Vicky McClure is one of Britain's most popular TV and film actors.
Oh, my God!
She first found fame in 2006,
in the award-winning film This Is England.
And millions watched her as Detective Inspector Kate Fleming,
tracking down corrupt coppers in the hit TV drama Line Of Duty.
GUNSHOT
LAUGHTER
I went to a place called The TV Workshop in Nottingham.
I joined when I was 11, and that's where I studied acting.
I mean, it's formed who I am as a person,
but it's formed who I am as an actor, for sure.
ALARM BLARING
We need an ambulance! Armed police, get back!
For all the action-packed shows that I do,
and the fact that I might seem hard as nails in certain things,
I probably couldn't be further from that.
Nottingham born and bred, Vicky received an MBE for her charity work
with the city's Dementia Choir.
I would love to introduce you to Our Dementia Choir!
She was inspired by her grandmother Iris' struggle with the condition.
I am a homebody.
I like to feel secure, and...
..I like to be...sort of feel in a safe environment -
and that, to me, is home.
Vicky still lives in Nottingham with her husband Jonny,
just a few minutes from her parents, Carol and Mick,
and the extended family.
When my dad found out that I was having a tram named after me,
he said, "Oh, great,
"so all my mates will say that 'I've ridden Vicky McClure'."
It's a great joke.
SHE LAUGHS
We're very much a working-class, hard-working family.
This is The Meadows. This is where my dad grew up, and...
..my nonna and my grandad.
My grandad once said it was "rough, but enough".
And I kind of love that quote, because that kind of sums it up.
Hiya. Hiya.
Aww. Hi, guys.
I know that Nonna -
Jean - my dad's mum...
..she was abandoned as a child.
She was then taken in by...
..some awful people...
..that treated her very badly.
It's a shame because she only died in December...
..and she's in my thoughts a lot.
And even, like, the...the programme from her funeral
is on my dressing table, and I can't move it yet.
If she was here now, she'd be giggling about something.
She was, you know, a terrible burper, as well.
And I'm sure I've inherited that!
I won't give you an example.
But, you know, she was... "URRRR!" You're like, "Oh, God!"
SHE LAUGHS
But we never really got to the bottom of why my nonna
was abandoned as a child.
You know, what was the story behind it?
My mum's side is where there's a lot more holes.
I know that my great-grandad -
I think his name was Harry - fought in the Second World War.
He was a prisoner of war in the Japanese war camps,
and I believe he died out there,
and he's still - and is buried out there, as far as I know.
I don't like the unknown.
That's my problem.
Even with this show, I'm like,
"Oh, why? What have I done? Is it worth it?"
SHE LAUGHS
Is it worth the anxiety of not knowing whatever's next?
Vicky wants to find out more about her grandmother on her dad's side -
known to her as Nonna Jean -
and unravel the mystery of why she was given up by her birth family,
so she's come to the outskirts of Nottingham
to visit her dad's sister, Auntie Pam -
Nonna Jean's oldest child - who's been researching the family history.
I'd love to find out if there's anything else that she knows
about my nonna's early years.
We've heard bits and bobs, but it'd be nice to find out more.
Hello! Hello!
Hi, sweetheart.
Lovely to see you. Yeah, and you.
Always the greatest cuddles.
Aww! Follow me.
Going in here.
I've got a photo to show you.
Oh, really? What, that I've not seen? Yeah. Ooh!
Let's see what we've got in here.
Every new baby made her glow. Oh!
VICKY CHUCKLES
I know that's me, because I was an ugly baby.
THEY LAUGH
There's another one here. Same expression.
Aww! Look at that - the three of us last year.
Yeah, that's cute.
That's a gorgeous photo.
She was so happy all the time.
Even to the end.
Yeah, because that was about seven weeks before she died.
I don't know anyone else on the planet quite as jolly as her.
So into family, so all about love, so happy. Yeah.
But she had such a bad start.
She did. So in my head, it's...
Yeah. ..it was her trying to break that chain.
Yeah. She made a vow - she said, "I suffered, my children never will."
And she said, "I didn't know what love was as a child,
"so I just wanted to give my babies all the love I never had."
Oh, my gosh. I know! Going to make me cry. Bless her. I know, I know.
Now, then.
Now, that's Mum. Now it says here, look - "Jean, 1941."
So she'd have been 15, going on 16. Wow!
What do we know of, like, the time scale?
She was given up as a baby.
Yeah. And then she was fostered...
Yeah. ..by a couple...
..who were...
They were... Horrible.
Her foster mother in particular was very cruel.
