When The Balloon Went Up: Short Stories From A War (1990) By Hugh V. Clarke
 
This collection of linked short stories movingly recounts the experiences of young Australian soldiers in action against the Japanese in Malaya and as prisoners of war in Changi, on the Burma-Thailand death railway and at Nagasaki.

Written by Hugh V. Clarke, renowned author of the experiences of POWs, the stories begin ‘when the balloon went up’, the wartime expression for when action started. In Malaya it began with the sinking of the pride of the British Far Eastern fleet, the battleships "Prince of Wales" and the "Repulse".

These simply told stories describe what it was like to be a soldier who has lost the battle and who is condemned to live on in hope against what he inwardly believes is a hopeless situation. As they unfold they reveal the humour, endurance and courage of these Australian soldiers. They distil the essence of what it meant to be down but not out. Although fictional, most of the incidents happened and the characters are based on real people.

‘Good old fashioned mateship triumphed over malaria, dysentery, monsoon rains, starvation, brutality and savage hard labour. It’s a quality evident in every one of Hugh Clarke’s poignant, superbly crafted, vignettes of POW life.’ Tim Bowden

‘Hugh Clarke is probably our foremost chronicler of the experiences of whose who suffered as prisoners of the Japanese. The grimness of their situation was lightened by the irrepressible Aussie sense of humour, by mateship in the truest sense of the word, by dogged determination to hang on. Hugh Clarke vividly presents a series of incidents which illuminate the Australian character and behaviour in adversity.’ Lex McAulay
 
Soft Cover
125 pages
In Good Condition