retired australian soldier held captive , page-18

Mistyrains,

The ransom was originally $2M., but it is now $23,000-

Poor man he has no family having grown up as a ward of the state at Burnside, as too did my mother after her father was killed by pirates whilst protecting his merchant ship in the South China Sea in 1930.

Other Australian families who have had loved ones caught up in similar circumstances have found that paying over the ransom money is usually the only way to get their son or daughter home again.