My father was a Radio Officer on SS Kirkpool which was torpedoed near Tristan da Cunha on 10/4/1942 by German disguised raider ‘Thor’. Along with the other survivors he was passed from German ship until they arrived near Tokyo where they were passed into Japanese hands in July 1942. They were then transferred by train north to Fukushima where they were imprisoned in a civilian interment camp run by members of a police force. This camp, containing men, women and children, was unknown to the outside world until a visit from the Red Cross in March 1944….after which they were allowed to write letters. (My grandfather had a “missing presumed dead” letter from the government). My father was released in early September 1945 and arrived back to Southampton in December 1945…nearly four years after he left the UK
My father never recovered from his ordeal and died in 1959. I inherited all his letters, photos etc when my mother died in 2000.
The following 25 word letter was written to my father Malcolm Ingleby Scott by his father whilst he was in Fukushima civilian POW camp. Nothing had been heard about my father’s whereabouts since April 1942 when his ship was lost until he was discovered by the Red Cross in Fukushima in March 1944.
