Diverse Struggles, Shared Survival- American, Australian, and British POWs at Hoten Camp

by Brenden Crowson

The Hoten POW Camp was unique in its demographic makeup. It housed a majority American population, totalling over a thousand people, along with approximately a hundred British prisoners and a small contingency of Australians. Not only was there diversity in nationality, but also in military units and hierarchy. While the British and Australian POWs were predominantly composed of Army personnel, the Americans consisted of personnel from the Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force. Within this makeup was a minority contingent of officers and a much larger enlistee population from all nationalities. This diverse population of Allied POWs led to varying experiences and stories from Hoten. ​

The 1980s and 1990s witnessed the emergence of three survivor accounts of the Hoten Camp: those of Ken Towery, Major Robert Peaty, and Dr. Desmond James Brennan. Ken Towery was an American soldier who enlisted in the Army before even graduating high school. Major Robert Peaty was the senior-most British officer at Hoten and was much older than his counterparts. Dr. Desmond James Brennan (also known as Des) was an Australian Captain in his mid-twenties during his stint at Hoten. Although these men had contrasting experiences, due to the nature of Imperial Japanese POW Camps, they shared many as well. 
   In the case of Ken Towery, many considered his experience to be “generic,” as enlisted American soldiers comprised the dominant population inside Hoten Camp. One of the key differences that Towery noted for the Americans was their previously harrowing journey to the camp. The Americans suffered through bouts of disease and malnutrition in the Philippines and on the Tottori Maru hellship. While in the Philippines, Towery was part of the last line of defense on Corregidor, which fought for weeks with dwindling rations against the Japanese. He was then taken prisoner in a temporary camp in Cabanatuan, in which his journey involved marching miles upon miles until reaching the camp. All of the Americans entering Hoten experienced similar levels of degradation from their previous exploits, which contributed to the 17 percent death rate in the first four months in Hoten Camp. All of these victims were American enlisted soldiers as well, the ones who suffered the most before entering the camp.[1]
   Towery himself made this connection between the enlisted American death rate compared to the Australian, British, and American officer demographics, in which these populations never faced any deaths through previous exploitations or through the degradation of war. Towery specifically stated that “We didn’t lose any American officers, and we didn’t lose a Britisher, enlisted man or officer. The rest of them came out okay. Hell’s bells, there are reasons for that. Theoretically, everybody was eating the same thing.”[1] Assuredly, the previous problems in the Philippines and the Tottori Maru were the main contribution towards the American enlisted death rate, along with the poor nutrition offered from the Hoten camp itself. Towery described their initial rations as a maize-like water gruel called koliang. However, they later received soybeans, which Towery stated helped save lives due to their better nutritional content. 
    The Americans also made up the majority of workers at the Manshu Kosaku Kikai (MKK) Factory. POWs were forced to create parts for the Japanese war effort at the MKK Factory. Or they were forced to work on construction outside the factory. Either way, the Japanese went against the Geneva Convention by forcing POWs to work in and around this factory. The POWs forced to work were all enlisted soldiers, and no officers worked at the factories, including both British and American.[1] There were also Chinese workers at the factory, along with the Japanese guards from Hoten, to keep an eye on everyone. The POWs and Chinese workers coexisted with a mutually beneficial relationship. In which POWs would pay them for newspapers or other goods to get into the camp. However, they all ran the risk of being caught by the Japanese guards and being severely punished. Even the punishment dished out to officers and enlisted men differed. Enlisted men were put into the guardhouse for days on end or were beaten by the guards for minor, arbitrary infractions.[2] The guardhouse was a dark, dingy room with no heating, where POWs were sent for days or weeks for misbehaving. They would be given minimal rations, just barely enough to survive, with each person walking out of the guardhouse notably skinnier than before.[3]
    Major Robert Peaty had a wholly different experience from the American soldiers. Being a senior-most British officer brought along different challenges and experiences. The British and Australian soldiers and officers were captured in Singapore and only fought the Japanese for three days until their surrender, and were sent to Pusan, Korea, on the Fukai Maru.[2] Similar to American POWs, the British and Australians faced similar challenges of cramped conditions, poor nutrition, and a dysentery epidemic[3]. However, many managed to stay healthy compared to American POWs on account of avoiding long-term combat and death marches. In fact, no British or Australian POW had died in the Hoten Camp before the Allied bombing campaigns. 
   Peaty’s different responsibilities consisted of “badgering” the Japanese for more food, better clothes, and better conditions. Peaty felt wholly responsible for the hundred British soldiers imprisoned in Hoten and took it upon himself to improve the conditions. In his 1981 interview, Peaty described a scene where Japanese guards beat two or three American prisoners who eventually died from their injuries. Peaty also claimed to have asked Japanese leaders to reprimand the guards if one of his men were punished, but they were always ignored. Although Peaty was exempt from working at the MKK factory, he emphasized the acts of sabotage that occurred when laborers dumped tools and parts into the unset concrete, ruining them forever. Peaty affirmed that the parts completed at the factory would have never been of use to the Japanese due to the extensive sabotage.[3]
    Finally, Desmond James Brennan’s personal experience at Hoten Camp provides insight into the medical side of the camp. In his 1983 interview, Brennan was more articulate in describing a typical day in camp, along with the average diet given to each POW. Brennan described the initial diet of millet as consisting of about 500-900 calories; with the addition of soybeans, this totaled approximately 1200 calories. Brennan (as seen with Towery) also credited soybeans as the singular most important part of the diet. It allowed the POWs to obtain a source of protein and calories, which they significantly lacked without access to meat. Brennan himself had lost between 98 and 112 pounds during his time in Hoten.[2]
    Brennan also recounted the nationalistic dynamics between the British, Australians, and Americans. Hoten was unique in that all three of these nationalities were represented together. Brennan claimed they “got on very well with everyone” and that “your nationality, you realise, didn’t make that much difference.” The extreme circumstances and fight for survival were much more prevalent than petty squabbles, which could have arisen from differences in nationality. But due to their circumstances, they had to come closer together in order to survive. Brennan later described the nature of every person through the phrase, “if he’s a good guy, he’s a good guy, if he’s a bastard, he’s a bastard.” Their difficulties were exacerbated by the adverse conditions they faced.[2]
    All of Towery, Peaty, and Brennan had different experiences while at the Hoten POW Camp. Their experiences were marked by the problems they had encountered before their arrival. Differences in nationality and seniority also changed their experiences. However, these differences would eventually be put aside as each person had to come together for a common goal: survival. They all had to work together to reach an ideal level of safety. The trials and tribulations of war are enough to bring together people from very different backgrounds for a common goal. These people would have never interacted with each other, but due to the extraordinary circumstance of war, they had to come together to survive. 
    

Works Cited:
[1] Ken Towery, interview by Richard W. Byrd, March 19, 1995, University of North Texas Oral History Collection Number 1075, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1606415/m2/1/high_res_d/OH03767trs_Towery_Ken.pdf. 
[2] Peaty, Robert. “Real 1-5.” Interview by Conrad Wood. April 22, 1981. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80004798.
[3] Brennan, Desmond James. “Dr Desmond James Brennan as a captain 2/3rd Motor Ambulance Company and a prisoner of the Japanese, 1941-1945.” Interview by Margaret Evans. January 11, 1983. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/S02993.