Mennie joined the
Royal Artillery in 1940 and was posted in September 1941 to Singapore. ( No 1604539 in the 2nd Highland A.A. regiment, H.K.S.R.A. ) By the time of his capture on 15 February 1942 he had been promoted to
Lance Bombardier. He was captured when Singapore surrendered to the Japanese forces in February 1942 and he was a prisoner of war until August 1945. He was demobbed in 1946 and returned to Aberdeen. He was in
Changi Prison, Singapore, from February until October 1942, when he was transferred to Thailand on 5-day rail journey, arriving on 3 November. Then after a 6-day voyage on a barge up the
Mae Klong river from Kontonburi was dumped
on the side of a mountain with jungle starting from the bank. They had to clear a space and build a camp from the material around them, bamboo. At '
Kano' their task was to build 10 miles of railway along the mountain. He noted that of the 600 men, 125 were dead within 6 months. 2 miles from
Konton buri until May 1944. He was then moved to
Nakom Paton, a place that he cheerfully described to his mother as
[ having ] the second largest Buddhist temple in the world. Mennie's drawings in the camps include: •
Selerang Square Squeeze, Singapore, September 1942. Captioned
16,500 British + Australian POW from Changi area herded in Selerang Square for four days to force them to sign documents promising not to attempt to escape. •
L/Col Dunlop A.I.F Medical Corps, performing operation in the open at Kanung PoW camp, Thailand May 1943 • Servicemen depicted carol singing in a bid to keep their spirits up, Christmas Eve, 1943. Dysentery Ward. Ching-Kai POW Camp,
Thai-Burma Railway Imperial War Museum Mennie created many drawings during his time as a prisoner of war, and in 1978 over fifty pieces were donated to the archives in the
Imperial War Museum, London. ==Art and teaching career==