BOOK REVIEW TENKO

Tenko, a name given to the most infamous Prisoner-of-War camps in the Second World War. It was in Japan and Margot Turner was imprisoned there with many other women. Tenko means a "roll call" and the prisoners had to stand there bowed all the time during the counting.

Margot Turner was 21-years old and a theatre sister in Singapore. The Japanese forces were overrunning Singapore in February 1942. Margot and 350 other people tried to escape. They boarded a cargo ship in Keppel harbour. The ship was hit by a shell. Military personnel and civilians swam to a nearby island. After few days Margot boarded a cargo ship again which was heading for Batavia. There she got torpedoed again. She was fighting for her life in shark-infested water constantly fighting dangerous currents. Margot and another nurse put a sort of a raft together. All the others on the raft died either from wounds or sun or dehydration.

Although she burned black and had blisters Margot survived by eating seaweed and drinking rainwater collected in her powder compact. She stated afterwards that she had always the feeling that a higher power was watching over her.

One day she was picked up by a Japanese destroyer. This started a three-and-a-half years of being a prisoner-of-war and lived and worked in Japanese camps. Although, her experiences were often incredible she kept morale high. She managed to keep the humour going which help a lot.

She remembered that they kept irritating the Japanese because we laughed a lot. The Japanese didn't know what we were laughing about.

In spite of the poor nourishment, hard labour, and lack of water the malaria-carrying mosquitoes and diseases, they kept going. The other irritating spontaneous call was "tenko". They had to bow very low in front of a Japanese guard. They had to line-up every time the Japanese shouted "tenko"

Margot got one day irritated because she realized that these guards were not very educated. She thought that after all she is a British officer and a British Army nurse. After all she wasn't Japanese. She decided to stand upright and did not bow. She was hit so hard that it knocked a tooth out. After a hard lesson learned she was bowing again. Another torment they had to suffer if the Japanese saw something they didn't agree with, they stood the women in the sun. When women died they buried them. She remembered to have made three cemeteries.

The only thing they were able to endure and survive plus achieve many thing, it was friendship, comradeship and caring for each other. Despite the hostile environment and tropical climate they managed to build from nothing, schools, hospitals, social clubs and religious concerts which were planned and organised.

To show their defiance to their captors they developed a determination not to live a docile and obedient live.

A book was written called "Surviving Tenko" by Penny Starns. Also a TV series was produced but with so many untrue situations shown that Margot was disgusted. They even were so disrespectful and portrait her as a lesbian which was completely untrue. She had many admirers but was not interested in marriage and having children. Margot just liked the life she was leading which would not have been possible if she married.

Margot Turner became a matron-in-chief and director of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps after the war. She died in 1993 at the age of 83.