Loet Velmans

Long Way Back From The River Kwai

Memories of WWII

 

 

Long Way Back From The River Kwai is a stunning autobiographical account of Loet Velmans' experience during the Second World War. Escaping from Holland in the wake of invasion and occupation by German forces, he moved with his family first to London and then to the Dutch West Indies where he joined the Dutch army. He became a prisoner of war after the Japanese army conquered the Indonesian archipelago and was transported as slave labor for the infamous railroad being constructed through the dense jungle along the Burmese-Thailand border. Velmans survived malaria, dysentery, malnutrition, and physical cruelty while some 200,000 other prisoners perished during construction of the railroad that was built to enable the invading army to conquer India.

Fifty-seven years on, Loet Velmans returned to the area where he spent nearly four years in grueling captivity, revisiting the place where he had buried his closest friend. From that emotional visit came this stunning memoir.

"For a moment I relaxed the wariness and suspicion that had become my second nature. I had learned from bitter experience to take statements and promises made by military authorities with more than a few grains of salt. Mine was a deep-seated cynicism, a POW mentality that, once acquired, would never wear off. It made each setback and each disappointment easier to accept. After all, what was so bad about the unfulfilled promise, the unscotched rumor, the hypocritical pep talk? In the end there was only one reality: death. Death was the ultimate broken promise."

Jonathan Yardley writes in his review of Long Way Back From The River Kwai in the Washington Post (30 November 2003):

"It remains, though, that brutality was pervasive and real, a truth about the war that no pretty words six decades later can wipe away. It is good that by the 1970's extensive business dealings in Japan had taught Velmans that 'there was no longer any reason to think of the Japanese as the bad guys,' but it is always good that he has the honesty to say, 'I never lost my compulsion to keep a wary eye on them.' To harbor such feelings has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with the brutal legacy of war. This candid, understated book is a useful contribution to our understanding of that essential truth."

While living in Geneva during the 1960s, Loet Velmans served on the Board of Governors of the International School. His memoir of World War II was brought into publication with the support of his daughter, Hester Velmans, an award winning translator and author. The collection of work by Hester Velmans is also featured on this site.

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