I am the daughter of a British army prisoner of war at Changi, a notorious WWII camp in the jungles north of Singapore.
My father, Percy Herbert, went on to become a film actor. His early movies included the Oscar-winning “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” directed by David Lean. Ironically the film was based on the very same concentration camp where my father was held for four years. Forced to build a large railway bridge, more than half of the British, U.S. and Aussie soldiers died in that camp.
“Fighting on Film,” a British podcast about war movies, interviewed me Aug. 15 about my father’s life and career. You can listen to the hourlong episode on their website and below.
My chosen work as a psychotherapist centers around post-trauma and trauma. My career is in part a tribute to my dad’s life. How a man suffering from acute post-traumatic stress — missing and presumed dead — returned from war, starving and desperately ill. He turned up on our family’s doorstep in London, to the shock of my mother and family members.
Through all this he was able to channel his PTSD into a creative life with a long successful film career. Percy sustained a 40-year-plus marriage and became a loving father (this not without its challenges, however).
In 2020, I wrote and produced the play “The POW and the Girl” (left image), based in large part on our family’s experiences.
It was a thrill to share with the “Fighting on Film” podcast listeners some insights and anecdotes about a man who managed to not only make it through, but ultimately thrived in the face of extreme adversity.
The podcast seeks to “uncover forgotten gems and showcase both the best and worst of this much-loved genre” of war movies. You can listen to archived episodes on the “Fighting on Film” web site and support their efforts on Patreon.com.
Episodes also can be heard on the FoF YouTube channel. Here is the YouTube embed:
Related content: “When the Hero Takes a Fall”