She was sent down the cellar for a bedroom,
and she had to barricade herself in, ram a chair under the handle
to stop her foster mum coming in and beating her.
Oh, God!
And according to Mum, her foster mother was an alcoholic
and a sex worker.
And it was shocking.
And with her foster mum being involved in the sex trade...
Yeah. ..did she try and involve Nonna in that?
She did once - Mum came home,
and there was a man that her mum wanted to introduce her to.
Mum says, "I don't know where I got the strength from
"to say no and escape."
Horrendous. Yeah. Horrendous, horrendous.
Let me show you another photo.
WHISPERS:Oh, wow!
You can see she's dirty... She's dirty, she's scruffy, isn't she?
A "scruffy bogger", as she'd say. Yeah, a little scruffy bogger.
She was.
Pauline? She was called Pauline?
Her foster parents named her Pauline.
VICKY GASPS
She thought she was Pauline Compton
right up until her middle teens.
No way! Yeah.
When she was about 14, she told me this story,
and they were at this house,
and she overheard the girls in another room saying,
"I feel sorry for our Pauline -
"she don't know it's not her real mum and dad."
VICKY GASPS
And that was a turning point.
Wow! She told me she said to her foster mum,
"You can't hit me any more - you're not my real mum."
VICKY GASPS
Here's a copy of her birth certificate. Mm.
That's when she realised her name was Jean.
1925. Mm.
The birth - Great Grimsby.
OK.
Who's that?
BOTH:Ruby Winifred Compton. Formerly Curtis. Right.
Mother. Yeah. Name, surname.
Father - Thomas Compton. Mm.
And so that's who gave her up. Yeah.
Occupation of father - what's that say?
Steward on a steamship.
OK! And Grimsby - see, that would fit, wouldn't it? Yes.
Yeah. Yes, because she was born in Grimsby, wasn't she? Mm.
And maybe that is where I'm heading next, to...
..hopefully find more out.
The birth certificate has revealed the identity
of Vicky's great-grandparents - Ruby and Thomas Compton.
But why her nonna Jean was given up as a baby by Ruby and Thomas
is still a mystery.
If I look at my nonna
and her personality and her strength
after going through what she went through,
and pulling her life around the way she did,
she's got to have good people in there somewhere.
I'm kind of hoping they had good reason to not keep her.
It's all starting to become... real now.
I might actually find something out!
SHE LAUGHS
Vicky's come to the port town of Grimsby in Lincolnshire,
where she knows her nonna Jean was born in December 1925
to Ruby and Thomas Compton -
Vicky's great-grandparents.
To find out where they were living in the 1920s,
she's starting with the census records.
OK. SHE CLEARS HER THROAT
I'm going to put my great-grandma's name,
Ruby...
..Compton, into the 1921 census.
OK, so they're living at 9 Pollitt Street,
Great Grimsby.
Ruby Winifred Compton, daughter.
George...
That's her dad.
And her mum, Emma.
So George and Emma are my two-times-great-grandparents.
And she had a brother called Ernest.
Right, so, OK, this is starting to make sense.
So, Ruby's married, but living at home with her mum and dad,
with her brother, and with her three children.
Esme was five,
Stanley was three, and then Pearl was one.
And my nonna was born in 1925...
..so she wasn't around yet.
These are the siblings she never met.
I don't know where her husband, Thomas, is.
I haven't got a clue.
SHE SIGHS SHARPLY This is stressing me out!
SHE CHUCKLES
I've only just begun!
Erm...right.
Vicky now knows that her great-grandparents,
Ruby and Thomas Compton,
had three other children before her nonna Jean was born -
Esme, Stanley and Pearl.
The census also reveals that Ruby and the children
were living with her parents in Pollitt Street,
but there's no sign of her husband, Thomas.
To find out more about Thomas' whereabouts,
Vicky is meeting local historian Emma Lingard.
So we're in the heart of the old port -
the places that Ruby would have known. Right.
And the family lived just over there,
at the entrance to the docks. And I have this.
OK, yeah, right.
So this is Pollitt Street.
This picture was taken in 1971,
just before these buildings were demolished.
So this is within the docks?
It's just on the entrance... Right.
..the other side of the railway line.
But you are in a busy part of the port.
You've got the busiest railway crossing - it's said -
in the country next to you,
with steam locomotives pulling wagons that are miles long,
full of fish.
I noticed on the census
that they had quite a few people in the house.
Most people are lodging, as well, because they can't afford
to buy their own house, so they're taking rooms on
in buildings like this.
And the fact that Ruby was lodging with her parents
and her young family at one point
is an idea of what financial hardships the family
might have gone through, as well. Right, OK.
But Thomas is not on the census.
