The visit to Naoetsu in October, 1995 of the group of 31 Australians to be present at the opening of the Peace Park was made possible solely by the untiring work and dedication of Jennifer (Jenny) Walsh, one of the party.  It was through her work, and her work alone, that the trip not only began but, from beginning to end, went smoothly and enjoyably for every member of the party.

Mr. Shimomura had asked a certain man to organise the visit, but he declined emphatically, saying that it would be impossible to get such a venture even off the ground.  I was then asked to do it, but my 88 years of age, my partial deafness and my unstable legs made the task too difficult for me.  Jenny, in a spirit of co-operation and enthusiasm, undertook the task for me, despite the fact that the time for our departure was only six weeks away.

She did an enormous amount of research to find former prisoners who were able, and willing to go.  Often she was rebuffed by people who still harboured hatred for anything connected with Japan, still she persevered.

--She visited the various airline offices seeking the best deal she could get for us, and settled for JAL.
--She arranged for a Chaplain to come with us.
--She made several calls to the Australian Ambassador in Tokyo, and organised the wonderful services he gave us -- meeting us on arrival at Narita, seeing us to our hotel, and, above all, arranging our coach to Hodagaya cemetery on the Monday, where the 60 Australians who died in the Naoetsu POW camp are resting, providing us with a very welcome morning tea, and then our return to Tokyo.
--She arranged the many gifts which we took.
--She obtained, with me, the co-operation and support of the Minister for Veteran Affairs in the Federal Government in Canberra.
As a result, the members of the party had all arrangements made for them, and all they had to do was to meet at the airport, and move as a body on the trip that had been arranged for them.
--With the $1,000 the Minister gave us to obtain a gift suitable as a present to the Mayor from the Government of Australia, we obtained a lovely oil-painting of a typical Australian scene in the country.
--She kept all members fully informed of arrangements as they were made, and she bore all the expenses incurred -- overseas calls, phone calls, postage, fares, etc. -- as a donation to the venture.

So the six weeks of hard work and many sleepless nights achieved a result which had been declared impossible.

I will be eternally indebted to Jenny for the wonderful job she did on my behalf.  To her, and to her alone, lies the credit for the fine part we played as representatives of Australia, going to Japan with our hearts full of reconciliation and peace to help bind up the wounds left by the war.

Mention must be made of the wonderful work done by the Chaplain who went with us, Fr. Harry Hughes.  He was a tower of strength, support and comfort, for it was a time of severe emotional strain for most of the group.  Now, after fifty years of wondering where their loved ones lived, and suffered and just where their resting-place was, at last they found answers to all of their doubts.  He was a source of warm consolation to us all, and he upheld our national pride in providing two very fitting services.  The first was at the Peace Park, where he blessed the land and dedicated it to be a little piece of Australia, where the memory of 300 Australian prisoners, especially the 60 who died there, rested in a small cenotaph under the permanent watch of two flying angels representing our two countries.

The second wonderful contribution Fr. Harry made was at the cemetery at Hodagaya near Yokohama.  Following arrangements Jenny made with Dr. Ashton Calvert, our Ambassador in Tokyo, a coach took us down from Tokyo, and Fr. Harry conducted a beautiful service in the area where the men who died in Naoetsu camp are interred.  The Ambassador and members of his staff shared the morning with us, and we reached the second culminating point of our trip: members found at last the place where their loved ones lay.  It was a deeply emotional time for us all, and pent-up feelings were allowed to flow out.  Our Chaplain had provided for each of us a lovely souvenir booklet recording the occasion, and we were guests at a delicious morning tea served in a sheltering marquee.

All members were very appreciative of the warmth and the sincerity shown by the Ambassador and his staff.

This speech was made at a Sydney restaurant for the lunch party held by Mayor of Joetsu on 8 October, 1998.

Mr. Mayor and other guest, my wife and I were very pleased to receive your invitation to attend here today.  We both thank you for your kindness.  My name is John Cook and during the war I was a Prisoner of War in the Camp at Naoetsu for almost three years.  During that time due to starvation, brutal beatings, inadequate clothing and medical treatment sixty Australian Prisoners died including some of my closest friends.  When I left Naoetsu I only had very bitter memories and had no wish to ever return to that town.  I have never been able to forgive those people responsible for the deaths, nor can I ever forget what happened.  It would be easy for me to say I forgive and forget, but the words would come from my lips, but not from my heart.

