A young woman I knew in England many years ago said to me, "I hate the Japanese--they were so cruel in the war!" This was in 1985, forty years after the conclusion of that war, and she herself had only been born twenty years earlier. But such was the passion still felt by those peoples who suffered at the hands of the Japanese. Without a doubt she would have been outraged by the astonishing title of this book.

It certainly caught my eye when I came across it. I was browsing WWII books on Amazon when suddenly there it was, this very unusual title, "The Brave Japanese." How odd! Not that they weren't brave soldiers, but when you think about the Japanese of the Second World War you are more apt to think of words like "barbaric," or "brutal," or even "insane." Curious, I took at look at "The Brave Japanese." And found I had stumbled upon one of the best WW2 POW books ever.

Kenneth Harrison's story is somewhat different from the usual POW story, which usually takes place within the confines of a POW camp and its attendant horrors. Novels like "King Rat" and "Bridge on the River Kwai" are good examples of that genre. But Harrison, an anti-tank gunner with the ANZAC forces in Malaya (now part of Malaysia) tells a story that, despite its horrors, reads like an adventure, and ranges all over Malaysia before its incredible climax in Japan and Hiroshima.

Perhaps the greatest pleasure of this book is that Kenneth Harrison turns out to be an excellent writer. These kinds of accounts are more often compelling for the detail they contain, not for their literary content. But Harrison brings a sensitive, and even a humorous hand to this memoir. The result is--despite the horror--a real treasure.

I won't recount the details of Harrison's adventure, except to say that if you don't have a strong stomach for barbarity, cruelty, stupidity and endless suffering, don't read this book. Brave or not, those Japanese really were all of the horrible things you have read about or heard about. For three and a half years Kenneth Harrison was a prisoner of Japan and it is unbelievable what he endured, witnessed and--perhaps the most incredible thing of all, what he remembered. Because, whereas many men would have forced those memories into some dark recess of their mind, Harrison recalls it all with great detail and, it becomes evident after some time, affection.

This is because Kenneth Harrison truly regarded his three and a half years of captivity as a great adventure. For sure not an easy one, but an adventure none the less. And this is how he remembered it when he returned to civilian life after the war. For the rest of his life he nurtured fond memories of the men he slaved and suffered with, of the enemy who tormented them relentlessly, and even of the herculean and impossible tasks the Japanese set their captives to work on. In the end, this positive attitude was made possible by the events that transpired when the war concluded and the Japanese surrendered. Harrison and his fellow captives were in Japan at the time and suddenly found themselves living something that seemed like a dream. Transformed instantly from slaves to kings, this part of the book may well be the most interesting. For sure this happy ending helped to balance out the whole experience, enabling Harrison to regard it as the memorable adventure of which he writes. And for the rest of his life, he felt no anger towards his former captives. While recognizing their brutality, he came away with a genuine respect for them, especially as fighting soldiers, and thus the title of this book.

"The Brave Japanese" was written in 1962, many years after the events it describes. Harrison's main motivation for writing it was to honor the men who didn't make it, comrades who died far away from home in nightmarish circumstances. They now live forever in the pages of this important memoir, and in the mind of each new reader.

Buy this book and read it. You'll never forget it.

(Wesley Gurion is a Kindle Author)

America, the 1960s, and the Beatles

The Halloween King

It's all here; the bravery of the combatants on both sides during the Malaya conflict and the trials and tribulations of the Allied POW's in the Japanese death camps. The author delivers his account of the terrible treatment of the prisoners by the Japanese guards in a strangely dispassionate and non-judgemental manner. All the prisoners were subject to some of the most brutal, cynical, barbaric treatment it is possible to deal to fellow human beings.

The nature of the Japanese soldier, with his Bushido Code and consequent loathing of any soldier who would deign to surrender, resulted in a savage, unbelievably cruel punishment of men that is almost unequalled in the annals of warfare and prison camp history. Yet the author seems to easily forgive the Japanese perpetrators of these gross injustices and shows a quality of mercy that is quite simply beyond my comprehension. These creatures constantly tortured, beat and murdered the author's comrades with a gusto and relish that defies description, but there is a complete lack of rancour in this book. Indeed, Harrison confesses to admiration of these animals.

