadnae talk aboot whit they’d seen at Nagasaki. The trauma fae the experience also stapped up ma granda’s mou fir a time, an he couldnae even tell his ain brithers aboot his experiences. The silence fae the East had begun.

Ma granda’s journey hame took him aroon the warld, includin through Canada. Aa they wey he wis treatit as a hero, gied hearty welcomes, cheers, food an new uniforms. Whan he arrived back tae Southampton, there wis naebody there tae welcome them. Shame hung owre the war in the East. It wisnae will he was hame tae his ain close in the Gorbals that he received a proper welcome.

Mibbie the “V” in VJ Dey needs removed. There’s precious little victory here. Think insteid on aa the sojers the deed in the East, that were warked tae deeth in the Japanese copper mines in Taiwan, that were incineratit bi their ain side as the atomic bombs fell owre near their camps at Nagasaki. Think on aa thae Osakan mithers, that feart oot their minds at the arrival o American sojers that they jumped aff the cliffs wi their faimlies wi them.

An think o Dogface prayin fir the enn o war, an the POWs sharin their food wi the stervin, puir craiters that survived the Nagasaki bomb. An think o the lang gait back tae humanity that we’re still on the dey.