Verbal Account

A verbal account from Elizabeth Choy

Torture
When my interrogators could not get any information out of me,they dragged my husband from Outram Prison,tied him up and made him kneel beside me.Then,in his full view,they stripped me to the waist and applied electric currents to me.The electric currents sent my whole body into spasms;my tears and mucus flowed uncontrollably.The pain was indescribable,but it must have been thousands of times worse for my husband who had to see me being tortured.

What really happened
In truth,the sabotage in the Japanese Oil Tankers was the work led by Maj Lyon of the Highlander Battalion.Capitalizing on the relatively lax naval defense of the Japanese,Maj Lyon and his party quietly sneaked into Singapore from Australia and blew up tankers at the Pier.The Japanese did not know the truth at that time.Even we learnt it after war.

The Japanese accused my husband and I of helping British underground workers sabotage the military.They wanted the names of our accomplices.But my husband and I were only small-time traders.How were we to find the guts and ability to carry out such extraordinary work?Our captors never got the information they wanted from us.Since further interrogation was pointless,they decided to free me after more than 200 days.
Through the trap door,I crawled out of my cell and walked unsteadily out of the detention center in Stamford Road.Having been deprived of sunlight during my incarceration,my eyes could hardly open as i stood directly under the sun.My mind was a complete blank.I only saw the Cathay building in front of me.The clothes I have been wearing for more than 200 days smelled really foul.For a long while,I felt I had just returned from death.My body ached from the injuries I had sustained.I almost could not find my way home.
When I finally stumbled my way back to Mackenzie Road,my relatives and neighbours were startled at the sight of me.They kept their distance for fear of getting implicated.I did not blame them at all.The Japanese would not let me off so easily.They were still keeping tabs on me.I was in a pathetic state.I lost so much weight that my waist measured only 13 inches.Fortunately,I was still quite healthy and strong.This could be attributed to my upbringing and the hard lifestyle I had.