Prisoner no more!
A jubilant Han Samethini symbolically tramples his POW identification tag
Caricature by J. Chevallier
Han Samethini Collection [1]
Caricature by J. Chevallier
Han Samethini Collection [1]
As Java plunged into revolutionary chaos in the latter half of 1945, Thailand was undergoing an orderly transfer of power. Incoming British troops relieved the Japanese of their posts and weapons, while the RAPWI [2] organization began the formidable task of recovering thousands of Allied prisoners of war. Most of them were moved to large transit camps around Bangkok. Slowly at first, then more rapidly as logistics improved, survivors of the Burma Railway filtered through the city to board transport aircraft for the first stage of their long journey home: Rangoon for the Americans and the British, Singapore for the Australians. The POWs from these nations were repatriated by the end of October. [3]
Disarmed and humbled, Japanese military police and Kempei-tai awaitoutbound trains in the Bangkok railway station
Australian War Memorial
The 10,871 Dutch ex-POWs would remain in Thailand for a much longer period. Holland lacked the ability to evacuate her servicemen, being economically devastated after five years of Nazi occupation. Nor did she have the political clout to get her merchant vessels in the Pacific released from Allied naval control. But even had the Netherlands possessed the ships and the money to bring the men out of Thailand, home for the great majority of them was in the East Indies. Return there must await British permission. This state of affairs rankled Dutch pride, but worse for the men's morale was news of the murderous attacks on civilians in Java and the realization that they could do nothing to protect their families.
Perceiving early that the men would need more than material provisions to stave off boredom and demoralization, the Dutch command in Bangkok commissioned Han Samethini to organize entertainments. He started as soon as he was released from Tamuang, working alongside the best talent of the Railway camps, including the Tamarkan concert party and Postma's show group from Chungkai.
Combined Concert Party of ex-POWs in Bangkok, September 1945.Composed of Australians and Dutch from the Tamarkan and Chungkai groups.
Photo taken on the steps of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce building.
Joop Postma (dark suit) stands in the second row from the top, far left.
Conductor Han Samethini (white jacket) stands at bottom left.
See Footnotes for photo credit [4]
There was much to do, and few resources with which to do it. Saxophonist Lou Bloemhard recalls the origins and early work of the Samethini Band:
Immediately after the capitulation Lt. Colonel Mantel in Bangkok engaged Han Samethini to form an orchestra for the entertainment of the ex-POWs. This was the very first postwar band playing in Bangkok. The band featured mainly English and Dutch players, with a few Australians and Indians. The English and the Australians went home quite soon while the Dutch did not. Their departure greatly reduced Samethini's orchestra. He therefore asked and received Mantel's permission to tour the various camps to find additional musicians.
Aloysius "Lou" Bloemhard
Han Samethini Collection
In this way Sam, as we called him, came to Tamuan camp where I was bivouacked. He invited me to Bangkok and I, together with other musicians, drove there by truck the next morning. We were lodged in the buildings of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce on Sathorn Road. Thus the Dutch Samethini band was created, the first show and dance orchestra with mostly Dutch Indo guys. Together with the drama troupe of Joop Postma we were given the task of organizing cabaret and dance evenings for the army troops and ex-POWs in Bangkok, who would later be joined by the women and children evacuated from the Indies. For most people this meant reunions with the family.
But there were also outlying camps without any opportunity to get entertainment, and we had to travel there as well. The task finally became too large for just one orchestra and we needed help. Help came from up-country camps in the form of the Atomic Boys, led by the very popular prewar band leader Piet Bruyn van Rozenburg, a dance band led by Hofstede and also a trio consisting of Frans de Haan, Hans van Leeuwen and Jaap Schaap [in Dutch these surnames mean Rooster, Lion, and Sheep], nicknamed The Zoo.
The Samethini Band at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce(Click on the smaller images to see the names of the musicians)
Han Samethini Collection
The Atomic BoysPhoto courtesy of Arno Ooms, Netherlands Institute for War Documentation
Our headquarters in Bangkok had leased a dance hall (a bankrupt Siamese establishment) and created a place for dancing and amusement for the Allied armed forces. Every POW returning from Siam to the Indies had to stay in Bangkok for a few days until transportation (usually by plane) became available. Every ex-POW in Bangkok came to know the Holland Club, where one of the above bands would play every evening. [5] [6]
From Nakhon Pathom arrived one of the brightest stars among Dutch POW entertainers, the famed cabaretier Wim Kan. Before the war he had been touring the Indies with his wife, Corry Vonk, and their ABC Cabaret. The fall of Holland made return to the mother country impossible, and when the Japanese conquered the Indies the Kans were imprisoned. Corry was packed off to a women's camp on Java. Wim was sent to the Burma Railway. Towards the end of the war he became gravely ill, but he had recovered and was now in fine fettle. In November he produced and headlined "Mystery in Budapest" at the Garrison Theater, a combination stage play and variety show where the Samethini Band provided much of the musical accompaniment. [7]
Poster for "Mystery in Budapest" (November 1945)Produced by Wim Kan
(Click image to enlarge)
Han Samethini Collection
Review of "Mystery in Budapest"(Click image to enlarge)
Han Samethini Collection
Netherlanders in Bangkok
Here follows a report from someone who has recently returned from Siam, where he visited all camps where Dutch ex-prisoners of war are quartered.
