When Arthur Tranter left his wife and small daughter in Heathcote in 1941, he had no idea if he would ever see them again.<\/p>\n
It would, in fact, be more than four years before they were reunited.<\/p>\n
Some of those years were spent as a prisoner of war under the Japanese in northern Sumatra and as forced labour on the Pakenbaroe\/Moera Railway.<\/p>\n
Conditions on the railway were horrific and it is estimated that more than 80,000 people died during its construction, many of them Asian enforced laborers known as Romushas.<\/p>\n
Trapped in this living hell, Arthur wrote an account of his initial escape from Singapore, his subsequent life on the run, and eventual capture by the Japanese.<\/p>\n
He also collected folk tales and these, along with his personal story, were put into a book for his daughter Brenda.<\/p>\n
He carried it with him from camp-to-camp and into freedom at the end of the war and gave it to her when she was a teenager.<\/p>\n
Brenda Tranter has now written, Captured! Living with Death on the Sumatran Railway<\/em>, to share her father\u2019s experiences with a wider audience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the story of our little family just prior to, during and just after World War two,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt describes a close-knit, pre-war Heathcote in detail, my father\u2019s experiences as a soldier and POW and the life my mother and I led during his absence.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen my father returned the whole town celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, 19 September 1945 the McIvor Times<\/em> editor\u2019s column spoke of the mix of sorrow and joy as lists of survivors were published.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lists of survivors have been anxiously scanned daily for news of Lieut. Arthur E Tranter, who has been a prisoner since the fall of Malaya and there was joy in the hearts of his relatives when it was learned that his name was listed,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n