I guess I am not so fine and forgiving a person. Whilst I might find it in my heart to forgive the passivity of the Japanese people and try to understand why these soldiers did what they did; blaming their fanatical martial upbringing and brain-washing of the Bushido Code, I will never admire them. I have read the book and listened to the author's explanations; I just don't get it though.

However, it is a straightforward, clear and concise account of how to survive the captivity, punishment and torture that was the POW's lot in those times. I do recommend this book.

The author was a Australian soldier who was taken prisoner early in WWII by the Japanese. He was taken prisoner in SE Asia (Singapore, Thailand) and worked on rail roads as a POW and was sent to to Japan near the end. He was there when the atomic bombs were dropped. The book goes into great detail on how the prisoners were treated - brutally in fact. Mr. Harrison was a lot more generous and forgiving soul than I would have been. I disagree with his assessment of bravery. To me a culture of blind obedience to some bushido code is no more bravery than the fanatics who committed suicide in Guyana. None the less it is a very good read and a very good history of how the Japanese troops in WWII treated those with whom they came in contact. The Allies were much more generous to the Japanese after the war than they were to the Germans.

Well, in most of my 74 years, as a WWII history buff I have read innumerable books on allied forces experience as POW's of the Imperial Japanese Forces. For the most part its an absolute horror story. During WWII the Japanese army took over 35,000 allied POW's who suffered a death rate of 37%. Death of POW's held by the German's was 1.1%. The author of "THE BRAVE JAPANESE," Kenneth Harrison" an Australian soldier who fought in the Singapore Campaign and who eventually surrendered to the Japanese Army, tell's a strange story. I wonder how many surviving Australian POW's who have read his book, feel about the authors definition of the Japanese fighting man? Mr. Harrison believes that these strange soldiers were fierce and brave, a conclusion that can only be reached by an individual suffering what is commonly referred to as "CAPTURE-BONDING." This is similar to "THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME," where the captive begins to experience a psychological phenomenon in which the captive begins to express empathy and sympathy of his brutal captures, or what is usually referred to as "TRAUMATIC BONDING." The author's story starts off with him bravely fighting the Japanese in the Jungles of the Malay peninsular as an anti-tank gunner. After several engagements in which the Australian's take a beating, Mr. Harrison begins to admire the discipline and spirit of the Japanese warrior. On top of that, this unusual man, Mr. Harrison is overjoyed to be involved in this fight because he had always admired his father's participation in WWI. His book reads as a great adventure that he has the privilege to be involved in, and would not have missed for all the world even as he watches his fellow POW's being abused, starved, tortured, denied decent food and medicine, execution, suffer horrible jungle ulcers, reduced to living skeletons. As the reader, I began to wonder, what's wrong with this story. Mr. Harrison eventually ends up in Japan and is present on VJ day. Now he begins to admire the now humble Japanese who take their defeat with what he see's as such grace. My now I am experiencing a gagging reflex and asking, "what's up mate?" What am I missing? Conclusion, as far as I'm concerned, the author was a combat veteran and for that I do admire him. As for his mental state, fantastic if used solely for the purpose of survival under conditions most people could not begin to comprehend. As to his final assessment, he confuses, brain-washed fanatics with bravery and that's too bad.

I would recommend this book for those seeking a better idea of what an allied prisoner of war went through during world war 2 under Japanese captivity.

This is the first book I've read of such an account, and though there are quite a few errors in the kindle version, the story gives the reader a good account into the life of a Japanese pow.

I understand there are probably better books on this subject matter out there, but this book is good for someone who just wants to get a general idea.

Mr Harrison's choice of title caused a considerable stir when the book was first released - especially among the others who shared his experiences as a POW of the Imperial Japanese Army. After reading his well- written account of those years, I believe I understand his reasoning; however, I don't think I could be as magnanimous as he was.

It is incredible that many men could endure the horrendous physical, mental, and emotional torment they lived through and manage to live a fairly normal life after liberation. I doubt

that I could have survived that ordeal without harboring some measure of hatred and thoughts of revenge.

