Fall of Singapore - papers of Sergeant Jack Warren Corey part 7
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Wed. Camp duties. Had to carry building materiel all day
inside wire. Rain & slush. Mens minds not very collected
& calm. Ill admit it wasn't pleasant & clothing not able to be
dried for several days didn't improve affairs. I wasn't very dry
myself.
Thurs. Fordo works. Torrential downpour all day. I split of party
& stood in between the rain drips in Aust. House the rest of
the day. Four aircraft flew in over works very low & right about
turned, evidently looking for Target Drome in bad visibility
Bank at rear of partly erected garage slipped. One man with
badly crushed foot & another with slight shock + sore ribs.
Slide pushed armored cars & tanks sideways causing injuries.
Another rumor of finish at Ford works. Bukitt Timah road
under water.
Friday. Fords officially finished. This morning 400 Aus. & 600 [[?ies]]
dismantled wire round old No 1 Camp. Sunny today enabling
a lot of drying to be done. Sun improves "fogged minds".
Our cooks doing very good job. Shows something can be done
with rice. This afternoon wire was erected round our present
area. 2 triple "Dannetts" now with sentry patrols on outside.
4 MGs. doing 10 days detention at Gd. House for being caught
outside wire. Japs warned us a short time ago that anyone
caught outside would be shot. Pay day 01.60$
Sat. In morning party of 100 cleaned up in front of guards
quarters at No 1. Afternoon free. Rained again.
Sunday 13. Handed in Badges today. Free day. Church service
taken jointly by Jim & a C of E Church army Capt. Padre has (Dingey).
Monday 14. Carried 6 loads of wood from Gap in fence to Sgts Kitch.
approx. ½ mile each way. Sore shoulders. Capt Henderson had pow wow
with NCOs on work, free time + life in general. Have developed cold in
head. Debugged with consid. success.
Friday 18th. This morning whole camp paraded on Golf course for
inspection by Jap General. Tues. we shifted all wood + timber
from Gap in wire to another dump + since then shifted most to
Brigade dumps. My cold has eased off, as usual weak spot suffer.
Last night we had fried liver for tea. Should be ox tongue tonight.
Punishment for men breaking camp (ours). Each hut has to be
picquetted all night for check on all personnel.
Saturday 19th. We are back to Changi stage of odd jobbing
in Camp Area. with an occassional party for the Japs but
there are only just outside the wire. (5c margin)
More shifting of huts. No H Coy lay this time. Fish for tea.
In evening Volunteers Corps gave a 'mock trial" - good
show.
Sunday. Slept most of day. Church in evening.
Monday. Made grats for Sgts Kitchen. Prawns for tea.
Feeling off color today. 33 bombers flew Sth. this morning.
Tues. Grass cutting for Japs at Adam Park. in morning. Rain
enabled us to not work in afternoon.
Wed. Visited gardens in Adam Park to collect "greens". Owing to
previous day's incident when several "brains" left a party to
do shopping on Bukitt Timah road & were rounded of by ShSikhs
every party outside wire now has a Jap escort.
Thurs. Today our hut was unroofed & re-roofed. We supplied
parties for dismantling & the Malays put the Alap on.
Started at 0800 finished 18.30 hrs.
Friday 25th. Xmas Day & all that it means. Wishes from
home received. Last night our roof was proved & it passed.
No increase ration for day so the cooks were not in a position
to put on anything out of the box. Mostly we all had Red Cross
issue saved for the day enabling us to muchly improve the
food. A general Church Parade was held in the morning. At
night there was an impromptu service at the Chapel site. Sat The Padre (interpreter) informed us that by Monday 28th
the camp would be empty and all of us back at Changi.
Saturday. Braced up our hut against disaster. Nearly 100 men
on roof at one time did not do it any good. Men told to
prepare for move any time. In evening instructions came
out for our move at 9.30 on Morrow.
Sunday. Rain & in it we had to shift as much
gear as possible, clean up huts & fall in by 9.30.
Trucks transported us to Geylang 7¼ mile past Changi Rd.
from whence we marched 5 abreast under Jap escort. to
Camp. arriving about 2.30 on Barrack Square. Nature & the
hand of man had changed Changi's appearance.
