Eric Johnston is Wyndham’s last living prisoner of war. 79869 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By XAVIER SMERDON
ERIC Johnston is like any grandfather or great-grandfather.
He proudly tells outrageous stories from when he was younger with a hearty laugh to anyone that will listen.
The difference is that Eric was a part of one of the most notorious periods in Australian military history.
Eric is the last living prisoner of war in Wyndham, having spent more than four years in the Changi prison camp in Singapore.
He was also forced to help build the Burma Railway, which became the subject of the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Most of the stories the 93-year-old tells about his time as a POW are funny anecdotes, he prefers not to dwell on the bad memories.
“It was just life back then,” Eric said.
“The only thing that worried me was not coming home.
“I did everything that I could to stay alive.”
The father of five, grandfather of 10 and great-grandfather of six has been married to his wife Vera for 67 years.
In his youth he was a champion bike racer but when it came time to marry Vera, Eric had to make a tough decision.
“I loved my bike, but I loved my wife,” he said.
“It was a toss up, but I had to sell my bike to pay for the wedding.
“I was late to the wedding because I was busy selling the bike.”
Eric was taken prisoner just three months into his service and spent the next four years in appalling conditions.
But he still managed to cause trouble behind bars.
“I was what’s known as a Billy Boy. I was in charge of keeping any of the contraband that the other Aussies managed to steal when they went into Singapore,” he said.
“We would give different things to other prisoners and they would do whatever they could with it. Some of them would make fake legs for boys who had their legs blown off.
“Bloody Aussies, we were thieves and vagabonds.”
Once when he stole a pair of socks, Eric was stripped down to his underwear and tied to a pole for more than eight hours under the blaring sun.
But he said helping to build the railway was by far the worst punishment.
“While we were in Changi we were happy. It wasn’t until we went to the railway that we were really in pain,” he said.
“That was the biggest bugger of a job. I hated going there.”
When he returned to Australia he weighed less than 40 kilograms, but he managed to live a long and fulfilling life.
“When they told me I was the last one left in the area I thought I better stick around for a while,” he joked.
Eric will be leading the Werribee RSL’s march down Watton St on Sunday 22 April in commemoration of ANZAC Day.
