POWs Outsmart Guards With "Ned Kelly"

In 1942, during World War II, Japanese forces forced Allied prisoners at Singapore's Selarang Barracks to sign pledges promising not to escape. Most Australian POWs complied-but instead of using their real names, they signed "Ned Kelly," after the country's infamous 19th-century outlaw. Japanese administrators, unfamiliar with English names, failed to notice the ruse, turning the coerced document into a silent act of defiance.

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