| Places | |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | AWM2019.22.31 |
| Collection number | AWM2016.485.1 |
| Collection type | Digitised Collection |
| Record type | Item |
| Item count | 1 |
| Object type | Diary |
| Physical description | 65 Image/s captured |
| Maker |
Burns, Jack Lusby |
| Place made | Japan: Shikoku, Zentsuji |
| Date made | 1944-1945 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copying Provisions | Digital format and content protected by copyright. |
| Source credit to | This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government. |
Diary of Jack Lusby Burns, October 1944-January 1945
Description
Diary relating to the Second World War Service of VX39159 Lieutenant Jack Lusby Burns, 1st Independent Company.
This diary is the fifth of six diaries kept by Burns while he was a prisoner of war in Japan. It was written in Zentsuji Prisoner of War Camp, Kagawa Prefecture, and contains entries dated between 4 October 1944 and 23 January 1945. In his diary, Burns writes about his life in the camp, including the quality and small quantity of food, always feeling hungry, losing weight, being malnourished, and having bouts of sickness. He also records receiving red cross parcels and mixing the contents with his rations, playing cards, hearing rumours about the state of the war, trading cigarettes for food, growing vegetables to supplement their diet, celebrating Thanksgiving with the American inmates, who made a turkey out of rice, receiving mail from home, making various utensils out of tin cans, and attending concerts put on by the prisoners. Additionally, he writes about his plans for after the war, including wanting to learn how to cook. Burns expresses that he “will be satisfied with the simple things after this.”