SOLDIER'S WARTIME DIARY COMES HOME AFTER HALF A CENTURY...

   SOLDIER'S WARTIME DIARY COMES HOME AFTER HALF A CENTURY...

     The whole family had gathered from acrossthe country to witness the return of Emon Tochio's diary,lost on the jungle floor,after the battle of kangaw,in 1945.As Tochio's wife Toyoko,82,and his elest son,Akito,57,took afirst look at its yellowed pages;uncles,cousins,and inlawa crowded round wnd wept with delight.

Major Gordon Tollworthy,80 had kept the diary as a curiosity ever since he found it in Burma after the battle.He had served in the 25th Indian Division in the company of the Madras Sappers and Miners.

"It never occurred to me at the time it might belong to someone who was alive,because I was surrounded by dead bodies," he said at his home in East Susses. Six thousand miles away,in the gentle hills of Central Japan.lies the village of ichinomiya.

As i drove to the house where the writer of the diary had once lived,all the family members were waiting.Tochio's widow was at the front of the group." i haven't slept a wink because i was so excited that you were comming." "I'm delighted that i will finaly see the diary my husband told me so much about".

The family was so thrilled by the return of the diary that they now wat to visit Sussex to meet Major Tollworthy.Setting out to find the diary's owner had at first,his name had to be found in the 200 pages of tightly written japanese characters.It turned out to be a name written with a character,which is extremely rate and difficult to pronounce.

Once we had unravelled the name, we worked out where he was from by the post marks on letters,which he had meticulously stuck to the pages.

Miraculously, a call to Directory inquiries revealed an emon Tochio,listed in the village of ichinmia.Another Phone call found that,unfortunately,he had died,but his family was still there and knew that he had lost a diary in the war."i didn't belive it possible that the diary would ever be returned", said Akito :It's like a dream." Emon went off war in 1943 withthe Japanese artillery,and left for Burma.He returned to japan in 1947.after two years as a Prisoner of War.

Emon's 70 year old younger brother,Goro,could not avoud bursting in to tears,as he exolained what a bitter-sweet occasion it was."emon would"ve loved this. He would' ve had a drink and laughed at the wonder of it all." said Goro...