Large gardens under construction. Mainly Java troops working
these. Our Quarter House No __. Baggage arrived in
evening & it poured with rain just to make things normal?
Mond. Slept on floor last night or attempted to. Today made
a bed & cleaned up Quarters. General muster parade &
Jap check every evening.
Tues. Sub. Pk. personnel return from other units. Our show
now Sub Park & AASC & a few Field Bakery. Changi same
spot for Rumors. Bob Owens & I had a stroll round camp
in evening & bumped into a lecture on the "Exploits of
the Perth". We hope to get these lectures to our unit
some time.
Thurs. 31st. Last night Bob & I attended concert in
old MT shed. Excellant show complete with stage
effects - Cinderella - More Rain. Today we are
I notified of a split in the unit. B Sect. goes to
one house & the remainder to another. J.A.C Benson
RAAF came across to see me yesterday. He is in Java party and
is going to Southern Area today. He was at K.B. at start of
war and finished in Java. Tom Millers Dutch friend came
over this morning before going to Southern Area.
Changi is much better organised now & we are to treat it
as a training camp not P.O.W. Quite a change in the sick
& wounded. Lionel Bennetts looks almost A1. Some of the
previously fits are now crippled & sick & vice versa.
Friday. Jan 1st 1943.
Lets hope it means freedom. Attended Church Services
last night. I went to bed at lights out & heard no more till
the cooks rattled the buckets at 5.30. I believe there
was quite a noise at midnight parading round the square
etc. B section moved this morning.
Jap issue of wine (10 men to a bottle) & 1 tin of pineapple to 4.
Sunday. Attended communion this morning & a compulsory
service at night. Yanks beat AIF at baseball this
afternoon. [[Vonfire?]] entertaining. Reports of Japs raiding
differant houses & searching. Several officers taken off.
On New Years day we moved to house 36. Good quarters
if they will leave us in them. Jack Coulter builds mess furniture.
Thursday. 7th Shifted to No 43 house this morning. This is
the house we first billeted in during our first 3 days at
Changi. Nearly 11 months to do the circuit. Shifting is
our second name. Sub Pk is together again. Played football
this afternoon. Scores Sub Pk 5-10 4th MT 1-2. Nice & muddy
if a mud bath does one good, I feel better than ever.
We are doing an I.T. school to freshen our soldiering &
improve the discipline. This morning whilst crashing a
wall an Eng. was badly injured & is now reported
to have died on operating table.
Tuesday. 12th.. Every night last week there was a session
of Constructive Christianity. The whole theme of the conference
is to awaken men to their own responsibility to themselves
in matters spiritual & thereby enable then as the community
to install a "New Order" when we return to civil life.
Classes are being formed for the study of matters relavent.
Sub PK beat A A O C by 2 goals Sunday Afternoon.
Padre Dean (late Bukitt Timah) administered Sacrament
Sunday morning. Jim Ohlmeyer has started his study again.
2/3rd Machine gunners have arrived in force from Java.
Changi now is such a cosmopolitan metropolis with several
nationalities. The war is pieced together bit by bit.
Murray Knights brother has arrived. Vic Honeyman
still at Java (ill). Some troops also from Timor (2/40th.)
Several Sub PK. personnel. Detached to Forestry unit (Bob Owens).
Changi now by necessity & much letters organised show.
Several houses raided by Japs recently & several officers taken
away for interrogation. Excellant view from our window.
Looking along straits for some distance. Hospitals & Pon Depots
have electricity laid on also a few Admin. buildings.
Veg. ration very light compared with working parties. J. HQ.
drivers return. Evidently no white prisoners being used in Sing.
Friday 15th.. Trailer party yesterday for wood. Large gardens
in course of construction where timber has been cleared.
We get a good view of what shipping moves in the straits.
Rather large passenger ship in & out this week.
Sund 31st. Finished school on the 19th. We had a lot of
interesting moments if nothing more. This week a
new batch have been on the job. Football has been
cut out owing to excessive injuries & lack of M supplies.
Sub PK won 6 out of 6. I missed last match through
sickness. Came out of Hospital today after 10 days
of Dengue & mild diarrhoea. Fined off considerably
but as I ate very little for a week it can't be
wondered at. Met Solomons of 2/3 MT in same
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