In 1995 I was approached by Mr. Mudie to join the Party going to Naoetsu for the opening of the Peach Park.  I had very mixed feelings about going and really only went because Mr. Frank Hole wanted someone to push his wheel chair.  However on attending the opening I found it to be one of the greatest occasions of my life.  I was amazed at the amount of work and effort that had been put into building the Park.  To me it was wonderful to see the area around Monument Consecrated by the Priests to the memory of the men that died.  The organization of the Services that were held were conducted with great honour and dignity.  I will now always remember my second visit to Naoetsu as one of the highlights of my life.

During the last few years, two of my grandchildren have been to Japan as exchange students and two of my son's families have entertained Japanese exchange students in their homes in Sydney.  My wife and I also on three separate occasions have had students from Naoetsu and Tokyo stay with us, so you see we are in no way anti-Japanese.  Someday we would like to return to Naoetsu as tourists, to visit the Park and explore the rest of your City.

I sincerely hope that when your party visits the Japanese Cemetery at Cowra this week, that you all experience the same feeling of pleasure and gratification as we all felt when we attended the opening of the Peace Park in 1995.
I thank you all very much for allowing me to address you today.

The opportunity for my wife and I to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Peace Memorial Park came about quite unexpectedly and as the result of our visit to an old family friend, Mick Gorman.

Mick, who was a P.O.W. at Naoetsu with my late father, Col Nicol, had received a letter advising him of the forthcoming event. Being unable to go himself, he suggested we might be interested.

As it had been my ambition for many years to visit Naoetsu, I immediately contacted Jack Mudie to make the necessary plans.

In many ways it was a dream come true. I had hoped to take my father to re-visit Japan but unfortunately, Dad died in 1989, before I retired and was in a position to make the trip.

Although my father retained a deep hatred towards those who treated the P.O.W.s so badly, he had great admiration for the Japanese people in general. Like those ex-P.O.W.s who attended the Ceremony, I am sure he would have been very impressed by the sincerity of the people of Joetsu to ensure true reconciliation and a lasting peace.

To visit Naoetsu and attend the Opening Ceremony was indeed a pilgrimage for me. I felt as though I had honoured my father by doing what he would surely have wished to do.

My family joins with me in thanking the people of Joetsu, not only for the friendship and kindness extended to us during our visit, but also the genuine effort made to heal the hurts of more than fifty years ago.

May peace be with us all for ever.

All through my life I missed my father, the late Lt. Colonel Robertson.  My mother could not bear to speak about him very often as his loss was too great for her.  Therefore my brother John and I grew up hearing about him from family, friends and then later from some of his fellow soldiers and POWs at Naoetsu.

Mr. Frank Hole had been in contact with my mother before her death and John had met Frank, Jack Mudie and others when he was invited by Dad's battalion to attend the Anzac Day memorial luncheon in April 1995 to remember the 50 years since the end of World War 2.

We then heard about Frank Hole visiting Naoetsu previously with the plaque in memory of the 60 Australian men who died there and that there was talk about a Memorial Peace Park being established on the POW camp site.

Strangely, I had been having strong feelings and dreams about my father for some time and I wondered about this after so many years had passed.  I felt very strongly that if this event came to be I would like to attend and also visit Yokohama War Cemetery where my father's ashes are interred.  John also felt he would want to attend.  Previously we had no wish to visit Japan.

Jack Mudie and his daughter Jenny made the impossible happen for us.  Our trip to Naoetsu was memorable for me in many ways: on the plane to Tokyo meeting the men who knew my father as a friend as well as an officer; Mr. Kondo meeting us at Narita airport and the Australian Embassy officials who smoothed our way; our comfortable accommodation in Tokyo and then the enjoyable train journey through the countryside and mountains of Japan to Naoetsu.

The generosity, hospitality and kindness of the people of Joetsu was overwhelming and will never be forgotten.  The sincerity of their desire for peace and reconciliation was apparent.  I was apprehensive as to how I would feel when I arrived at Naoetsu, but I did not expect to have such a deep welling up of grief as I experienced when we visited the Temple.  It shook me to my deepest core.  However I realise it had a healing effect as well.

The ceremonies at the Peace Park were also very moving.  I felt a closeness with my father's spirit there and that we had honoured his life and death.

I will always be grateful to the people of Joetsu for their friendship extended to us during our visit and for the continuing peace and reconciliation endeavours between us.

The party came out into the waiting hall earlier than expected because the Australian embassy staff helped the Australian visitors through the customs and the entry formalities.  Everyone either carried luggage or pushed carts full of big packs.  I surmised that the man on the wheelchair must have been Mr. Frank Hall.  I greeted and shook hands with them; I felt very emotional, if not even a little wound up to meet them for the first time.

It took two hours to travel from Narita airport to Shiba Park Hotel by bus. Many of the party members were first-time visitors to Japan, so Lynette talked to them about the value of the currency, security, weather, and Naoetsu they were to head for the next day.

