Statue honours PoW’s act of kindness after years of captivity
Statue to PoW and the Forgotten Army who fought in Burma. Tony Henderson reports.
A statue based on the experiences of a North East soldier in an infamous Japanese prison camp will be unveiled on the day which marks the end of the Second World War.
Len Gibson, from Sunderland, was captured and enslaved on the notorious Burma Death Railway on the River Kwai and the Mergui Road, built in Burma by PoWs and Asian labour.
Amid his wartime ordeal of more than three years, Len and his fellow captives drew comfort from the guitar he made from waste wood and wire.
Len Gibson died on July 31, 2021, aged 101 – just days before the launch of his book titled Len Gibson: A Wearside Lad in World War II.
Len became friends with Brian Burnie, founder of the Newcastle-based Daft as a Brush cancer charity, who has organised annual memorial walks on VJ Day (Victory over Japan) in honour of the “Forgotten Army” which fought in Burma.
Now the statue of Len will be unveiled outside South Shields Town Hall on this year’s 80th anniversary walk on Friday, August 15.
It has been commissioned and financed by Brian from sculptor Ray Lonsdale as a memorial to all the prisoners of war, many of whom perished.
Ray is the creator of many metal statues and artworks across the North East, notably “Tommy,” the First World War soldier at Seaham in County Durham.
Len was a supporter of Daft as a Brush and one of the charity’s free ambulances, used to take cancer patients to and from hospital for treatment, was named “Len Guitar Gibson” by pupils at his former school where he was a music teacher.
He was also a neighbour to a young Dave Stewart who was inspired to take up the guitar after watching Len play… Dave went on to find global stardom as one half of the Eurythmics and then as a solo performer, composer and producer.
The statue shows Len, freed at the end of the war, presenting his guitar to a youngster.
Ray said: “The importance of this statue is that it’s for the Forgotten Army, it’s for the people who were captured, tortured and worked to death in many cases.
“Brian Burnie thought a lot of Len Gibson, and wanted something created so these people were less likely to be ever forgotten.
“He asked me to come up with some ideas, so I read the book Len wrote and there was one story that really stood out.
“Len had made a makeshift guitar while he was captured, and inside that guitar was a very small amount of money.
“Just as he was about to get on a plane after liberation, Len gave the guitar with the money inside to a Thai child.
“To me that’s special. After all that time of being tortured and all the aggression, just to give that gift before he came home really tells the story of the man.”
It is planned to site the statue at North Marine Park in South Shields.
This year’s walk will start at 6am from Newcastle Civic Centre to South Shields Town Hall for the unveiling by Len’s son and daughter after a public memorial service at 11am.
“This year is very different,” said 81-year-old Brian. “It’s the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan and marks the official end of the Second World War.
“This wonderful statue by Ray Lonsdale will be such a moving tribute to all those who never came home and to those veterans who suffered so much.”
Brian Burnie hopes to bring together the artists who played in the TV series The Piano to reunite at the Customs House in South Shields as the early evening culmination of the VJ walk.
He is hoping to get in touch with Diana, the 87-year-old winner of the series with her performance of Dreams, so that he can invite her to play at the South Shields event.
He said: “I would love to invite Diana to make this event extra special, I found her music exceptionally moving.”
If anyone can help, they are asked to contact Brian or Anne Wilson at the Daft as a Brush charity.