And I know that Thomas was a steward on a steamship.
What would he have been doing?
So, as a steward, you are literally like a domestic servant.
If you're on a cargo vessel, you're seeing to the needs of the crew.
Right. So, that's making sure that they're fed and watered,
that you've got the provisions for the journey you're going on,
because you're talking about months out at sea.
So, this is Thomas's certificate of discharge.
So, it lists all the vessels
that he's sailed on since 1919.
OK.
Going back to your 1921 census...
..can you see those dates? OK.
So... Can you see how long he's away at sea?
Oh, he's away for a good year there.
So, the fact that he is away, though, as hard as it is for Ruby
bringing up a young family... Yeah. ..he is providing for them.
They've got three young children at this point,
and then my nonna is born four years later.
So, in December, 1925, my nonna was born.
City of Cork. That's the name of the vessel.
You see the date he sailed?
30th of Jan, 1925.
Vicky is checking the Lloyd's shipping lists,
which log the movements of all British ships,
to find out exactly where Thomas sailed to in 1925.
The City of Cork, that's the name of the vessel. Yeah.
April 3rd. Halifax.
Halifax, St Pierre.
Where's that? Canada.
Canada?
Wow.
So, in December, 1925, my nonna was born.
He was back July, 1925.
OK, so he was out there for a good five, six months.
So, Jean was conceived in the April.
So, he can't be the father of my nonna.
No. What? OK, wow.
It's took me a bit of time, my maths isn't great, but...
Right.
This shows you that Thomas is not your great-grandfather. No.
And it's neither your grandma's father. Father.
Oh, wow. Well, I'm glad I know, to be honest.
There is a distant relative who can help you with your
next part of this journey.
It's a gentleman called Nick, who is Pearl's son,
and of course, Pearl is the older half sister of Jean.
Oh, wow.
We've now discovered that Thomas was not my Nonna Jean's dad.
And when Thomas came back, knowing that it's not his child,
it might have been that realised he couldn't cope with bringing up
a child that wasn't his, and that the most reasonable thing to do
would be to...
..give Nonna Jean away, which breaks my heart, because she's my nonna
and she didn't deserve that.
And it breaks my heart that she wasn't given to good people.
But how much can you check people out in the 1920s compared to now?
I'm going to see Nick.
I'm hoping to find out what kind of people they were.
I'm hoping he can tell me how and why my nonna was given away.
Was it that Ruby had an affair?
And did Thomas and Ruby split up?
Vicky has come to meet Nick...
Hi, Nick. It's Vicky.
Oh, hi. Come on up.
..the son of her grandma Jean's older half sister, Pearl...
..to see what he knows about why Jean was given up...
..and to find out the truth about her great-grandma Ruby's
marriage to Thomas.
That's my grandma, your great-grandma.
Wow.
Ruby Winifred Compton.
This is a year before she gets married.
She's 17 there. Yeah.
The people that she was closest to used to call her Win or Winnie.
Beautiful eyes.
That's my mum.
Oh...
That's Pearl.
I've always wondered where my eyebrows came from,
cos I've always had troubling eyebrows.
Yeah, same here, I'm afraid.
And now I know, yeah.
I've got a photo that I can show you, as well, of my nonna.
Oh, please.
So, this is my Nonna Jean.
Oh, my word.
That's quite uncanny, isn't it? I am gobsmacked.
Look at those eyes. I know.
The Three Graces.
I'm really curious to know if Win ever disclosed having Jean.
My mum, Pearl, was very good at sharing all sorts of information
with me, and she never said a word of it.
Wow.
From that, I would guess that she didn't know.
Thomas wasn't her father. Mm-hm.
Do you have any idea who my nonna's father could have been?
I have no idea who Jean's father might have been.
No.
And is now a good time to talk about Thomas?
I've got tonnes of Thomas's letters to Ruby.
But the ones that I've picked out for you to look at
are the ones that really tell the story.
"Unless I am fortunate enough to get a job ashore for a time,
"I was thinking of trying for a job on the mail boats
"carrying passengers. They reckon it's a decent job, dear.
"But, of course, it means being away from you, dear,
"and I want to be with you all the time."
And he's away. Yes.
And they're separated, they're away for such a long time.
So, the central paragraph from this April 22nd...
1925.
So, the year is... Yeah.
The year is important. The year IS important.
That's the year my nonna was born.
"I do hope you and the kiddies continue well, dear.
"I hope, more than that, you are true and faithful to me
"and are longing for me as I am for you.
"I should be so happy, darling, if you could be sure
"that you lived just for me."
VICKY GASPS
Oh, no.
Something is up.