11,000 men are waiting anxiously in Thailand for the moment when they can return to Java and Sumatra. They have been quartered in the city of Bangkok and the surrounding areas.
Thanks to the good care of Rapwi, these guys are in very good health and all of them should be able to return to their prewar careers. Their condition compares favorably with the English troops in Bangkok.
(Click image to enlarge)Han Samethini Collection
Also their morale is excellent. It seems as if Bangkok has been taken over by the Dutch. It even looks Dutch. The language heard in the streets is mostly Dutch, and everywhere one sees the uniforms of our POWs. Night life and Bangkok entertainment are mostly in their hands, thanks especially to Wim Kan and the band leader Samethini, who have managed with very limited resources to give an extraordinarily successful show which draws full audiences night after night.... [8]
Review of a Samethini Band charity concert given at the Chalerm Krung Theater(Click image to enlarge)
Han Samethini Collection
The Chalerm Krung Royal Theater today
Chatriumhotels.net
Review of "Eastward Ho"(Click image to enlarge)
Han Samethini Collection
Chinese Chamber of Commerce auditoriumThe Samethini Band also received favorable mention in the English language press. Articles clipped from an unknown source, probably the SEAC Services Newspaper, praise shows given at the Chalerm Krung Royal Theater and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. "Eastward Ho," performed at the CCC, was a reworking of the 1944 Chungkai POW musical "Zijn Groote Reis" (His Big Trip). No review has been found for "The Black Cat," an obscure Samethini production evidenced by a single surviving poster.
Poster for "The Black Cat" (November 1945)Artwork by Piet van Velthuysen
Han Samethini Collection
String section of the Samethini BandL-R: Johnny Ockerse, Harry Reinders, Bram Koot,
Fons Ockerse, Lex Koot, Tjalie Wagenaar
Han Samethini Collection
Hugo "Alie" Brinkman
Han Samethini Collection
Between performances, the band's skill and finesse were honed by diligent rehearsing. Saxophonist Alie Brinkman recalled these sessions vividly when he spoke of the Bangkok days with his son, Hugh:
For years and years afterwards my father liked to reminisce on the happy "Samethini time", as he used to call it. Han apparently had the gift, as my father frequently said, to meld the band in such a way together to be able to produce a specific full and rich sound! And that resulted in a very close comradeship of the band members. They were quite well known in Bangkok during that time. Plans to make a sound recording in Bangkok were made but unfortunately it never came off. [9]
The men of the Samethini Band shared qualities deeper than competent musicianship. Theirs was a camaraderie forged in the terrible furnace of Japanese captivity, a unique bond shared and understood only by Allied ex-POWs of the Pacific War. They also had a common homesickness and longing for their beloved East Indies, a sentiment for which music must have been both a solace and an expression.
Han was not among those fortunate enough to be reunited with his family in Bangkok. Dutch women and children arriving at the Thailand refugee camps told of the horrors they had seen on Java. This and newspaper reports of the bloodbath in Surabaya led him to fear the worst. He'd received no letters from his wife, nor did Anna's and Margie's names appear on the Red Cross refugee lists that he searched daily. By late November he had given them up for dead. As he walked dejectedly down the street one day, he noticed a windblown sheet of paper in his path. He picked it up and saw that it was another Red Cross list. There were the names: Samethini, Anna C. and Samethini, Margareth J. They were alive, quartered in a refugee camp in Singapore!
Letter from the Red Cross thanking Samethini forhis work at the Alliance Francais dance hall in Bangkok
(Click image to enlarge)
Han Samethini Collection
Taking leave of Bangkok and his bandmates in late November or December 1945, Han hurried to Singapore. His mind must have been a whirl of mixed emotions: gratitude, anticipation, and perhaps fear that the war might have changed Anna and her feelings towards him. He knew only too well the harm the Japanese Army could inflict on the bodies and souls of its subjects. Then there was Margie. He would be a stranger to her. Would she show affection for him? Would she even accept him?
