John Ramsbottom (later changed to Lane) wrote the following for the Mandurah RSL.
Perhaps we today, struggle to fully understand how very fortunate we are to have never lost our personal freedom. Do we have a true understanding of what it would be like to lose our freedom? To virtually become a slave.
He published several books in his later life including the stories of his childhood as a Fairbridge Kid.’
With ‘J’ Force John sailed from Singapore to Japan in 1943.
“Summer will come again” was about his POW life in Japan. With the end of the war, and having gained freedom, one of the first things John did was set off from his camp in search of a camera. Arriving at a suburban residential district he proceeded to ask every house in the street if anyone could tell me where he could ‘buy’ a good syasinki (camera) until eventually somebody produced a new 35 mm camera together with a few tolls of film. He took many photographs around Kobe House and the wharves. These photographs he generously donated to AWM.