So, she's been with someone else, and he knows.
It's a small paragraph and...
It is, but it says a lot. It does.
OK.
"I shall be very careful not to make another mistake.
"For I think three will be as many as we can manage.
"Don't you?"
So, now we have the three children,
and he's warning...
.."We've got enough children, and don't mess this up."
Basically, we can't afford a fourth.
And we know who the fourth is. Yeah.
Thomas was quite clear he didn't want a fourth child.
Somebody could have offered good money, which would have
benefited them as a family. Mm-hm.
They didn't have the space.
You know, it wasn't his child.
All those kind of things, it made sense.
And also, people can say, "She's going into a loving family
"and we're good people. We'll take her."
These days, the vetting for a family adoption... Exactly.
There's no vetting back then. No. No.
This is something very informal, I think, which... Yeah.
I don't think we have much in the way of evidence
as to how this has come about. No.
When Vicky's Grandma Jean was given up in 1925,
adoption in the UK wasn't regulated.
Babies could be sold and background checks were rarely done.
The following year, the Adoption of Children Act was passed -
but children were still barely protected by the law.
You can only hope whenever anybody gives up a child
that they are doing the best for that child.
After you saying that, it does make me think more that...
..Winnie assumed she was putting Jean into good hands.
Luckily, she did have a great life when she was out of that.
She didn't show any signs of trouble.
She didn't pass it down.
Well, I'm so glad to hear that.
And all I kept thinking is, she was from a loving family.
She was.
They were a very close family. Yeah.
That's their wedding photo.
OK.
Ruby and Tom, in 1917.
Oh, he's a handsome chap.
And there's Win in her best dress,
but with the kind of bridal overcoat of lace over the top.
Yeah, it's lovely.
Winnie was a loving person, she was the life and soul of the family.
Tom was, for me, this fairly upright gentleman -
except when he was feeling jokey.
His favourite practical joke that I used to remember was,
I would go and kiss him goodnight,
and he would push his false teeth out from his mouth.
It was kind of gross, but it was also hilariously funny. Yeah.
You kind of wait for it. Yeah.
Their last photo, maybe. Aw!
They stayed together until the end of their lives.
There are Tom and Winnie.
I'm kind of pleased, I'm not going to lie.
I think that's good, because they... they've been through a lot.
It sounds to me like my great-grandma Winnie
made some choices along the way that created bumps in the road
for their marriage and for their relationship,
but they stuck together, and I think that's really admirable.
And, you know, my nonna and grandad were together for 74 years.
So, you know, long standing marriages are a thing in our family,
and that's something to be proud of.
I feel like there's been a really beautiful connection
to my Nonna Jean, you know, who was so loved.
I'm sure she'd be really pleased that we did this.
And that's going to leave me and my family with a bit of peace, I think.
Vicky is back in Nottingham and on her way to her childhood home.
She wants to explore her mum Carol's family and the rumour that
her grandma, known to Vicky as Nonna Iris, was the daughter of
a prisoner of war who died in Japan during World War II.
Hi, Dad. Hi.
THEY LAUGH
Yeah, it's been going good.
It's been quite an anxious thing to do, because you don't know
what anyone's going to tell you.
Interesting. Yeah.
So, do you remember this?
Yes, I do remember this. I remember nonna very well.
She was a bit of a funny bugger, wasn't she?
A funny bugger!
Honestly, I drove her mad, didn't I?
Yeah, you did.
Yeah, you was one of those snotty nosed children that she didn't like.
Then we've got this one here.
Oh, this is... I've never seen that.
Yeah.
That's the youngest photo that I've got of my mum,
and she's probably about eight.
She's got your smile.
I'm glad she's smiling.
But she'll have lost her dad by this point. Yep.
When she had dementia, and I went and got her medical records,
and going down, I found that she had suffered with depression.
Right.
But quite badly, from what I gathered.
What did you see that made you think it was bad?
Manic depressive. Oh, right.
God bless her.
So, I've got another photo.
Do you want to see him?
Wow.
So, that's Harry Millership. It is, yeah.
Your grandad. Yeah. My great-grandad.
Don't know anything about him.
This one.
That's a great photo.
He died when my mum was young.
What I do have is this.
So, that's his grave.
She always said, "We think he's in Japan." Right.
But I don't know that.
And she kept that on the side.
That was always around the house somewhere.
I've got a letter.
This is from Harry? Yeah.
To Hetty. Hetty.
My great-grandma. It is, yeah.
So, this letter is from Malaya.
Malaysia now. Right.
So, November 25th, 1941.
Yep.
"Just a few lines hoping they find you safe and in good health,
"also the nips..."