We crossed the Bay Bridge and circled the Tokyo Tower, afterwhich the bus reached the hotel, where the party had their first meeting in Japan with the embassy staff member. 

Mr. Mudie started by saying, "The people of a community are looking forward to meeting us and have prepared something wonderful for us.  To participate is not enough, we should be an active part of the event, and together with them we will participate.  We will go to Naoetsu with this attitude tomorrow.  If we can do that, we will have a marvelous experience which might be one of those 'once in a lifetime' occurrences."

He spoke in a very sonorous voice, never sounding like an 88-year-old man.

Then Mr. Bill Paterson from the Australian Embassy in Tokyo gave some necessary advice when travelling in Japan.  At the end, Father Hughes spoke quoting from the Bible.  By 10 p.m., each member of the party had turned for the night, to spend the first night in Japan.

It was fine the next morning, though there were some clouds in the sky.   Instead of going straight to Ueno Station, we did a brief Tokyo bus tour with Lynnet being our guide, seeing sights, such as the Australian Embassy, Zojo-ji Temple, the Imperial Palace, and Ginza Street.  Although we arrived at Ueno Station a little behind schedule, we had enough time before the departure of our train.  There we met Mrs. Clear Imazawa, an interpreter from the Australian Embassy in Tokyo.

The only trouble during the trip happened at Ueno Station.  We had previously arranged for two or three station employees to meet us at a ticket wicket to guide us to the platform and help us bring luggage onto the train.  However, there was no one to assist us.  I explained to the man at the ticket wicket these arrangements and asked some employees to help us, but he dawdled over my request, wasting valuable time.  At last some employees guided us to the platform on the lower level.  I felt so uneasy about the departure time that I began to walk quickly.  On the other hand, the guests from Australia walked with an easy gait.  I remembered an English rock singer once sang: "Gentlemen will walk but never run," which made me wonder if he had written it with Australian ladies and gentlemen in mind.  Nevertheless, everyone got on the train safely and left for Naoetsu.

My guiding job was almost done after our guests got on the train.  For a while, I chatted with Clear who sat beside me.  Shortly afterward, Mr. Barbar, the ex-POW and one of the guests, expressed his hope to meet Mr. Tanaka, who was very kind to him at the factory where he worked during the war.  I felt it rather difficult to search for him only with his last name, since Tanaka is quite a common surname.

Mr. Hill, another ex-POW, requested to visit the three factories where POWs used to work.

Moreover, many guests expressed their desire to visit Kakushin-ji Temple.   Enri, the priest of the temple at that time, was said to have secretly kept the ashes of POWs who died at the camp, while no other temple dared to accept them.  He also welcomed POWs whenever they would visit the temple.

I relayed those requests one by one to our staff waiting for us in Joetsu, who dealt with the matters as best they could.  In the meantime, the train arrived at Naoetsu Station.
 

The Unveiling Ceremony of the Monument for the Executed Guards was held on 8 October.  Mr. Mudie, who was present at it, told me a very painful story on the way back to the hotel.

When a POW died in winter, fellow soldiers put him on a sledge and pushed it to the crematorium some four kilometers away from the camp.   With a high sea wind blustering and snow falling on them, how on earth did they, including Mr. Mudie, feel pushing the sledge with their comrade on it?  It hurt and gave me heartbreaking anguish.

Spotting me at the park, before the Unveiling Ceremony of the Plaque for the Australian Soldiers, Mr. Hill walked over to me and said he was not very satisfied with the factory bus tour the day before.

"Last night after the party, I walked all the way to the chemical factory.  I asked the gatekeeper there for permission to enter it.  In there, I found the toilet newer and cleaner, but it is where it was fifty years ago.  Well, I guess I walked a little too much last night."   He finished his story with a radiant smile and turned around and together with Mrs. Hill walked to their seats, with a slight shuffle.

Mr. Barbar's hope to meet Mr. Tanaka again was made public by newspaper reporter who came to cover the event.  Miraculously he managed to find Mr. Tanaka, who happened to live near the hotel where the Australian visitors stayed in Tokyo.  There at the hotel, Mr. Barber and Mr. Tanaka had a reunion first time in fifty years.

After the Unveiling Ceremony of the Statues of Peace and Friendship, Mr. Mudie's wish to visit the old crematorium site was fulfilled.  There was nothing there except overgrown weeds and a few stones that might have been the foundation of the building.  Nonetheless, some Australians got off the bus and took pictures of the site.  Even after the crematorium fell into decay, sad memories still seem to have lingered on and on.

It was the most touching experience for me.