Additional information
by Richard Crasta (Author), John Baptist Crasta (Author)
"Eaten by the Japanese" is the inspiring World War II memoir of an Indian soldier in the British Indian Army--the only such surviving account from among the thousands of Indians who were captured by the Japanese in World War II, shipped to New Britain and other islands in the Pacific, suffered horrific conditions, with many losing their lives. An automatic prisoner of war once the British general surrendered, Crasta makes a moral decision not to trust the Japanese or to desert to the Japanese-sponsored Indian National Army. He is taken to Rabaul in New Britain (Papua New Guinea) in a "torture ship," and miraculously survives 3 1/2 years of inhuman treatment by his Japanese captors and bombardment by Allied planes. Rescued by Australians, he returns home to India and writes this memoir in 1946, which also refers to incidents of cannibalism. He then waits another 51 years before his memoir, written in pencil, is read and published by his son, Richard Crasta, who by then is an author living in the United States. In the process of reading this book, the once-estranged son rediscovers his father, adding his own Notes and three essays to the book, which he publishes and presents to his 87-year-old father on the latter's 50th wedding anniversary."More than any book in recent memory, Eaten by the Japanese drives home the lasting effects of enforced captivity - not only on the bodies but also on the minds of the prisoners . . . it is a book about kindness, solidarity, and collective survival, about the bonds that matter: those between one single human being and another. Not a mere story of self but an epic of collective agony. "--Professor Barry Fruchter."A classic in military history, telling the story of men trapped in a world of torture, starvation, and death"-Roger Mansell, War historian, in Tameme Magazine"You see the horror of war, without a trace of artifice, through the eyes of one who was there, the writing a simple act of catharsis. A war memoir that ranks with the best."-Professor Mark Ledbetter, Nisei University"Striking and raw, an antidote to myth. Something to be treasured. It made me think of what had happened to my own father's memoirs, which were lost."--Professor Barry Fruchter.
Author Biography
John Baptist Crasta was born in 1910 in the village of Kinnigoli, near the town of Mangalore in Southwestern India. He joined the British Indian Army (later the Indian Army) in 1933, serving in Quetta, Karachi, Singapore, New Britain (involuntarily), Bangalore, Jammu & Kashmir (war service), Bombay, Panagar, Calcutta, and Bareilly, and winning the Indian Independence Medal, the 1939-1945 War Service Medal, The George VI 1939-1945 Star, the George VI Pacific Star, and the Jammu & Kashmir Medal. He was appointed as a Viceroy's Commissioned Officer in 1946, and a Junior Commissioned Officer in 1948. He married Christine in 1947, and together they had three sons and one daughter. "Eaten by the Japanese" was first published with a publication date of 1998 by his son, Richard Crasta, who was by then an internationally published author. The memoir was formally presented to the public and also to his surprised father as an act of gratitude on the occasion of the latter's 50th wedding anniversary on December 27, 1997. Until his death in October 1999 at the age of 89, John Baptist Crasta lived a simple life in a quiet Mangalore locality, having bicycled to work every day until he was 75. Richard Crasta, minor co-author, wrote three essays and compiled notes, interviewing a few veterans of the British Indian Army. He has also published 12 other books.
