(Ebook) The Emperor's Guest 1942–45 by John Fletcher-Cooke ISBN 9781783400720, 1783400722

(Ebook) The Emperor's Guest 1942–45 by John Fletcher-Cooke ISBN 9781783400720, 1783400722

Seen through the eyes of John Fletcher-Cooke, the horrifying, but by now often-told story of the treatment meted out by the Japanese to their prisoners of war takes on an entirely new light. His is a book written without bitterness but at the same time a book which does not look back on the suffering shared in the self-congratulatory spirit of an old comrades' reunion. For Sir John has two remarkable advantages, one possibly unique and the other certainly very rare. Firstly, throughout his captivity he kept an 'illegal' diary on which this book is based, and which, as the reader will discover, he was almost unbelievably lucky to preserve during his sea voyage to Japan. Secondly, as the reader will discover by reading between the lines, he never for one moment gave way to despair or despondency.During his years as a prisoner of war he witnessed and was subjected to a wider spectrum of man's inhumanity to man then he could have expected to experience had Torquemada himself been his tutor. To say the he emerged from his descent into hell a wiser and better man is not to condone his suffering. It only emphasises the fact that his indomitable courage and great strength of character are often revealed only in times of adversity.Sir John subsequently revisited Japan and the places where he was imprisoned later in life. He also met some of the men who had once been his persecutors. The final chapters of this very remarkable book reveal once again the humanity, compassion and understanding which enabled him to survive when so many others in the RAF did not.Reissued in 2013, originally released in 1994 (after his death). Sir John Fletcher-Cooke (1911 – 1989) served in the RAF and was captured by the Japanese in Java after escaping from Singapore in 1942. He was held as a POW in Java, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan upto 1945. After the war he rejoined the British Colonial Service and later became a Politician in the British Conservative Party.