And the nips, is that the kids? His children, yeah. Yeah.
All them kisses. I know.
What was the running order of the kids again?
It was, Lillian would have been the oldest, then Barry,
Audrey, my mum, and Gladys. Right.
"So, by the time this lot's over, the nips won't know their pop."
I know. Very sad.
"I'm sorry I was so far away that I couldn't send you anything
"or be with you for Christmas.
"But one never knows, I might be home for the next one.
"Your ever loving hubby, Harry."
Yeah, it was quite sad, really, when you think about it,
that these five children never knew their dad.
Oh, what have we got here? Got a birth certificate.
This is Nonna's birth certificate? Yeah.
OK, so, she was born 13th of October, 1936, Featherstone.
Yorkshire. Oh, OK.
Dad was Harry Millership.
Occupation, colliery hewer.
So, that's what Harry did.
Must have been a miner.
Right, I think that should be the next step, then.
Figure out what he was doing and where his mine was.
All right, well, leave it with me.
The only thing Vicky had heard about her great-grandfather,
Harry Millership, was that he died as a prisoner of war.
She's now discovered that earlier in his life,
he was a coal miner from Yorkshire.
To find out more, Vicky's come to meet former miner Pete Wordsworth
at one of the last surviving Yorkshire pits.
I'm Peter. Welcome to Caphouse.
Yeah, there we go.
Helmet. Yeah.
Does that feel OK?
Yeah, that feels good.
Well, let's go and have a look at some of the conditions
what your great-grandfather Harry worked in, OK?
Yeah, great. Come on.
Hello. Vicky, if you would like to get on the cage, please.
You'll get on with us. OK.
Hold on tight. Oh, really?
THEY LAUGH
How far down? There we go.
Right, guys. we're off down now, we're off down 140 metres.
Until I tell you you can get off.
I've just got to sort the gates out.
Right, guys, you can get off. Efficient. You first.
Yeah. Thank you.
OK, Vicky, just watch your step.
So, when you look at the environment now, this is more similar to when
your great-grandfather Harry were working in mines.
I'm going to show you this first document.
OK, 1921 census for 8 Bernie Street,
Normanton, Yorkshire.
Harry.
That would be my great-grandad.
These are my two times great-grandparents,
Charles and Sarah.
Then we've got Eva, their daughter.
She's 21.
Charles, 18.
Elsie Millership. Laura Millership. Amy Millership.
LAUGHING:Oh, my word, there was a few of them.
So, let's have a look at Harry.
14 years old.
Birthplace - Castleford, Yorkshire.
Is that far from here? No. Only 20 minutes.
OK.
School or personal occupation - colliers labourer.
Harry's father, Charles...
Was also a coal miner. So, he was also a coal miner.
So, when you look at Harry, 14 years and four months old,
working as a colliery labourer.
VICKY EXHALES
So, the law in those days prohibited kids coming out of school
before the age of 14. Right.
But when they got to 14, they could take them out of school.
Straight to work.
They said, "Right, we need you to start earning for t' family."
Yeah. Well, with that many children...
Absolutely. Yeah.
And what would Harry's job have been as colliers labourer?
So, a labourer can do anything.
He can be digging holes. Right. He can be transporting materials in.
They were working underground six, seven days a week.
I've got some photos to show you which show you what it were like
for your great-grandad Harry working in a coal mine.
Oh, my God.
They were digging as much coal as possible.
And the only thing they were doing was surviving.
To know that Harry was doing that...
..it's so hard to comprehend.
Now I'm sort of delving into my mum's side, you know,
a very tough family. Hardy. Hardy bunch, yeah, for sure.
The sad part is, without choice.
Right, Vicky, follow me.
I mean, we're wearing helmets and, like, knee pads.
They had none of this gear. No. This is crazy.
Have a look under here.
It's a bit tighter, isn't it? A bit tight.
I want to show you another document now,
and this document is from 1939.
OK...
So, here's Harry. Yeah.
32 in 1939. Yeah.
Second World War has just kicked off.
So, he's been working in the mines for, like, 18 years.
Wow.
And what's this, the mine's...?
That's the mine's timber drawer.
As the working coalface advanced deeper underground,
pit owners saved money by making the mine's timber drawers,
like Vicky's great-grandfather Harry,
re-use wooden props that supported the roof.
This prop is here for a purpose, it's holding the roof up.
When you take this prop out, that roof is going to collapse.
That sounds quite a dangerous job.
Many, many people lost their lives doing this kind of job.
Very perilous.
I really feel proud of my roots and the fact that, you know,
Harry and his family were real workers.
