Page 35 - BBHAC Winter 2017-18 Gazette

Obituary 35

to find someone he knew. He He also did magic tricks with a told that Tony Weekes-Pearson
had very nearly had an arm and decent Japanese soldier who was had recently been given his 50
a leg removed and had bones subsequently killed for frater- years membership award and he
protruding through his skin. nization. Fergus speaks several immediately said: “I’ve not had
Another move took him to languages including Japanese one of those”! PP Mike Martin-
Thailand with extreme cold at and French which he mostly eau took the initiative to trace
night and massive heat during picked up while in captivity. his whereabouts and discovered
the day and dysentery. Many The camps had no fences so the his move from Westerham to
failed to survive the trip. inmates were free to roam about Hassocks. So, with his new ad-
Once there, he became part at night. They met up with dress, said Mike “the Club was
of the amazing effort to build Natives who gave them infor- able to re-establish contact and
a railway. Amazing when one mation about the War but they John Baldwin visited him and
considers the language barriers got the feeling that they were made a belated 50 year presenta-
as none of the Japanese spoke being fed false information or tion later on in 2011”.
English. The only clothing he being told what they wanted Mike Martineau would continue
had for the best part of three to hear. They gave up on this to keep in touch and invited
and a half years was a loin cloth. source of information when told him to talk at the club during
In that and still with fearful in- of what they thought was a cock his own year as club president.
juries and disabilities he worked and bull story about an atomic “His talk was just amazing. He
for 18 hours a day. He still has bomb in Hiroshima. spoke without notes for over an
problems with his balance but With 4 others he was also taken hour and went on for two and
his right arm and hand was out to be shot by machine gun. a half hours when he spoke to
fixed after the War following a There was no blindfold but Oxford University. I have never
chance meeting with the sur- there was a last minute reprieve. known an hour go so quickly. It
geon who had nearly removed it They then found out the War was truly mesmerizing and he
during the War. had ended 3 days earlier. De- could have gone on for more.”
He was once badly blistered spite all that he suffered and the The talk mentioned of course
when a Japanese soldier threw humiliations endured Fergus his skill as a magician and
a couple of gallons of creosote displayed an astonishing atti- there are books about him, one
over him. His mates washed tude to the Japanese; he didn’t called “Surviving by Magic”
him in the River and were all hate them, but he hated war The title of the book refers to
killed for their efforts. The and had recurring nightmares the fact that he is a member of
prisoners were often put in the about the noise of war and of the Inner Magic Circle. The
firing line by the Japanese and bombing. other called ‘Conjuror on the
he well remembers the RAF After the war he settled down Kwai’ recalls his skill in trying
bombing him and the damage to life back in Kent and he was circumstances in a Japanese
done by 5 stray bombs. He was a Lecturer at West Kent Col- POW camp. He tells the famous
buried by this attack which was lege. He would move later on story of obtaining 50 eggs so he
followed by incendiaries. Later, to Hassocks in Sussex. Joining could practice a trick for senior
in another chance meeting, the club in 1954 he remained a Japanese Officers who were
he met the RAF bomb aimer member for over 50 years, even- visiting his Camp. These were
responsible for another of his tually becoming a life member, all distributed to his comrades.
lucky escapes. He was one of although not so present in He was too skilled to need them
two people out of 13 to survive later years. He loved hearing and used the opportunity to
this attack. about the Club. Having been help his mates.