The Preservation of a Saint

With the anniversary of VJ Day – the true end of the Second World War – passing earlier this month, here’s a timely reminder of the suffering endured by POWs held in the Far East. Japan’s surrender was signed on 2 September 1945, yet for many families the wait for news dragged on. Some did not see their loved ones again until 1947, while others lived in hope only to learn their relatives had perished in brutal POW labour camps.

Here we see two poignant artefacts. On the right, the official Japanese prisoner of war identity tag. On the left, a handmade version created by the prisoner himself, bearing his name and the same POW number, 446.

What makes it remarkable is the reverse. Scratched into the back of the Japanese tag is a stick figure with a halo – a cheeky nod to the 1960s TV series The Saint, though here carved decades earlier. It’s humour scratched into metal in the darkest of times and a tribute to one man’s determination to hang on to his identity when all else was taken away.

That man was RAF Flight Sergeant John James Sartin, held in Java. He survived captivity and went on to serve 25 years in the Royal Air Force as a fitter. His official service record makes no mention of his time as a prisoner, save for one line in the “marks or scars” section: “Scars L. Buttock. Back L. Hand.”