Working hard. BLEEPhard.
Do you know what I mean? Like...
It kind of...it's blowing my mind.
From what I know, he died in a Japanese war camp
as a prisoner of war.
And knowing that he left to go to fight in the Second World War
would have been probably not too long after he was doing this job.
Oh. "Tanks crossing". OK.
So, we are in military world.
To find out how her great-grandfather Harry ended up
as a prisoner of war, Vicky is on her way to Larkhill army base
to meet historian Dr Yasmin Khan.
Lovely to meet you. Hello. Good to see you.
I've got something to show you here
which relates to your great-grandfather.
Territorial Army record of service paper.
So, he was requested to go, without choice. That's it.
He's been called up. Right.
He's in his early 30s. Yeah.
I think he must have known that the time was coming.
So, by 1940, he's in the army.
And this is exactly the area that he would have been training...
Oh, wow. Right.
There's something else I wanted to show you,
which is an extract from his military papers.
OK.
Absent without leave.
Rejoined from absence.
Ordered 28 days detention. Yeah.
And forfeits five days' pay.
What does that mean?
So, he went AWOL. Right.
He went absent without leave. Yeah. Only for five days.
So, you can see here the dates.
22nd of the 12th to 27th of the 12th, '40.
Oh, right, so it's Christmas. He's gone for Christmas. Yeah.
For Christmas. I get that.
We're all about Christmas in my family.
A lot of men did around that Christmas of 1940.
But looking back, when we see that, we know that that's the last time
he would have been with his family at Christmas-time.
My God.
So, then he's moved to the 80th Anti-Tank Regiment. Oh, OK.
And these are the stores of the Royal Artillery Museum,
and inside there's one of the guns that he would have trained on
and used around here in Wiltshire.
So, we can go in and have a look at it.
Brilliant. Let's go and take a look.
And I'll take you down this way.
Oh.
Wow.
Guns going back to Victorian times.
This is what I really wanted to show you.
This one? This one.
And this would have been the sort of thing that your great-grandfather
used, which was a 2-pounder, and it's an anti-tank gun. Huge.
Wow.
Can I? Yeah.
VICKY LAUGHS
Oh, my God.
God, he's gone from being underground for 18 years
to sitting behind this.
So, this is something I wanted to show you,
which sheds a bit more light on his journey.
"From the memoirs of George K Topping,
"80th Anti-Tank Regiment RA."
So, this is George, who's a member of the same regiment.
"August, 1941.
"Then the blow fell.
"Here I was embarked upon a journey to God alone knew where,
"and in the midst of a war about to embark overseas.
"No doubt eventually coming face-to-face with the enemy
"on some far-off battlefront.
"How would I face up to an enemy coming at me with a rifle
"and fixed bayonet, or firing at me with a machinegun?
"I did not consider myself yet a soldier,
"with only three months of army discipline behind me.
"I was still a boy recruit, dressed in an army uniform."
Oh, God.
Oh, that's really emotional.
It just gives a sense... Gives a sense, yeah.
..of what it would have been like
to be told you're going overseas. Yeah.
And he's given a tropical kit.
So, they knew if it was a tropical kit, they're going east. Yeah.
But they weren't told the destination, because there's so much
secrecy during the war. They're worried about U-boats in the waters.
They want to keep the troop movements quiet. Yeah, of course.
So, they're not told where they're going.
You can't even imagine how anxious he must have felt.
And then, takes 70 days to get to their destination.
That's unbelievable. 70 days?
But eventually they stop in Singapore,
and that's where his final destination is.
And this is a really critical moment in the war.
Vicky's great-grandfather Harry and his regiment were sent to
Singapore to protect British imperial territory
from Japanese aggression.
But on December 8th, 1941, barely a month after their arrival,
Japanese forces began a land, sea and air assault,
advancing rapidly to the island of Singapore,
where Harry and the Allied troops were trapped.
Churchill was really anxious and angry about this.
In fact, he said, there should be no thought of saving lives,
that they must fight to the bitter end.
And he said that the whole honour of the British Empire
and of the British Army was at stake. Right.
It's lads like your great-grandfather who are
really caught up in that.
And there's not much real thought about their lives.
After just one week, the Allies were forced to surrender Singapore
on the 15th of February, 1942.
This was one of the greatest defeats that the British suffered
in World War II.
And then, the surrender.
It's an unbelievable photo.
I've never seen anything like it.
And knowing that is exactly what it would have been like for him.
Around 130,000 prisoners, including Vicky's great-grandfather Harry,
were taken by the Japanese during the campaign.
And I've got something else to show you here.
Prisoner of war Japanese Taiwan camp.
