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Arthur Frigg and the Railway of Death

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BBC Radio Ulster - Arthur Frigg and the Railway of Death

A former Japanese prisoner of war recalls the horror of working on the Burma Railway.

Seventy-five years after the end of World War II, a former Japanese prisoner of war recalls working on the Burma Railway, also known as the Railway of Death.

In February 1942, a soldier called Arthur Frigg, who spent much of his long life in Omagh, was captured by the Japanese in Singapore.
 
Along with thousands of other Allied Prisoners of War, he was forced to work on the infamous Burma Railway, which ran for over 250 miles and connected Thailand to Myanmar (Burma)
 
At one point, Arthur was taken to the infamous Hintok Camp with over eight hundred 800 Allied Prisoners. Less than 100 would survive.
 
Afterwards, Arthur would settle in Omagh with his wife Sally – though the trauma of what he survived never quite left him.  
 
Now, to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, we revisit Arthur’s story of survival against all odds, a tale of hope when all hope was lost – and a love story that lasted over 70 years.
 
This programme was first broadcast in October 2014. Arthur Frigg passed away in October 2016.

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