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Jack Jennings was widely believed to be the last survivor of the infamous Siam–Burma ‘Death Railway’.
Reporter:
Julian Barnes
28 Feb 2024 10:07 AM
The world has bid farewell to a 104-year-old Torquay war veteran, widely believed to be the last survivor of the infamous Siam–Burma ‘Death Railway’.
After being captured in Singapore, Jack Jennings was one of 60,000 Allied prisoners forced by the Japanese to construct a railway connecting Thailand and Myanmar, then known as Burma, between 1942 and 1943.
Surrounded by his close friends and family, Jack's funeral was held at the Little Theatre in Torquay, where he received a guard of honour by the Royal British Legion.
Jack’s daughter Hazel Heath paid tribute to her father’s astonishing life, calling him “a great dad” and “a talented man”.
Jennings inspired people with his story of bravery and survival throughout his life and caught the attention of global media outlets such as the Times and the New York Times.
Born at Old Hill in Staffordshire on March 10, 1919, Jack Jennings began his life-long career in carpentry after getting a job in a joinery shop at the age of 14. A talented woodworker, Jack enrolled at Dudley Art College and had already made the majority of the furniture in his room by the age of 20.
In June of 1939, Jack was called up for conscription into the Army as the threat of war became ever more apparent. Jack was allocated to the infantry battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, namely the first Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment.
In October 1941, Jack and his fellow comrades left the UK, and for many of them, it would be the last time they saw home.
From Liverpool, Jack’s battalion went to Nova Scotia, Trinidad, Cape Town and India before disembarking in Singapore at the start of 1942.
Before even reaching Singapore, the situation was critical. Fighter planes attacked Jack’s convoy before it even disembarked and Singapore was already being heavily bombed by the Japanese.
On February 15, Singapore fell, and Jack was ordered to down his weapons and submit to the Japanese.
In his memoirs, Jack said: “We were trapped, civilians and soldiers. Those who did try to get away by boat were either machine-gunned or sunk by the Jap navy or air force.”
After they were captured, Jennings was put into a tennis court with 500 other soldiers with machine guns facing them from every corner. Jack recalled him and his company being “treated like animals”, left on the tennis court for five days with no clean water and almost no food.
Following 10 months in Changi Prisoner of War Camp, the prisoners were stuffed into cattle trucks to begin a journey of “unbearable suffering”.
They were taken up to Thailand to work on the ‘Death Railway’, a brutal project that built a railway from Thailand to Burma (now Myanmar). Later immortalised in the book and film ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’, the construction project killed about 90,000 Southeast Asian civilians and over 12,000 allied prisoners of war.
Throughout the ordeal, Jack kept his head down and remained positive, despite suffering a variety of life-threatening illnesses and injuries. Using his carpentry skills, he even created a chess set to pass the time.
Finally, Jack found out about the end of the war from leaflets being dropped from Allied planes.
After a long journey home, Jack described his arrival at Birmingham New Street Station as “one of the greatest moments of my life”.
He remembered: “My mother cooked me rice pudding for my first dinner at home, which amused the rest of my family, knowing that rice had been, for the last three and a half years, our daily main food supply.”
He added: “The most important thing on my mind was to get married to my sweetheart who had so lovingly awaited my return.”
After marrying Lilian Mary in December 1945, he had two daughters; Carol Bennett and Hazel Heath.
It was in these years that Jack’s love of Torbay and the Westcountry developed, taking his family down each year on holiday.
After 50 years in Wollaston, Stourbridge, Jack moved to Torquay following the death of his wife.
Hazel, Jack’s daughter, said: “He was lonely and not very well. I asked him if he wanted to move down and live in our holiday flat and he jumped at it.
“We had a lovely time. I have many happy memories of taking him around Torbay, visiting different National Trust houses and resorts.”
As a keen gardener, one of Jack’s favourite haunts was Oldway Mansion, where he would play his harmonica in the tearooms. He even celebrated his 103rd birthday there.
Hazel added: "He absolutely loved Torbay, it was the perfect place for him, especially going to Oldway Mansions, playing his harmonica and chatting with the ladies who worked there.”
The complete story of Jack Jennings will be featured in next week's edition of Torbay Weekly.
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