The Witness

The Fighting Had Ended But for Sandakan’s Most Notorious Prisoner the War Was Not Over

By: Tom Gilling

Narrated by: James Saunders

'That b*st*rd's still alive? I'm going to kill him with my bare hands.' (POW Bill Moxham)

At the Australian war crimes trials that followed World War II, one prosecution witness stood out: Warrant Officer Bill Sticpewich.

During his three years in the infamous Sandakan POW camp, Sticpewich had seen hundreds of fellow prisoners die of starvation, sickness and overwork. Others were shot or bayoneted to death by Japanese guards on forced marches through the Borneo jungle. Of more than 2400 Allied prisoners at Sandakan at the start of 1945, only six survived. It was Sticpewich's meticulous evidence that sent Sandakan's commandant and his murderous henchmen to the gallows.

But to his fellow prisoners Sticpewich was not a war hero, he was a collaborator who avoided heavy labour and obtained extra rations by ingratiating himself with the Japanese.

Was Sticpewich a traitor or a man who did what he needed to stay alive? Drawing on wartime records, original interviews and the recollections of other survivors, The Witness reveals the compelling story of Australia's most notorious POW.

©2022 Tom Gilling (P)2022 Bolinda Publishing

Who was Bill Sticpewich?

Tom Gilling does an outstanding job of trying to get to the bottom of who the notorious witness from Sandakan really was. Few prisoners made it through their time as a POW in Sandakan. But Sticpewich did and was much healthier than all. He also knew everything going on and all the ins and outs. How? Gilling arrives at conclusions but no definitive find can be found given how much time has passed. Great read and narration!! Reads like a wartime whodunit.