In February 1942, Britain suffered one of its worst defeats in the Second World War

when the island fortress of Singapore fell to the Japanese.

While the fall of this once considered impregnable city shook the world, inside Singapore

nearly 100,000 people were taken prisoner

by the Japanese army. They included the Irishman Don Kennedy. Now this began a captivity

that would become one of the most harrowing experiences of the Second World War in Asia.

Over the following years, Don and thousands of other prisoners were forced

to build what became known to some as the railway of death from Thailand to what was then called

Burma. Don Kennedy endured brutal treatment constructing this railway line through the jungles of

Southeast Asia. While their experiences was famously depicted in the film,

The Bridge Over the River Kwai,

in this podcast, Donzon Fergus,

tells the real history behind this remarkable story.

Hello and welcome to the Irish History podcast. My name is Finn Deweir.

Now today's episode is the second last show of the year and it is a fantastic story about a forgotten Irishman's fight for survival in a brutal Japanese labour camp in the Second World War.

My guest is Don Kennedy's son Fergus, as I say.

He's published a book about his father's ordeal called From Bally Bunyan to the River Kwai.

It's published by Gil Books and I've had linked below.

It's a really super read.

If you enjoy the episode, there's lots of detail we didn't get to discuss that's in the book.

With all that said, let's get straight into the episode. Sound is by Kate Dunley.

Now, Don Kennedy's early years was a pretty much standard Irish childhood in Ireland in the early

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