NAME: Cowling, Anthony Henry

DATE OF BIRTH: 6th May 1924

PLACE OF BIRTH: Singapore

ARRIVAL IN CANADA: April 1939

ARRIVAL IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: Same

EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING: Teacher Librarian

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

My Life with the Samurai, Kangaroo Press, (Simon & Schuster), Sydney, Australia. 1996. 184 pages.

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS: Educated in the UK, Canada and the USA. B Ed., UBC., M Ed W.Washington State. After the Japanese attacked Malaya, he joined the RAF at age 17 and was captured six weeks later. Mentioned in Despatches for distingished service whilst a prisoner of the Japanese during the Pacific War. Canadian Forces Decoration for service in the Militia 1953-1973. Teacher librarian in the Richmond School District 1967-1984. Cowling visited the Imperial War Museum in 1986 only to find there was no record of his POW camp, located in the Moluccas Islands of Indonesia where detainees suffered an 85% death rate. He felt there should be a record of "our incredible suffering at the hands of a fanatical enemy." Cowling promised the IWM that he would write a factual account. My Life With the Samurai (Kangaroo Press, 1996) recounts the 44 months he spent in Japanese slave labour camps. Published in Australia, his book was well-distributed in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand. "For some reason, not known to me, the Canadian distributors were not interested in handling my book. In spite of this over 3000 copies have been sold in the Pacific Northwest," he wrote in 2004.

[BCBW 2003] "War"