So, he's in Taiwan.
That's where they've taken him from Singapore,
and that's where the Japanese war camp is.
Wow.
God, I can't wait to tell my mum.
It's not a nice thing to have to tell her,
but it's answers, isn't it?
PHONE LINE TRILLS
FROM PHONE:Hello.
Hello.
Hello. You all right?
Yes. Are you?
Yes.
I'm in Salisbury Plain at the minute.
Oh, right.
And I've been finding out some more things about Harry, your grandad.
And I know where I'm heading.
Where? Taiwan.
Really? Quite nervous.
Wow. We don't go very far!
THEY LAUGH
But I am on my way home now. Oh, good.
And then you can do me a nice dinner tomorrow night,
ready for my trip.
THEY LAUGH
Vicky's travelling over 6,000 miles to Taiwan.
A 17-hour flight will take her to the place where
her great-grandfather Harry was a prisoner of war
to try and solve the mystery of how he died.
Ni hao.
Feeling very far away from home.
I'm not the greatest at travelling too far, especially alone,
to an unknown place that I've never been before,
where I know I can't speak the language.
And the humidity...
It's really overwhelming.
So, this does feel like it's the furthest away I've ever been.
I just can't comprehend what he'd have felt like.
How his head must have been.
And, you know, knowing that...
..he was so...such a family guy.
My family keep reminding me, imagine if Harry had known
that his great-granddaughter was going to travel all this way
in his memory, and he wouldn't be forgotten.
I mean, I feel like I'm letting them down by being a bit scared!
Hi, Aaron. Hi, Vicky.
Vicky is meeting Professor Aaron Moore near Keelung Port,
where on November 14, 1942, her 35-year-old great-grandfather Harry
first arrived into Taiwan, then part of the Japanese Empire.
Harry was taken prisoner in Singapore.
He would have been held for about eight months, and then sent here.
At this time, the Japanese Empire needed to get all of the manpower
and resources they could to fight what they thought was going to be
a very long and destructive war.
So, they would have taken the prisoners, put them on the boats
and shipped them to all kinds of locations in the empire.
Now, those ships were really only designed for animals and cargo.
They have subsequently been called "hell ships".
Really?
So, we have an account here by Adam Houston,
who is on the same ship as Harry.
I'm not sure if I want to read this.
"Mats of straw were laid on the floors of spaces
"and electric lamps were strung along the ceilings.
"Into these spaces, men were packed like old boots in a cupboard."
God, what a saying - "old boots in a cupboard".
"Air in the hold being vile, we were glad on the second day
"when the Nips dropped a canvas airshaft into the stench."
So, what does that mean?
It's now considered an offensive term for Japanese people.
Oh, right, OK.
It's derived from the original name for Japan, Nippon.
So, what was that?
Well, the stench would have been all of the unwashed men
kept in close quarters, some of whom were suffering from dysentery,
which would have affected their bowel movements. Right.
So, the smell would have got worse and worse. As they're packed into
close quarters, they're also fighting for oxygen.
Oh, God.
It's just too difficult to breathe,
packed in that closely.
"Early in the morning of November the 14th, the England Maru arrived
"in port, where we, the human cattle, prepared to struggle ashore
"after gobbling a hasty breakfast of rice and greasy water.
"The previous night, another man had died of dysentery."
The infection would have dehydrated you. Right, OK.
Eventually, also from malnutrition, you would have perished.
It's just horrific, isn't it?
Then they get off the port, and they're sent to a place
called Jinguashi, or Kinkaseki, which was a prison camp.
As they were walking to the new prison camp, there were people
dying at the time, because the conditions were so difficult.
And some locals would come out and actually observe them
on the march, as men were dropping.
He must have been absolutely petrified.
There's a reason I'm an actor,
and it's cos I've got a very vivid imagination.
And sometimes, you know, I battle with that.
And I think I'm battling with it here.
My head's all over the shop.
And then I'm learning information that is just...
..horrific. And it's my great-grandad,
it's my mum's grandad. It's too close.
I feel like I want to go home, and I want to be with my family,
or I want my family here with me.
I feel really on my own in this, because...
..you know, it's just so much to take in and take on.
And yet, I feel terrible for feeling like that, because he was alone,
he didn't have his family, and he didn't make it home.
I just, weirdly, feel connected.
Which is bonkers, cos I never even met him.
Vicky and Aaron are travelling further east into the mountains,
to the copper mine where her great-grandfather was taken
as forced labour.
We're now at Kinkaseki, where Harry would have been
brought into this mine, which was a massive operation at the time.
This photograph is in 1943.
He could very well be inside that photograph.
