ABSTRACT
For most of the 14,972 Australians captured in Singapore, Java, Timor and Ambon their introduction to imprisonment under the Japanese was Changi. In a sense, Changi was a halfway house between the experience of the Malaya campaign and what was to follow in camps outside Singapore. In Changi doctors began the process of learning POW medicine’s language, including the kinds of diseases and conditions that would remain chronic threats for POWs throughout their captivity. The daunting task of transferring the sick and wounded Australian troops to Changi fell to Lieutenant Colonel Glyn White, Assistant Director, Medical Services. His slight build and short stature belied great courage and leadership. While conditions in Changi were crowded, rudimentary and by no means easy, it would be the best organised and supplied medical base the doctors would encounter during their captivity. Scrotal dermatitis was another common and extremely painful condition where vitamin deficiency caused men’s testicles to swell and the skin to crack.
