COLONEL TOOSEY and BOON PONG.

Colonel Phillip John Denton Toosey, the man who was very loosely portrayed in the movie, Bridge on the River Kwai, was far removed from the character depicted. He was a great administrator and was in charge of a number of large camps in Thailand.

He was also inextricably tied to the saga of Nai Boonpong Sirivejaphan, Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop and the clandestine supply of desperately needed medical and other support to prisoners of war of the Japanese on the Burma Thailand Railway.

Toosey was born at Birkenhead in the United Kingdom on 12 th August 1904. He was an Honorary Colonel gunnery officer in the 287 Medium Regiment RATA of the Territorial Army before being mobilized at the outbreak of World War 11.and after initial service in Europe he was posted to Malaya and captured by the Japanese.

With his own unit and the Norfolks, Suffolks and the RASC of the 18 th Division he traveled by train north to Banpong in Thailand and then went on to Kanchanaburi and the Tamarkan hospital camp by the Mae Khlaung River.

It was here that Toosey was ordered by the Japanese to take charge of the party to build the bridge which preceded that which was ultimately named The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Toosey understood from the beginning that the only real issue was how to ensure that as many of his men as possible should survive their captivity. He appreciated to the full that the bridges would be built with or without his co-operation and set himself the task of mitigating the terrible conditions under which the work was to be completed.

Tamarkan and the ‘V’scheme.

At Tamarkan the twin deficiencies of food and medicine had the inevitable consequences of raising the death rate and an early peak was reached when six men were buried. As the grim average of deaths gradually rose, both Toosey and Doctor Arthur Moon felt the situation slipping outside their control. Toosey was approached by an NCO he did not recognize (later identified as Corporal R.C.H. Johnson) who told him that he was acting as an interpreter for a party of Japanese visiting Tamarkan from the nearby camp at Chunkai. He went on to inform him that Chunkai was in receipt of considerable help from the local community and that he was prepared to establish contact with his friends so that Tamarkan could also benefit.

Toosey’s visitor suggested that he should write down his name, rank and number on a piece of paper which he would give to a man named Boon Pong who owned a store in Kanchanaburi, then when Toosey was next allowed to accompany the ration truck into the town, he was to make inconspicuously himself known to this gentleman.

Toosey was placed in a quandary for, while he was desperate to secure aid, he was well aware that he might be walking into a trap. Johnson, an Anglo-Thai, looked very Japanese to Toosey and there was no way of confirming his identity with the authorities in Chungkai. After discussing the matter with Dr Moon, Toosey decided to take a chance.

In the event, these arrangements were quite genuine and worked perfectly. Thus on the next trip to Kanchanaburi Toosey was able to encourage his guards to enter Boon Pong’s establishment. Its proprietor quickly appreciated the situation and proved to very hospitable. Then, when the Japanese were enjoying a quiet drink, Toosey was able to make arrangements for cash and drugs to be delivered to the bridge camp. These were to be mixed in with the vegetables which Boon Pong normally supplied. He was also able to make provisional plans for ongoing supplies as part of these arrangements. Toosey subsequently sent Boon Pong the following letter for onward transmission:

“There are 1730 sick men in this camp; 28 have died during the last month. We have no money and the men do not receive pay. We are urgently in need of money for food and medicines. The amount of money required for this camp is pounds sterling 4,000 per month. We should be very grateful for any help. This camp has no connection with Chungkai camp”.

The items promised by Boon Pong duly arrived at Tamarkan and proved to be the first of many such deliveries. A simple but effective system was quickly devised so that messages were transmitted via the ration truck on its regular trips into Kanchanaburi.

Toosey traveled with the vehicle on most of the early visits to Boon Pong’s store but when the Japanese showed some suspicion he took the driver into his confidence. Thereafter Corporal Locke undertook responsibility for these transactions and small quantities of drugs and bank notes were smuggled into camp on virtually all of his return journeys. Although the self-imposed rule of ‘little and often” was carefully adhered to, the quantities of cash and medicine received in Tamarkan rose rapidly. Thus in the period June-November 1943 (after which the camp lost its status as a base hospital), the value of these items amounted to 42,105 ticals (approximately Pounds Sterling 3,500.00.

The provision of this outside support was to exert and immediate influence on the lives of all who lived at Tamarkan.

A letter written by Dr A. A. Moon stated:

In July a noticeable improvement came about in the camp. Colonel R.Toosey had made contact with the so-called, and very secret, ‘V’ organization and money began coming into camp for the supply of extra food and drugs for the sick. It is impossible to describe the life-saving effect of this. It permitted the purchase of suitable food and essential drugs such as emetine, sulphonamide, chloroform, codoform, dressings, etc. This also raised the morale of all the troops in the camp.

The value of the additional food and drugs can be seen in the official statistics, which indicate that while an average of four men were dying each day in August this had been reduced to only one per week in October. Major causes of death included dysentery, malaria, beri-beri, heart failure and diphtheria. No cases of cholera occurred at Tamarkan but ninety-one serious operations (including nineteen amputations) and seventy four of lesser importance were carried out, in spite of the fact that the Japanese had originally intended that all surgical work should be undertaken by Kanchanaburi Hospital camp. A total of 208 prisoners died during Tamarkan’s era as a base hospital but, as the following incident demonstrates, the situation could easily have been considerably worse.

Captain C.F. Blackater of the Indian Army wrote: “I was now in the dysentery ward, and the officers were in a section by themselves. I was holding my own with a daily score of seven which just would not reduce, but it looked as if both Pearson and Hirsch would go. I watched them lose ground with alarming rapidity and then emetine arrived. It was miraculous! After the first injection they slept, after the second their score fell rapidly, their pains ceased, and, as the abbreviated course continued, they lived”.

The leadership and administrative skills of Colonel Toosey and his fellow camp commandants and the devotion of Dr Moon and many other medical officers along the line would have been much less effective without the support they received from external sources. Few of the recipients of this help knew much of the existence of the supplies that frequently meant the difference between their living or dying, and even the most senior officers were only aware of their immediate contacts. Weary Dunlop at Hintok and Tarsao obviously had some inkling as he refers in his diary on 2 nd Sept. 1943 to “Certain gentlemen” and the supply of drugs and money for medical purposes. He later attributed this assistance to “Boon Pong and the underground”.

Boon Pong’s work was part of the activities of a clandestine organization known as the “V” Scheme which operated with the participation of local Thais, internees, Allied sympathizers and undercover organisations of the various Allied countries. Another clandestine organization later identified as Seri Thai (free Thai) was also involved.

Both these organizations will be discussed in later articles.

Acknowledgement:

Much of this material is drawn from the book “The Man Behind The Bridge” by Peter Davies.