Author(s): Peter R Jackson

New Zealand | World War II

A Sacrificial Pawn is a story of survival. Peter Jackson was young and recently married when he was drafted into the army at the start of Wiorld War 2. He had no wish to be there but like most of his generation he was given no choice. Peter arrived in Singapore just as the city was being evacuated and within days he was a prisoner of the imperial Japanese Army. Peter was lucky to survive the brutality that followd. Like so many he was forced to work for the Japanese, first in Singapore and then on the infamous Thai-Burma railway. While there he escaped with seven other soldiers and when re-captured he was treated harshly. His memoir brings alive the characters of the various soldiers and also of the Japanese whom he encountered. Some of the Japanese he met treated their prisoners more humanely and Peter was able to form a friendship with them. But throughout his memoir there is a sense of hopefulness that as young men they would survive and get back to their homes; this was despite the despair amny of them felt at losing four years of their lives as prisoners.