POW Radios
Jeff Fuller
WB6UIE
Our nation honors the sacrifices of our Prisoners of War and Missing Action (POW/MIA) each year on the third Friday in September. The courage of our service members in surviving harsh living conditions, brutal interrogations, and
starvation rations is legendary. This story will cover a lesser known and fascinating portion of their bravery and ingenuity – radios secretly built and operated by American and Allied prisoners right under the noses of their captors.
POW radios got their start as WWII Axis compounds began to fill with downed Allied aviators, hungry for news about the war’s progress. Some had military radio training. Others had been hams before the war. For a moment, imagine yourself as one of those prisoners. You’re injured, on short rations, and living in primitive conditions. How will you find parts for even a basic receiver? And, of course, the design will be yours (no references or tube manuals). Since consequences of discovery by your captors will be severe, your design must also be small and concealable.
Powerful BBC broadcasts beamed across the Channel made crystal radios practical for European POWs. Builders needed a little creativity for the diode, some wire, a pilfered earphone, and a good hiding place. Of course the German
policy of assigning POWs to work details did make the challenge a little easier. Radio parts just seemed to disappear from the repair shop now and then.
This crystal radio, hidden in a soap dish, belonged to a U.S. airman interned in Stalag 17-B.
(Credit: Just Collecting News 2017-05-30 ) [1]
Japanese camps, on the other hand, were thousands of miles from the nearest Allied broadcasters, making crystal radios impractical. Designers needed to come up with something fairly simple with lots of gain – like a one tube regen.
British prisoners from the fall of Singapore soon scored a success. Late one evening they carefully posted lookouts, since mere possession of a radio was grounds for execution. They fired up their set and felt a surge of adrenaline as
the chimes of Big Ben rang out from its earphone. At last, news about the war.
The announcer began detailing the hops harvest in Kent [2].
What ??
Where was the war news bulletin? The announcer droned on about growing hops for nearly an hour until the signal slowly faded into a shifting ionosphere. The POWs concluded that if the BBC could devote that much time to hops, things must be going ok back home. Hopefully, future listening sessions were more productive …
Shangi Gaol (Singapore) PoW camp radio concealed in a teak beam
Credit: “Wireless for the Warrior – Volume 4 Supplement Chap. 212 – 1 [3]
American POWs held by the Japanese in the Philippines weren’t just interested in the latest war news. They feared that once MacArthur’s troops hit the beach, the Japanese would execute them to cover up the atrocities they had committed. A radio could provide enough early warning to carry out an escape plan.
Army Captain Russell Hutchison, interned in the notorious Cabanatuan camp, came up with a clever design hidden in a cutaway portion of a canteen (below). The little 12SK7 regen pulled in stations as far away as San Francisco.
When not in use, it was stored in its canvas pouch, looking like any other GI canteen. Upon rotating out of the camp, Hutchison passed the radio on to another Army officer, William Gibson. When the radio’s 12SK7 burned out, Gibson put his ham skills to work and redesigned it for a 6J7. Gibson found it easier to obtain parts once the Japanese made the mistake of assigning him to the radio repair shop. [4]
A replica of the canteen radio receiver constructed by David W. Cripe, NMOS, was an Ozarkcom 2012 overall ‘Homebrew’ contest winner.
Credit: Wireless for the Warrior, Vol 4, Supplement Chapter 203 [5]
The original canteen radio was lost in the chaos of the raid by U.S. and resistance forces which freed the prisoners on 30 January 1945. Replicas built by hams have been the subject of several articles and homebrew contests. [6], [7]
It should be noted that in spite of the brutal mistreatment of prisoners in the camp, no one gave up the radio. Yet
another reminder that our freedoms are not free.
References and further reading
1. “The Secret POW Camp Radio That Inspired A Hollywood Classic”
Just Collecting News 2017-05-30
https://news.justcollecting.com/the-secret-pow-camp-radio-that-inspired-a-hollywood-classic/
2. “Construction of Radio Equipment in a Japanese POW Camp”
Lieutenant Colonel R. G. Wells
http://www.zerobeat.net/drakelist/powradio.html
3. “Shangi Gaol (Singapore) PoW camp radio concealed in a teak beam”
Wireless for the Warrior – Vol 4 Supplement, Chapter 203. ver 1.00. Nov. 201
http://www.wftw.nl/203%20PoW%20radio%201%20canteen%20v1%2000.pdf
4. Thompson, G. “The U.S. Army in WWII, Technical Series, The Outcome”
Department of the Army, 1966
https://history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-18/CMH_Pub_10-18.pdf
5. “POW Radio #1 Canteen Country of origin: USA”
Wireless for the Warrior Vol 4 Supplement Chapter 203
http://www.wftw.nl/203%20PoW%20radio%201%20canteen%20v1%2000.pdf
6. Sammons, Tim. “Canteen Shortwave Radio Receiver”
N6CC – Navy 6 Combat Comms 1 Jan 2011
http://www.n6cc.com/canteen-radio-receiver/
7. Witte, Bob: “POW Canteen Radio”
The K0NR Radio Site 25 Nov 2015
https://www.k0nr.com/wordpress/2015/11/pow-canteen-radio/