First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"Lt. Jim Reardon, Merchant Marine, one of the few Americans in the area, attached himself to the Argyles during the Allied surrender. We called him "Yanker," because he was an American - and a bit of a wanker."
"When you surrender in war, you're stripped of your dignity as a soldier. And all you've got left is your fellow comrades, many of whom you've just met."
"Ernest Gordon: What is the consequence of a single life weighing less than a feather? What is the final destination of hatred? When you look in the eyes of the enemy and you see yourself. At what price mercy? Who is my neighbor? How many times shall I forgive my brother? What does it mean to love ones enemies? What can a man give in exchange for ones soul? These are the questions that I faced in my prison camp; the answers changed my life forever."
"[examining newly arrived POWs] Relish your health now, gentlemen: it's the last you'll see of it."
"[to new arrivals] Officers, try to keep your shirt *on*. It'll distinguish you from the grunts, which is about the *only* thing that's keeping us from degenerating into a bloody anarchy."
"In war, you have to survive."
"In a jungle war of survival, they learned sacrifice. In a prison of brutal confinement, they found true freedom."
"Robert Carlyle - Maj. Ian Campbell"
"Kiefer Sutherland - Lt. Jim Reardon - American Merchant Mariner"
"Ciarán McMenamin - Ernst Gordon"
"Mark Strong - Dusty Miller"
"Sakae Kimura - Ito"
"Masayuki Yui - Noguchi"
"James Cosmo - Colonel Stuart McLean"
"John Gregg - Dr. Coates"
"Shu Nakajima - Nagatomo"
"Yugo Saso - Takashi Nagase"
"Pip Torrens - Foxworth"
"Adam Sinclair - Jocko"
"Winton Nicholson - Duncan"
"Brendan Cowell - Wallace Hamilton"
"Greg Ellis - Primrose"
"James McCarthy - Norman"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.