Anna Samethini, 1946Passport photo taken in Singapore
Courtesy of Margie Samethini-Bellamy
When he arrived at the entrance to the Nee Soon Hospital Camp, Anna met him at the gate. Jean stood beside her. Margie was nowhere in sight. Then the announcement, cold and curt: She wished to remain with Jean. She wanted a divorce. Han was devastated. Probably he tried to persuade Anna to reconsider, and it seems incredible that he would not have demanded at least to see his daughter. Many years later he would say, vaguely yet with great vehemence and anguish, that he tried hard to put his family back together. Whatever the reason, Margie does not remember any visits from her father while she was in Singapore. On March 16, 1946 she and her mother left for Holland aboard the liner Nieuw Amsterdam. [10] [11]
Margie, 1946Courtesy of Margie Samethini-Bellamy
Han in MP uniformHan Samethini Collection
Bereft of wife and child, Han remained in Singapore, where he'd been assigned to the 2nd Military Police Brigade in Wilhelmina Camp. He was not long confined to the mundane duties of a sentry. This city, like Bangkok, hosted a sizable Dutch military and refugee community that was eager for amusements:
Together with their families, and other civilian support staff (for the Dutch merchant navy), the Dutch lived in two camps in the Katong district in the eastern part of Singapore. To make living more pleasant, the Dutch had organized their own newspaper, news service, a radio station, postal unit, and even entertainment outlets like cinemas and an orchestra. [12]
Samethini with fellow army musicians in Singapore, 1946The female singer is Oetje Nol. The bass player has not been identified.
The guitarist has been tentatively identified as Jimmy van Lingen [13]
Visible just above the sock line on Samethini's right leg is a tropical ulcer scar.
Han Samethini Collection
Samethini threw himself into this new project, driven by his love of music-making and the need to bury his pain under a mountain of work. The months he spent in Singapore comprise the briefest and most mysterious period of his career. A single photograph shows him posing with a small army entertainment troupe, but there is slender evidence that he also conducted an orchestra. [14] Of the latter, we have a fanciful illustration with references to different themed performances (French Evening, Spanish Evening, Dutch Evening), and lyrics from one of his original compositions, "Sweet Muchachabelle of Spain." Most striking are the depictions of the alluring Spanish maiden in roseate costume, the golden-haired chanteuse in white evening gown, and the bobbing and swaying jazz players in their immaculate tuxedos. They seem to express the refugees' longing for the glamor of the prewar days in the Indies, the carefree evenings of dance and song whose spirit was epitomized in the popular Hollywood musicals shown at the cinemas. The merry strains of Samethini and his band must have brought back those happy memories, allowing audiences a few hours' escape from the drabness of the present and uncertainty of the future.
Whimsical drawing of Han Samethini's orchestra in Singapore(Names of the people in the Volendammer costume photo unknown)
Artwork by Mieke Dusseldorp
Han Samethini Collection
But Singapore was more to the Dutch than a refugee settlement. It was the staging area for the return of colonial government and military forces to the East Indies. Already, in February, the British-trained Gadja Merah (Red Elephant) brigade, composed of the fittest Dutch survivors of the Burma Railway, had passed through the city. They wore different uniforms and carried better weapons than they'd shouldered in 1942, but they were still proud fighting men of the Royal Netherlands Indies Army. On March 2 the Gadja Merah landed on Bali and disarmed the Japanese garrison. On the 8th other units secured the Lesser Sundas, and the next day three Dutch battalions arrived in Batavia. The British were beginning their withdrawal from the Indies, glad to extricate themselves from a colonial war they had no intention of fighting. The last British troops would leave in November. It would be up to the Dutch either to defeat the Indonesian nationalists or come to terms with them.
In May 1946, Han himself received orders for transfer to Batavia. The colonial army's Welfare Service needed musicians to entertain the troops, and no man was better qualified for the job. Packing his faithful accordion, Samethini boarded the trooper Tegelberg and sailed for Java. He had left the Indies as a wretched POW crammed in the hold of a Japanese slave ship. He was coming back as a soldier aboard a worthy Dutch vessel. Yet in another way he was returning as he had departed: outwardly surrounded by throngs, inwardly alone.
S.S. Tegelbergblog.seniorennet.be
Footnotes
[1] The towers in Chevallier's caricature are probably the prangs of the Wat Arun Temple, a major Bangkok landmark. Compare also his drawing of the POW ID card with the third image below:
(Click images to enlarge)Australian War Memorial
[2] RAPWI stands for Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees. This was the organization dedicated to the welfare and repatriation of ex-POWs and civilian internees in SEAC-administered areas of the former Japanese Empire.
[3] See the newspaper article below:
Canberra Times (October 29, 1945)(Click image to enlarge)
National Library of Australia
[4] Photo credit: CU Nixon Combined Concert Party, Ted Weller Private Collection, courtesy of Sears A. Eldredge. Professor Eldredge is writing a book on the Burma Railway POW entertainments, which promises to be a unique and valuable contribution to the history of the Pacific War. His advice has been of great help in writing this biography.
