Unit diaries relating to service of Geoffrey W. Fennell - Wallet 1 - Part 12

A considerable amount of scrounging had been going on, and disused quarters and 

the officers' mess were denuded of their furniture. Many reading books were 

found together with a large supply of Naval stationary of all kinds, some of 

which was taken back to Changi. There were rumours that a Canteen was to start, 

and that we should be given some money to spend in it. In fact the general 

impression was that things might be a good deal worse, and it would be our own 

fault if we did not make ourselves comfortable.The chief trouble was footwear. 

The condition of the boots had not been too good in Changi, and the march had 

not improved them, but the Japanese promised that more would be provided.

COOK HOUSE AND CANTEEN
From the start the Regiment had a separate cookhouse in a hut adjoining the 

barrack block, and was presided over by Sgt James and later Sgt Pring, with 

Bdr May to assist. A visit had been made to the ruined NAAFI cookhouse with 

satisfactory results, and many experiments were made trying to make rice 

attractive. There was a Central Ration store presided over by the RQMS of the 

Malay Regt and a Captain of the RASC. The rations provided by the IJA consisted 

of rice in varying quantities, ghi, and meat very occasionally. Bully, milk, 

sugar and salt had been brought from Changi. Coconuts could be obtained locally 

by scrounging parties.

Breakfast consisted of the usual rice and stew with rice chupatties. Picnic 

lunch was sent out by lorry at midday, and usually consisted of rice cakes, 

coconut fingers, chupatti and sugar and tea. A large new dustbin had been found 

and this proved invaluable as a container! "The Luncheon car Express" is 

certainly a thing to be remembered by those who travelled on it. Each unit sent 

out its own food and containers together with a couple of cooks to dish out. 

When a 3 tonner was provided, well and good, except that the travellers had a 

sporting chance of being scalded by boiling tea! Occasionally only a 15 cwt was 

available - not very much for about 24 containers and 14 humans, the latter 

having to cling on to the vehicle like flies! There was no room to sit and 

anyway the containers were either hot already or quickly became so in the boiling 

sun! The vehicles never overturned, however, though why not always remained a 

mystery, as the drivers often took the corners at speed! For dinner, there was 

either a bully pasty or fresh meat, according to the IJA issue.

Has any reader eaten Petroleum Jelly? We have! The site of the work was near the 

Ford Works; and in the wood half way up the hill there were a number of metal 

barrels. After examining the markings, these were found to contain Grade A pure 

petroleum jelly which Major Dunlop and Capt Adams both agreed would be quite safe 

for cooking, provided that the quick frying method was used. A barrel was 

rolled down the hill surreptitiously, and taken back in the Luncheon car express.

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Various experiments were made to get the proper amounts and although it proved 

a mild aperient at first, the experiment was a great success. 137 however went 

too far and it was found out later that, in addition to using the jelly for 

frying, they mixed it up with the ingredients as well. The result was acute 

diarrhoea, which was at first attributed to flies, the drains etc before being 

tracked to its proper source.

After about 10 days, the Canteen came into being, and working pay @ 10 cents a 

day for Officers and men was issued. Some units still had private money of 

their own, but the Regiment, including the officers, were pretty poverty stricken 

by now! On the great day, a Chinese Towkay or shopkeeper turned up with a small 

lorry, and that evening opened up with the sale of bread @ 9 cts, fruit and 

Chinese cakes. An enormous queue formed stretching right down the road, and it 

was soon seen that the supply did not meet the demand, and that strict rationing 

was necessary.

Major Fennell and Capt Bailey of the Malay Regt were put in charge of the organisation 

but had nothing to do with the cash side of the business. It was decided 

that the Canteen would open in the morning for the afternoon shift, and the 

afternoon for the morning shift. Each unit was allotted a separate time, and 

the order of entrance was changed each day. Bread and Chinese cigarettes were 

allotted in bulk to unit representatives. As time went on the supply of tinned 

goods improved, but varied greatly from day to day, and had to be rationed to 

units. As a general rule, the following foodstuffs were obtainable. Bread, 

Chinese cigarettes, sardines, herrings, bully, jam, chutney, sugar twists, curry 

puffs, biscuits, M&V, eggs, Cigarette papers, pipe tobacco, tinned butter and 

margarine, ketchup, soap, toothpaste, cheese, fresh pork, and bananas, pineapple 

and papayas in the fruit line. All right for those who had more than 10 cts a day!

