Eric went to work for the Colonial Office and he was posted to West Africa to help construct a 600-mile railway traversing what is today Ghana. A keen railway enthusiast and transport photographer, Lomax joined the Stephenson Locomotive Society in 1937, [12] and his enthusiasm for railways stayed with him to his death.

His passion for trains/steam engines (“the most beautiful machines produced in the industrial revolution“) and communications was so great that he applied to be a telegraphist at a post office, and also later studied electrical engineering and radio mechanics. The situation builds up to the point where Lomax prepares to smash Nagase's arm, using a club and a clamp designed by the Japanese for that purpose and now used as war exhibits. The epilogue relates that Nagase and Eric remained friends until Nagase's death in 2011 and Eric's one year later. But the soldiers were desperate for information about the war so they build a radio to receive news. Anyone interested in WWII history will be rewarded, and anyone that has been wronged and dreams of revenge, anyone who has experienced the effects, or know someone who has, of PTSD, much will be gained by this story of redemption.

He was among the unfortunate men who were at the brink of death - from starvation, malnutrition, disease, beating, and all-round mistreatment - on a number of occasions. Eric's wife Patti made the trip with him and was there for the first meeting, as was a documentary film crew that was recording the encounter (see the video below).

They are at least reading copies, complete and in reasonable condition, but usually secondhand; frequently they are superior examples. During the second world war Eric Lomax was forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway and was tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio. Eric bottled up his horrendous experiences from his first wife to the point I suspect it was a difficult life for her. He is most famous for writing a book, The Railway Man, on his experience before, during, and after World War II, which won the 1996 NCR Book Award and the J. It is the irony of ironies that Eric ends up working on the Burma / Thai railway in 1943 as railways are such a big passion in his life.The man is remarkable when you consider the huge suffering that being a prisoner of war would impose on anyone. Many Americans believed Lean's film to be true and perhaps slept better because they were left with a false picture of POW life, one that ignored the unspeakable horrors that the POWs had endured in the hands of the Japanese. Eric Lomax's best-selling autobiography, featuring his wartime experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese. We are provided with searing portrayals of his long incarceration – the torture of himself and his comrades, his interrogations, lengthy imprisonment in small cells where silence was maintained for months at a time.

Colin Firth is a lover of literature and for the most part has chosen wisely in terms of film adaptations e. However, I decided to give it a go and after skimming through the initial 30 or so pages of Lomax's early history and train-related obsessions, I found myself captivated by his story. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses.

In his book, Eric describes petty feuds and vendettas that were ongoing between his first wife's family, which began immediately following their wedding in 1945.

However, with regard to the book, Finlay seems to most likely resemble Jim Bradley, a fellow POW who had been in the bed next to Eric's in Changi, Singapore in 1944. On screen I got to see him as a young man – as he was before I met him, as he was even before he married my mum. This is my nth time to read a novel with the same setting and I always imagine putting myself on the shoes of those who experienced the war. Along with other POW officers a radio was found in their hut and with that began his appalling ordeal. This is one of the most powerful and moving memoirs I have ever read, and a testament to one man's ability to survive and, eventually, recover from and transcend some truly horrific experiences.In his captivity, along with his fellowmen, they design and assemble radios to get first hand new on the progress of war. During the Second World War he was captured and tortured by the Japanese Army and forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam railway. The diet was minimal – several prisoners contracted diseases and died due to their weakened condition. Also, unlike the other three POW accounts I've read, "The Railway Man" has a very substantial part dedicated to telling what happened after the war ended. None of his explanations that he had done it as an enthusiast helped - he was seen as plotting espionage.