A scarce Japanese POW Medical Officer’s Order of Saint John and M.I.D. group of seven awarded to Colonel Horace Claude ‘Hot ‘n’ Cold’ Benson, a senior British Medical Officer on the Burma-Siam Railway, of “Bridge on the River Kwai” infamy; after the war he was a witness for the prosecution at the trial of Major Kudo, 19th Ambulance Corps for War Crimes

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer (Brother’s) breast badge, silver and enamel; 1939-45 Star; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1953; Service Medal of the Order of St John, silvered base metal (D/Sgn H. C. Benson. York) mounted as worn, pin lacking, good very fine (7) £600-£800

Order of St. John London Gazette 9 July 1957.

M.I.D. London Gazette 12 September 1946. ‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services while Prisoners of War’.

Horace Claude Benson was born on 11 May 1902, at Ashover, Derbyshire, and educated at Sedburgh School. At Edinburgh University he studied medicine and gained the M.B. and Ch.B. (1928). He was employed as a Clinical Assistant at the Ear and Throat Department of the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, prior to being granted a commission in the Army. He became a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1929, served in Egypt during 1931-36, was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1932 and Major in 1939, being posted to India.

He was commanding officer of the 27th Indian Field Ambulance, 9th Indian Division, 1941-42, being promoted Acting Lieutenant-Colonel in February 1941 and Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in May 1941. Benson was present at the fall of Malaya, was captured and remained a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during 1942-45. Whilst in captivity, he was Senior British Officer of ‘L’ Force - a medical force of 15 officers and 100 medical orderlies. Initially held at Changi P.O.W. Camp, Singapore; thence from 23 August 1943, by train to Kanburi (Kanchanabri) Thailand to administer relief from cholera and other multifarious diseases rife in the P.O.W. and coolie forced labour camps, situated along the Burma-Siam Railway.

After the war and his subsequent repatriation, Colonel Benson gave a report of his wartime experiences as a captive:

‘Beatings with fists or bamboo sticks, on the face and head, of MOs (Medical Orderlies) and ORs by Japanese medical personnel of Kudo Batai (19th Ambulance Corps commanded by Major Kudo) was fairly frequent, and often done for no apparent offence. These beatings were committed by most of the Japanese from the lowest rank up to even Major Kudo himself.... My complaints generally had a temporary successful effect, but it was quite apparent that Major Kudo encouraged his subordinates. The biggest beating up that I had was from Major Kudo because the ORs were having a singsong one night. However when he afterwards apologised I asked for a pig for Christmas Dinner and got it. Our experience was that we received worse treatment from Japanese medical personnel than we did from non-medical personnel and Koreans’.

Following the Japanese surrender, Major Kudo was subsequently arrested for war crimes. As a witness for the prosecution at Kudo’s trial, Colonel Benson submitted an affidavit in 1946 that he had witnessed the death of some 25 recaptured coolies, who were imprisoned in a hut near to the Kanburi Hospital. ‘They were then given an injection of some reddish fluid. They all died in agony and showed symptoms consistent with mercurial poisoning’.

For his splendid efforts as British Officer Commanding at Kanchanabri Hospital, Benson was mentioned in despatches and in June 1946 was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. He was appointed C.O. of 109 Military Convalescent Hospital in 1946 and Chief Instructor Training Wing Depot and Training Establishment R.A.M.C., 1947-50. He was then posted as C.O. of the British Military Hospital in Malta, 1950-51. Promoted Temporary Colonel in August 1952, he attained the rank of Colonel in January 1953 and was appointed Assistant Medical Director, H.Q. North-West District, 1953-54 and Commandant of the Depot and Training Establishment R.A.M.C., 1954-58. He was President of the Standing Medical Board, Northern Command, York, 1958-59 and placed on Retirement Pay in 1959. Colonel Benson died on 13 March 1986.

Sold with a folder of copied service papers and other research including his thirteen page close typed “Report on History of “L” Force P.O.W. Thailand”, relevant copies from “The Knights of Bushido, A Short History of Japanese War Crimes” by Lord Russell of Liverpool, which in the chapter ‘Life and Death on Burma-Siam Railway’ documents Lieutenant-Colonel Benson’s evidence, and “River Kwai Railway, The Story of the Burma-Siam Railroad” by Clifford Kinvig... “venal and corrupt... Major Kudo who commanded the Kudo Butai which included the medical reinforcements ‘K’ and ‘L’ sent north to succour the native labourers”.

Additionally, a small folder of Benson’s personal papers including reports on medical conditions in POW camps in Thailand 1943-45 was deposited with The Imperial War Museum’s Department of Documents.