THE MISSING YEARS
A POW's Story from Changi to Hellfire Pass.
Finalist, Australian Society of Travel Writers 'Book of the Year'
Top 3 War Books of the Year 'The Australian'.
Did you know Stuart is a special-interest military history tour guide and lived in South East Asia for 25 years. So he knows this territory better than most.
'Absolutely compelling.' -- John Kerr, Radio 2UE.
'A very, very gripping story ...' -- Graham Mabury, Radio 6PR.
'An amazing read ... a historical document, which Stu Lloyd
has done a fantastic job on.' -- Simon Owens, Radio 3AW.
'A fascinating story ... a great book.' -- Reveille magazine.
'The perfect storyteller' - The Telegraph, UK.
This story is intensely personal because I was able to access letters and postcards between 'Pilk' and his wife and what it feels like on the frontline, not knowing whether your child has been born or not. And what it's like to be shot by a sniper and survive the Alexandra Hospital Massacre, even before you're taken POW. All the while during his captivity, Capt Hugh Pilkington kept secret diaries, written on paper stolen from the Japanese. Diaries so accurate they were used as atrocity reports in War Crimes trials. Compiled in 1945 the memories and thoughts are fresh, raw, and unfiltered. 60 years later, with those diaries in my hand, I retraced Capt Pilkington's nightmarish steps, with his son Paul through Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand … we stood in the very mud he had lived in and fought in, and had some really surprising findings and life-changing encounters along the way. Such as a night on death row in a historic Malaysian prison in Johor Bahru, which gave us a small inkling of what it's like to be deprived of your freedom. We also lived on rice and water for 3 weeks as we trekked up the length of the Thai-Burma Death Railway.
Stuart has written several other books on WW2, especially the Japanese theatre in South East Asia. Check them out on his home page. And sign up for his newsletter below for updates.
The Missing Years is also on the shelves of bookshops in
Singapore: Changi Museum, Reflections at Bukit Chandu, Asian Civilisations Museum, Battlebox, Kinokuniya, and Book Bar.
Malaysia: Kinokuniya.
Thailand: Asia Books.