The same photograph was used in a feature story in the Australian magazine PIX (February 9, 1946). The caption gives the names of the Australian musicians:
(Click image to enlarge)
PIX Magazine / Han Samethini Collection
[5] Dutch magazine article "Samethini's Dans- en Showorkest", by A. Bloemhard, (Moesson No. 2, August 15, 1989). Translated by Margie Samethini-Bellamy. The article concludes:
"Later on everyone connected to O & O [Ontwikkeling & Ontspanning / Rest & Recreation] was moved to Transit Camp, together with the by-then arrived families. We stayed there until September 1946, when we sailed home to the Indies on the liner Nieuw Holland. Upon arrival in Surabaya, those choosing to stay in the Indies left the ship, and the rest were repatriated to Holland."
[6] Lt. Colonel P.G. Mantel was the highest ranking Dutch officer in Thailand. He had been a KNIL staff officer, and was present at the signing of the formal surrender of the Netherlands East Indies to the Japanese in March 1942. Here is a prewar photo of Mantel in Bandung, Java:
Lt. Colonel P.G. Mantel (center)(Click image to enlarge)
Netherlands Institute for War Documentation
[6] The Australian musicians of the Combined Concert Party left for home in early October. Samethini attended a farewell dinner in their honor given at the Ratanakosin Hotel. The Dutch and Australians passed around menus to collect autographs. A scan of Samethini's menu appears below. Among the most prominent signatures are those of Ron Wells and Joop Postma. Wells was the producer of the Combined Concert Party show.
Ratanakosin Hotel, BangkokCirca 1946
(Click image to enlarge)
Front of the Ratanakosin Hotel menu with ex-POW autographsSamethini's and Postma's signatures visible above.
(Click image to enlarge)October 1, 1945
Han Samethini Collection
Reverse side of the Ratanakosin Hotel menuAutograph of Ron Wells appears near the top.
(Click image to enlarge)
Han Samethini Collection
[7] Wim Kan's diary of his POW ordeal and postwar performances in Bangkok has been published in the Netherlands under the title Burma Dagboek.
Wim KanSketch by Jack Chalker
(click image to enlarge)
Australian War Memorial
[8] The press clipping is not dated, but probably the article appeared in a November issue. The only clue to the source is a line of text on the reverse side: "Printed at the Straits Times." Oranje was printed at the Straits Times Press Pte Ltd, as was the English language SEAC newspaper. The article concludes: "Even in outlying camps entertainments are being given. Our reporter witnessed a performance by Mary Honri at Pratchai camp. "
Mary Honri (1910-1988) was a British music hall entertainer. A Honri-Samethini accordian duet would have been quite a show, but there is no evidence that they worked together. Below are two photos of the Pratchai performance:
British accordionist Mary Honri entertainsDutch ex-POWs at Pratchai Camp
(Click images to enlarge)
Netherlands Institute for War Documentation
[9] Personal e-mail from Hugh Brinkman (son of Alie Brinkman), November 23, 2009.
[10] The Nieuw Amsterdam arrived in Holland on April 10, 1946 at the port of Rotterdam. Below is a page of the passenger list, showing the names of Anna and Margie:
(Click image to enlarge)Courtesy of Jeroen Kemperman
Netherlands Institute for War Documentation
[11] Exactly one month before she left Singapore, Anna took part in a music and dance recital presented by Nee Soon Hospital. It was given in Sembawang, a northern area of the city. The program credits her as choreographer for "Arabian Nights". Anna stands at far left in the photograph below:
(Click image to enlarge)Courtesy of Marge Samethini-Bellamy
(Click image to enlarge)Courtesy of Marge Samethini-Bellamy
(Click image to enlarge)
Courtesy of Marge Samethini-Bellamy
[12] Yong Mun Cheong, The Indonesian Revolution and the Singapore Connection, 1945-1949 (Leiden, The Netherlands: KITLV Press, 2003), p. 58.
[13] Identification made by British ex-POW Fergus Anckorn: "I think the guitarist in your picture is Jimmy Van Lingen, whom I knew quite well. He was a phenomenal jazz and classical guitarist." Anckorn also recalled meeting Samethini on the Burma Railway: "...I recognize Sammy very well but I left Chunkai shortly after so I did not have anything to do with him. I believe that he was in Nong Pladuk camp when I was there too." (Personal e-mail to author, December 19, 2006)
[14] Liner notes on Samethini's 1960 record album, You Were Meant for Me (Gallo Records, Cape Town), state: "World War Two ended, but the troubles in the Far East were by no means over, and Han, still in uniform, found employment entertaining troops in Bangkok and Singapore. At this time he was playing in a twenty-four piece variety and dance orchestra, traveling from camp to camp in the company of 175 members of a concert party."
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