Death camp survivor supports plan for memorial to Far East prisoners - 90 year old John Mount backs architect's proposals

Published: 03 February 2011
by PETER GRUNER

A  SURVIVOR of a Japanese prisoner of war “death camp” this week offered support to plans for a memorial in Camden to those who died or were imprisoned in the Far East during the Second World War. 

John Mount, of Augustus Street, was in his early 20s when he almost died of starvation in Japanese camps during four years of “appalling” conditions and “cruel” treatment. 

The 90-year-old is backing architect Chris Roche’s planning application to locate the memorial on the traffic island at Mornington Crescent, opposite the statue to Victorian social reformer Richard Cobden. 

“There are very few memorials to those who suffered in the Far East during the war as far as I know,” said Mr Mount.

“It’s tragic that their sacrifice is not always recognised. I had the most horrific experiences. There was very little food and disease was common. We were worked extremely hard, often in the coal mines. So many of my friends and comrades died. 

“I was extremely thin and malnourished. There were times I thought I’d die, too. Even today I don’t know how I got out alive.” 

Margaret Richardson, retired director of the Sir John Soane’s museum in Holborn, and a former Japanese internee, has also welcomed the project. 

Ms Richardson, 73, who is co-chairwoman of the Camden Town Conservation Advisory committee, was held for two and a half years with her parents in Japan during the war. 

She said she had a difficult time in the camp, which was surrounded with barbed wire, but admitted it was nothing compared with the atrocious conditions experienced by Mr Mount. 

“I was six or seven years old and being a child you just got on with life,” she said. 

“But I do remember that portions of food, mainly rice, got smaller as time went on.” 

While she supports plans for a memorial,  Ms Richardson believes Mornington Crescent might be the wrong area for it.

“I would prefer somewhere central, but still in Camden,” she added. “Remember, 16,000 died on the Burma railway alone. It was a terrible atrocity.” 

MP for Holborn and St Pancras Mr Frank Dobson said he hoped Camden Council would give the scheme due consideration. “I’ve supported the idea for this war memorial to be placed close to the Cobden statue for some time,” he added. 

“I hope other people support it as well, as it seems to me the right and proper thing to do.” 

An artist’s impression of what the memorial could look like is available online on the Town Hall website. A black granite plaque, which would measure six by four feet high, would be raised on “train lines” and sleepers symbolising the deaths and suffering of those forced to work on wartime Japanese railways.

• To comment on the memorial proposals, log on to Camden Council’s website at
www.camden.gov.uk and search planning applications, reference: 2010/6812/P.