Henri Hekking
Henri Hekking | |
---|---|
Born | 1902 or 1903 Surabaya, Dutch East Indies |
Died | (aged 91) |
Allegiance | Netherlands |
Service/ | Royal Netherlands East Indies Army |
Rank | Major |
Battles/wars | Dutch East Indies campaign (1941–42) |
Henri Hekking (1902/03–1994) was a Dutch medical officer with the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) noted for his service in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps during the Second World War.
Hekking was born and grew up in the
Early life
Henri Hekking was born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies, in 1902/03 to Dutch parents.[1][2] His grandfather had commanded a fleet of Dutch merchant ships.[3] His grandmother worked as a herbalist and healer in the colony and Hekking made a promise to her that he would help provide medical care to the natives.[2] Hekking grew up in Java but moved to the Netherlands at the age of 16, his father's work having taken him there.[2][4]
Hekking studied medicine at
By 1941 he was married to May and had two children: a son, Fred, and a daughter, Loukie.[8][9] He had reached the rank of captain and was known among local villagers as "Bapak" (father) because of his medical work.[8]
Second World War
Hekking was captured on
The railway workforce was housed in makeshift camps stretched along the route.[12] The British prisoners did not recognise Hekking's medical qualifications and refused his service, as such Hekking sat for a while at the holding camp at Thanbyuzayat.[4][7] A group of American prisoners learnt of Hekking and two officers used their watches to bribe the Japanese to allocate Hekking to their camp.[4] He joined them at camp Kilo 40, named for its distance in kilometres east of Thanbyuzayat.[13]
With limited medicines provided by the Japanese Hekking used his knowledge of South-East Asian herbs to treat the men in his camp.[4] He described to the prisoners the herbs that they should look out for in the jungle and also escaped the camp at night to gather them himself. During these trips, he also treated the sick and injured in local villages.[4][14] One of the herbs Hekking used was Carapichea ipecacuanha as a treatment for dysentery: after demonstrating its effectiveness on one patient, Hekking was permitted to search the jungle for more of the herb by the camp's Japanese commandant.[15] He also used leaves to heal cuts and beans to make a bitter tonic that reduced fever.[16] Moreover, he harvested mould from pomelo fruit and used it to treat diphtheria, meningitis and tetanus, as well as a preventative for infection in cuts. A 1945 study of the mould at a Bangkok hospital found it to be a form of penicillin. Hekking also experimented with using maggots to clean wounds and ulcers.[17] Other European medical officers in the camps disapproved of Hekking's herbal treatments.[5]
Hekking also used the
Hekking also treated some Japanese soldiers, particularly for
Hekking was considered by historian Kelly E. Crager as "perhaps the most successful doctor" to work with American prisoners of war on the Death Railway and is described by one former prisoner as having saved hundreds of lives during his period of captivity.[21][22] His camp had the lowest death rates of any of the camps set on the railway.[7] According to one of his patients, only 13 of the 191 prisoners in Kilo 40 died in the 18 months Hekking served there, compared to 120 dead in a nearby camp of around 470 men.[4]
Post-war
After the war Hekking moved to the Netherlands with his family and worked at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Amsterdam.[23][24] He retired from the army with the rank of major.[24] In 1956 he received several honours from the American Lost Battalion Association (many of whose members he had treated during the war) and attended their annual reunion.[25] On 25 December 1978 Hekking signed an affidavit supporting veterans of the battalion and survivors of the crew of the USS Houston, with whom he had also been imprisoned, in claiming from the US Veterans Administration who doubted the complexity of their illnesses.[26]
Later in life Hekking was interviewed by historian H. Robert Charles for his study of the Death Railway camps, published in 2006 as Last Man Out.[8] Hekking died in 1994, aged 91.[1]
References
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- ^ ISBN 978-0-307-49088-9. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-7603-2820-0. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
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- ^ ISBN 978-1-68247-025-1. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-295-98754-5. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7603-2820-0. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
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- ^ "Burma Railway". Britannica. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
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- ISBN 978-1-60344-416-3. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-63624-196-8. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-307-49088-9. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-415-30951-6. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-295-98754-5. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ Southwestern Historical Quarterly. Texas State Historical Association. 1991. p. 308. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-307-49088-9. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-60344-416-3. Archivedfrom the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ Michigan. Dept. of Military Affairs. Information Office (1986). The Wolverine Guard. Adjutant General's Office. p. 19. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
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