We Sons of World War Two Veterans

Rick continues the story of Peter's war. We hear about a military VIP whom he took up the Italian coast and about his time in Malta - as commander of the most fragrant ship in the dock. 
We follow him to India, hear about the commandos he took down the coast of Burma, and learn about Rita - Peter's onboard pet monkey.
We also hear about Peter's complicated postwar life and about the restaurant Rick's mother ran whose customers included Prince Charles; Jacob Bronowski; Delia Smith; and Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia.
Cricket and music are also much discussed.
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Retired teacher, Rick Shepperson, talks about his father, Peter, who served on a minesweeper with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and (after travelling to New York to collect his vessel) commanded a landing craft during Operation Husky - the Allied Invasion of Sicily.
The story of Peter Shepperson's war continues in Episode 16 - Rick and Peter, Part 2. 
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The second of a two-part interview with John Rouse from Sydney whose father, Norman, and uncle John were POWs held by the Japanese.
In this episode, John tells the story of their captivity - of their inspiring commanding officer, Weary Dunlop; of their forced labour on the Thai/Burma railway; of the horrific brutality in the prison camps; of their time working underground in a Japanese copper mine when the first atomic bomb was dropped; and of their return to Australia.
John also explores the lifelong effects of their captivity on the brothers. His father developed a 'carapace' to survive but which, after the war, left him emotionally cold. But his dad had a successful career and family life - while his uncle suffered debilitating postwar challenges. 
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We Sons' first interview with the son of a non-British veteran!
 This episode is the first of a two part interview with John Rouse from Sydney, Australia whose father, Norman, spent most of his war as a POW held by the Japanese.
Norman was taken prisoner with his brother. So, they looked after each other during their captivity - which took them from The Bicycle Camp, a former Dutch military base (that Norman described as "almost luxurious" compared to the horrors that followed), to camps along the route of the Thai/Burma railway that they were forced to labour on.
Norman Rouse spent his early pre-war years on the family's New South Wales stud farm, Gunterwang. But after the family left the estate, he took a job as a teenage jackaroo.
After the war Norman became a pastoral property manager. So, John grew up on isolated sheep stations.
In this first part of John's interview, he tells Matthew about his uniquely Aussie childhood - and about his father's early life up to his military service in the Far East when he and he has brother became POWs.
The next episode, John and Norman - Part 2, tells the story of their brutal imprisonment and explores its lifelong effects on the brothers. 
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Classical music conductor, Robin Page, talks about his father, Ron, who was a prisoner-of-war held by the Japanese - in Changi Jail and in the railway death camps.
Ron hated the film The Bridge on the River Kwai because, he said, "The reality was far worse than that..."
Ron witnessed savagery during his four years as a prisoner. When he got home to Ipswich in 1946 his body and his faith in humanity were damaged.
But he built a happy postwar life - as an Ipswich postman (delivering letters to Alf Ramsey); as a loving husband and father; and as an Ipswich football fan.
Robin, who became a classical music conductor, was always an immense source of pride to him. And in Ron's later life, Robin gave him four grand-children whom he completely doted on.
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