This story made my vision grow misty at times, and my fists clinch at other times. I couldn't help but think that, at a later decade in time, in a different war, this could have been my story. Would I have had the strength and determination to survive? I like to think so, and thank God that I didn't have to find out. Read this account, and marvel as I did at how cruel men can be to their fellow men.

This is the second true account I have read about someone taken prisoner by the Japanese in SE Asia at the start of WWII. The level of cruelty revealed is hard to comprehend, both its application and its being borne by the victims. That anyone survived is miraculous and a testament to human grit.

Mr.Harrison is an unusual man in that even in the midst of his suffering, he has a perspective of his situation as one of a great adventure that he just might get to survive. Indeed, he does and the telling is harrowing. There were times during my reading of this account that I was ready to put the book down for inability to tolerate the suffering I was reading about. But like Mr. Harrison, you can get through on the strength of his writing and the spirit that comes through it.

That this man witnessed the immediate aftermath of the nuclear bombing of Japan as a released POW is transformative for him and for the reader. In an odd way, the crushing suffering of war is revealed as an object lesson for us all that we all suffer terribly whether we win or not. Even after unspeakable treatment at their hands, Mr. Harrison reveals himself to be a compassionate man.

This books works of more than one level. Very worthwhile.

This was a very interesting account of the author's experiences in the Second World War. It covers his time in Malaya as part of the Austrailian forces sent to defend against the Japanese. He details his time there fighting the Japanese and then when the Allied forces are defeated and his unit is left behind he describes the efforts of himself and a small group of companions who tried to slip past the Japanese and escape to the coast, and hoped for freedom. He and his companions only gave up after he had been wounded trying to pass a guarded area right near their objective.

The author next details his captivity by the Japanese, from his stay in a Singapore POW camp with almost no over sight by the Japanese to his being selected for a work detail to build a railroad in Thailand. It was here that he describes the total brutality of the Japanese guards as they pushed their prisoners to impossible feats of endurance in building the roadbed almost by hand. The author also points out that all of the Japanese guards were not identical in their brutality and that some even exibited compasion for their prisoners.

The last section of the book covers his weeks long trip to Japan dodging American submarines and the hellish conditions on the ship they traveled in. He spent the last year of the war near Nagisaki working in a coal mine and a shipyard. Near the end food became almost non-existant and some prisoners died of starvation. They only knew for sure the war was over when they no longer saw American bombers overhead which had been a daily occurance before. The Allies dropped food for them and after a few days they left their camp and quickly found out how meek the Japanese had become. They travelled freely around the island and were the first Allied personel into Hiroshima after the blast.

This is one of the best personal histories I have ever read of the Second World War. Well worth your time.

This book is by Guy Harrison on his father's experience as an ANZAC soldier in the Malay campaign, as a prisoner of war of the Imperial Army of Japan (IAJ) and as one of the first allied troops to set foot in Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb. As such it is a classic and vivid portrayal of how much the human spirit can put up with. Despite starvation, diseases, beatings, untold brutality and being involved in heavy combat, Kenneth Harrison survives against the odds to witness the capitulation of Japan and walk through the devastated city of Hiroshima.

As the title suggests Harrison Snr pays ample tribute to the bravery of the Japanese throughout the entire book and there is justification in his viewpoint as history does show that the IAJ was a highly effective military force and it's soldiers were incredibly brave. A down side to this effectiveness is that they were also indoctrinated and trained to believe that the enemy, especially after surrender, was nothing but a 'curr'. This book describes amply and in detail how such 'currs' were treated as they were abused and killed in their thousands!

The main content of the book however outlines the incredible journey of Harrison Snr. His long journey starts as a member of an anti tank crew in the Malay campaign engaged in several heavy engagements. However after the overwhelming victory of the Japanese Harrison Snr spends several months avoiding capture in the jungle. After eventually being captured his journey takes him to work on the famed death railway in Thailand where the work conditions and brutality of the IAJ were responsible for the deaths of thousands of POW's, one POW for every seventeen feet of railway line. After the completion of the railway Harrison sails to Japan on an epic sea voyage in a rusty old cargo vessel where he eventually arrives to see out the rest of the war as a dock worker and miner, work that was again fraught with danger. The finale of this epic journey is that Harrison was there at the end of the war and describes the overwhelming joy of being set free and then the despair of walking through a nuclear holocaust.

