On a sunny day in 1942, Ernest Hillen's peaceful and comfortable childhood on a tea plantation in Java came to an abrupt end - forever altered by the Japanese invasion of Indonesia. Forcibly removed from their homes and families divided, the Dutch colonists in Java were interned in Japanese prison camps where overcrowding, filth, brutality, disease, and starvation soon became a way of life. For three and a half years, Ernest lived the life of a civilian prisoner of war.