It is June 2008, and I am on a hillside overlooking the NSW country town of Boorowa. It is a long time since I felt any need to visit the cemetery, but today I have come to talk to my father. My research on the notorious Burma–Thai railway, where he was a POW has brought me to this moment. For the past 13 years I have been following my father’s war time footsteps as a way of understanding him as a person and intern understanding myself. Sergeant Fred Howe struggles to stay conscious. A hundred needles from the barbed wire securing him to the tree pierce his bony body; cigarette burns inflicted by his tormentors sting his bare skin; the hot tropical sun escalates his thirst and hunger tears at his gut. In his lucid moments, Fred ponders his decision to enlist. After all, he was 34 years of age at the time, a married man and father to four children. He wonders how much longer he can last, both physically and mentally. Will the war soon be over and those who have made it thus far be on their way home, or will it drag on until not a single one of them survives? As a young girl I had no understanding of the war. All Dad had ever told me was that, during the fighting his mates had been shot and killed on either side of him. At the age I was then, this didn’t mean much to me. I just didn’t understand. I never asked any questions, so I received no answers – answers that I would come to crave. I now realise why, for so much of my life, I have been at war with my father, literally and by following in his footsteps. I am also finally understanding the degree to which his experiences impacted our relationship. Fred Howe was a prisoner of war for more than three years. I have been a virtual prisoner for sixty.
Lynette Silver is a military historian, the author of a number of books on Australian history, including The Battle of Vinegar Hill, Fabulous Furphies, The Heroes of Rimau, Krait - the Fishing Boat that went to War, Sandakan - A Conspiracy of Silence, The Bridge at Parit Sulong, Blood Brothers, Deadly Secrets - The Singapore Raids 1942-45, a novel In The Mouth of the Tiger, Billy- My life as a teenage POW, At War with my Father: Fred Howe – Prisoner of war, Angels of Mercy: far west & far east.
In 2003 Lynette received a Defence Forces Commendation and Medal from Special Operations Command Australia, for her work during the 60th Anniversary of Operation Jaywick, the first civilian ever to receive this prestigious award. In January 2004 she was awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Honours for her services to veterans and their families for her work on Sandakan. The Sabah Government recognised her research work and her contribution to Sabah’s war history with a Minister’s Special Award, an honour rarely conferred on a foreigner, which was presented to her in November 2009 by Datuk Masidi Manjun, Minister for Tourism, Culture and the Environment.
In the Australia Day Honours 2019, in recognition of her on-going historical research since 2003, her efforts to keep alive the memory of thousands of POWs and her philanthropic projects to make life better for the people of Sabah, the Australian government upgraded Lynette’s OAM to a Member of the Order of Australia or AM, which takes precedence over both the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Member of the British Empire (MBE), under the previous Imperial system. The years of honorary work by her husband Neil, who takes care of all administrative and logistical matters connected with the various projects initiated by the Silvers, was also recognised with the receipt of a Medal of the Order of Australia or OAM, which takes precedence over the British Empire Medal or BEM, under the Imperial honours system.
In October 2022, Lynette was made Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), an appointment made by Her Late Majesty The Queen, shortly before her death the previous month, in recognition of Lynette’s services to British personnel who died in WW2 and their families.
Apart from being reported in various radio and TV news items, Lynette’s research work has been featured in scores of newspaper articles and journals, and she has been interviewed for the electronic media many times. She has also played a pivotal role as consultant on history programs and appeared on numerous current affairs’ programs and in TV documentaries. Website: lynettesilver.com
