I would like people who survived the rape and torture of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese troops in 1937 to know that many of my compatriots in Australia, both men and women, had a similar experience while trying to halt the Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia, especially after the fall of Singapore when the Japanese executed most of the prisoners.

The first thing I remember as a child are the explosions triggered by an American supply ship that had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in Sydney Harbor. Almost every night people in Sydney heard sirens, signaling them to turn off their lights. As a little boy, I would look out of the window and see the searchlights focus on Japanese planes and minutes later hear the anti-aircraft battery fire.

Only after Japan surrendered in World War II did we hear about the sufferings that the Chinese people had had to endure and many Australians, including my mother and I, went to the bank to donate whatever money we could to help the Chinese people get back on their feet.

The survivors of the Nanjing Massacre are right when they say, the world should never forget the brutality they suffered at the hands of the Japanese and the pain and anguish they have had to live with every day of their lives ever since.

Ross Grainger, via e-mail

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(China Daily 01/11/2013 page9)