We're not sure, though.
I'm desperately looking for his face,
but I'm not sure I'll find it.
The Red Cross had no access to this mine.
So, they were consciously hiding what they were doing here.
I don't get why they treated them so badly and tortured them.
From the ship, from the hike -
every single point of this, they were tortured.
Well, if you read a lot of accounts by Japanese soldiers, they thought
they were fighting a war that was existential,
that if they lost the war, they would lose their country
and their families could be murdered.
And they saw people who were serving in the British Army, who were white,
as part of a power structure that was oppressing, in their words,
yellow people all over the world.
Yeah, there's no mercy here, is there?
We've come in this mine, walking in very, very poor lighting.
It would have got hotter and hotter, the deeper you got.
The lower levels, they could be in excess of 50 Centigrade.
I actually have an account by someone who was in the mine
at the time.
Extracts from One Day at a Time, by Arthur Titherington,
80th Anti-Tank Regiment.
So, this guy would have known my great-grandad.
Yes.
SHE CLEARS HER THROAT
"Our job, as unskilled slave labour, was to collect the ore
"and throw it into the chute built alongside the ladder
"that had provided our access.
"Each man was responsible for moving anything from nine to 15 tons
"in a day. Such labour would have tried the strength of a fit,
"well-fed man. For prisoners in bad health, dying from starvation
"and disease, it's not surprising that they should fail to reach
"their quotas, and then be beaten with a hammer."
VICKY EXHALES
God, it's horrible.
It's horrible, horrible, horrible.
"A further problem was the acid water that dripped continually
"from the walls and roof of each hole.
"This could cause temporary blindness,
"sometimes lasting for days."
One day at a time...
Oh, God.
They didn't have much in the way of protective gear.
Many cases, they're doing the work with just loincloths on.
Right.
SHE CLEARS HER THROAT
It's just like a horror movie.
The whole thing is just...
I mean, the irony that he had worked in a mine.
It's a cruel working man's fate.
Have a look at that.
I know there's only one thing on there you can read.
Yeah, I might struggle with this.
Millership, Harry.
A Japanese death certificate.
Oh, right.
VICKY SNIFFLES
I am sorry.
So am I.
What information is on there?
Well, there's not much, really.
It just says where he died and when he died.
But there's a Japanese report.
"The man in question climbed up and used as a stepping place
"a danger prevention board which had been set up there
"to prevent climbing.
"A nail came off from the danger prevention board
"and he fell backward, head downward, about ten metres
"into the second level...
"..seventh workings.
"Although the three men who were working in the same place
"rushed to the place, he had a fractured skull
"and was already dead."
Oh, God.
The way they presented it, that he was stepping on a safety board
of some kind... Yeah, that's a lie.
We don't think that there was such a safety board in place. No.
He did fall, yeah. Right.
I think he did die instantly. Good. It was a ten-metre fall.
It was a quick death.
He was the first to die in the mine.
He was only 35 when he died.
So, he didn't have to endure it here that long. No.
I'm glad. I am actually glad.
Nearly 25% of the prisoners of war died.
Now, if you were to compare that with prisoners of war in Europe,
they were closer to 4%.
So, the death rates were much higher in Japanese prisoner of war camps.
It feels like this was a dirty secret.
And all the lies and...
These prison camps, they're not known as well as they should be,
and that generation that knew about them is passing away very quickly.
Oh, God bless him.
God...
Today was going to be a tough day, not knowing where I was coming,
but knowing that there'd be more to discover.
It did get me to thinking about my nonna.
She was a hard character, but she was unhappy. Yeah.
And I would be, if this had happened to my dad.
And I didn't have, like, the closest relationship with her, because...
..because I was probably an annoyingly happy kid.
Erm...
And maybe this is why.
You know, she always had this,
the photo of his grave nearby.
So, there was obviously a heavy burden on her.
You know, I think it'll only be when I get home to my loving family
and a warm home, that...
..it will probably hit me quite a lot, I think.
Close to the mine is a war memorial,
on the site of the former camp where Harry
and the other prisoners were held.
Walking through the tunnel...
..standing in that mine...
..that was a very sort of, quite an overwhelming feeling
of connection, for sure. I know that he's there.
I know he's been there.
And I know that's where he died.
I'm really, really proud of Harry.
I'm extremely proud to be his great-granddaughter.
The whole thing has just been the most incredible,
disturbing and life-changing experience.
And there's been a lot of it I've not found easy.
You know, I hoped I'd sort of have that strength,
that Millership strength, erm...
Yeah, I do, somewhere.
Maybe that's cos I've got Harry with me and, erm...
..his mates.