Prisoners of war celebrating Christmas, Ube, Japan, 1944

Photograph, Japan, 1944.

Ernest Edward (Ted) Senior was captured by the Japanese during World War Two (1939-1945). He was among the thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) forced to work, in brutal conditions, on a railway being built to link Burma (now Myanmar) and Siam (now Thailand). He later endured a traumatic voyage to Japan where he was put to work in the mining district of Ube, where this photograph was taken.

During this time, Senior kept a diary which reveals the terrible suffering that he endured. Conditions in Japan were not as brutal as in Burma, but, as Japan's military situation deteriorated, food and other necessitates became in increasingly short supply. The distribution of Red Cross parcels at Christmas 1944 provided some desperately needed relief and helped foster a festive mood, as he recorded in his diary entry of 23 December, 'We are all anticipating Xmas which looks as if it will be something beyond our wildest dreams. We are to receive the first of the parcels Xmas Eve, oh boy, roll on tomorrow!'

From a collection of 52 photographs relating to Major Ernest Edward (Ted) Senior, Dorsetshire Regiment, Indian Army Ordnance Corps and Ordnance Branch of Independent India, 1918-1952.