The above is but a brief summation of an incredible four and a half year journey that is told with panache, humour and style. Even as an ex soldier who served in the Falklands war, I cannot really put into words how touched I was by this story. My heart really went out to Harrison Snr and his fellow POW's as I followed their incredible journey in written prose. It is simply a fantastic story and that such men were able to survive the most obtuse of living conditions and brutal treatment is simply amazing. One must never forget the pain and suffering such men went through as POW's of the IAJ but more so one must never EVER forget those who paid the ultimate price.

Forget the brave Japanese, this is a brilliant read about brave Australian and other allied soldiers who defied the odds and cheated the 'old man with the scythe'. An 86p Kindle buy but a priceless read!

Fantastic book of real life adventure and hardship in WW2 but told with real emotion and a zest for life

My father having served in New Guinea and me working for a Japanese corporation for 35 years I found it very interesting and the author's understanding of the enemy insightful . I truly understand his feelings and judgements . Maybe a revelation to some !

Malaya 1942 we were members of the 4th ant-tank division, trained for sixth months but had seen no action, the Japanese had landed at Kota Bahru about a month ago, we were heavily outnumbered we had no air or naval support and we had no tanks, Lt William Peck was our troop commander, we were told we were going to ambush the Japs at Gemas which meant us, we would be the 1st battle between Australia and Japan, I was promoted to Sargeant in charge of a gun, everyone was leaving Singapore and we seemed to be the only ones going the other way, we set up our post on a main road

Our opponents were the fifth Japanese a tank regiment, a hard battle followed and many of our men were killed or wounded, we had to leave our gun and retreat, we reached Muar as the Indians were retreating, we heard the Japanese had 5.000 men, by early afternoon we were surrounded, there were suicide attacks by the Japs, we ran for a swamp, there were 150 of us and we made for Yong Peng, we decided to split up in small groups , 11 of us went together, we decided to steal a boat and head for Sumatra, then on to Singapore but the Japs had taken all the boats, a Chinese communist said he would help us, we came across 16 more men, two British Officers arrived asking for four men to go to Malay for about three months, this group was employed in sabotage but lack of food meant we left again and headed for Sumatra, we met many kind Chinese on our journey who helped us

15th Feb 1942 Singapore surrendered, we heard of many massacred soldiers, we were in a terrible condition and could not go on so we surrendered, we were taken to Batu Paket where we were sent by truck to Kuala Lumpor, there were 700 men in a very small area, three of us were put in a cell for three months, many atrocities were performed by the Japs, we did three years of hard labour, the Japs would not acknowledge the Geneva Convention, we were moved to Singapore, when Singapore had fallen they had taken 65.000 prisoners, one day we were taken to River Valley Camp to load and unload ships, 5.000 prisoners were to be taken to Thailand it was 1943

We were to build a railway from Thailand to to Burma, our camp was known as Konyu 3, beatings were common, then deaths from Malaria,Dysentery, Beri Beri and malnutrition, the only clothes we had was a loin cloth, we also had to contend with the monsoons, 72 men died from Cholera, 1944 and the monsoon came again, men were going blind through lack of vitamins, I volunteered for a work party going to Japan, after a very long journey we arrived at Nagasaki, 1944 we reached our new camp at Fukuoka 2, we waited for our huts to be ready, the foreman of the electricians came out he was 13yrs old and his crew was younger, we were to build ships it was now 1945 snowing and very cold, children were drilling with sharpened spears in case Japan was invaded

The story continues as the men are moved to mining, leaflets are dropped asking for Japans surrender, we slowly come to terms with the fact we are free

A long interesting and entertaining book, as far as I know historically correct, a good read

I have read perhaps100 or more WW2 books. This has been the most interesting not only because it is so well written but because of the author's most unique and controversial perspective in respect to the Japanese. A classic and a must read for every student of war. No library of war with Japan is complete without this book.