Interview with Laurie Nairne and stills. Ray Adams pick-up (When the war came to Australia)

Laurie Nairne was seventeen when war was declared in 1939. He enlisted in 1940 and joined the Light Horse . In 1941 he was transferred to the AIF Imperial Forces Unit, and was sent to Singapore. He became a prisoner of the Japanese when Singapore fell to the enemy and spent the rest of the war in Japanese POW camps. He talks about his experiences as a POW in great detail. He recalls how he was working on an aerodrome in Phetburi, Thailand when they first heard the natives saying that the war was over. He recalls not believing them as they had said this many times before. On returning to the camp, he was told by the Japanese that the war was over, and a few days later the camp was stormed by British Paratroopers who were sent to prevent massacres in the POW camps. He talks about his reluctance to return home in the condition he was in, and trying to put on weight before the returned home to his loved ones.