At first, some units did not take kindly to the queue system, but public opinion 

supported it, and there was a great glee when gatecrashers were thrown out! The staff 

consisted of the Towkay, two young Chinamen (one a gloomy individual called Happy 

who did Nowt) and about 3 young Malays, all very cheerful and hard working. The 

Pork was sold by a one-eyed Chinaman, whose language sounded like a duck quacking!

By now the Camp was looking like a small garden city! The old open air swimming 

bath had been cleaned out, and repaired and filled, and gave a lot of pleasure. 

Plants were brought down from the old Mess Garden. Electric light was available 

from Reveille to 0800 hrs, and 2000-2300 hrs.

The health of the men had improved, but a fresh form of skin disease started called 

Bukit Timah Bollocks! The time had come for metalling the road. Each day a unit 

worked in a quarry, a very dusty proceeding. The men used to sweat a lot and get 

rubbed with the quarry dust on the march back - hence the skin trouble. Medicines

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and ointments were very scarce. Diarrohea on the other hand was definitely under 

control, and any bad cases of illness were sent into Roberts Barracks Hospital 

Changi by lorry, about once a week.

About May 16th there was a stir among our guards. They were suddenly ordered 

overseas, and, for a few days, guards were very scarce. We were very sorry to 

lose Lt Akamatsu, as he had been very pleasant and helpful. His successor was very 

young and very frightened of higher authority, so would never do anything on his 

own initiative. It was rumoured that Lt Akamatsu and his unit were bound for Burma 

and it was also rumoured that their ship was sunk by an American submarine on the 

way as the Syonan Times reported activity in this direction later. The chief 

result about the change was that we got no fresh rations for 6 days, and so lived 

on rice and coconuts!

Such was the normal routine at Kranji, and the conditions were really quite 

reasonable. The IJA took over the running of the Canteen eventually and the 

supply of tinned stuff slightly increased. The prices remained the same, however, 

although we were told that prices would be reduced, as the stock came from the IJA 

Canteens and not the open market.
AMENITY MONEY, CANTEEN AND RATIONS

AT CHANGI

It is now time to return to Changi and see what changes had come to pass in the 

meantime. By the middle of May, the building programme had been completed, and 

fatigues had been reduced as a result. More ground had been put under cultivation 

and sweet potato tops were put into the cookhouse to supplement the somewhat 

meagre vegetable rations. The BORs cookhouse had been redesigned, and was now 

under cover, and the layout was as follows:

Hand drawn diagram - see original  

1. The Cookhouse proper, roofed over, with fireplaces for dixies and also 2 large 

rice boiling cauldrons brought from the Jail, supplemented by 2 more kindly 

presented by Capt Adams, who had then given him by an Old Chinese customer of 

his he met in Singapore. (He was in Shell Oil Coy)

2. Food preparation room and store.

3. 2 serving tables with roof.

4. Rice grinding shed to provide flour, for which a daily fatigue was provided.

5. An oven constructed by Sgt Hoare.

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Copy of Amenity money [[??]]
Worked out in man-days [[?]]

Ranks	Southern Area		A.I.F.		18 Div.		11 Div.		R.A.M.C.		3 Md Corps.		Total.
		$		$		$		$		$		$		$
[[?]] Areas	10704	2676.00	2679	669.75	2496	624.00	2489	622.25	1484	371.50	4058	1014.50	23910	5477.50
[[?]] Hospital	50	140.00	20	52.00	208	52.00	224	56.00	82	20.50	182	33.00	1414	353.50
[[?]] Areas
[[?]] Hospital
[[?]] Areas
[[?]] Hospital
Totals.

      


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Sgt Lungly 63/81 was in charge of the Cookhouse and Lt Beecroft was the Messing 

Officer assisted by the Messing Committee. A portion of the drain had been roofed 

over, and showers were rigged up in the valley. The Sgts fed separately in their 

own hut, and had a small cookhouse built adjoining it. Plants had been obtained 

from the scrounging area, and the garden looked quite pleasant. Flower beds were 

also made round the Huts, and the Junior NCOs made a garden beind the Ration store.

Regarding the Officer's Mess,  a small garden was made opposite the quarters, and in 

it was placed a marble slab commemorating Major Bland, Capt Brynford Jones and 

2/Lt Davies who had been killed in the fighting. A cookhouse with L/Bdr Kirton in 

charge, had been built on to the end of the RHQ section block, with a small rice 

grinding shed added.

At the beginning of June, the IJA decide that "as our period of punishment was over(!)" 

some pay would be issued. This was to take the form of Amenity money, which was to 

be used for the purchase of foodstuffs from the Canteen and other sources, and also 

cigarettes. This money was drawn in bulk by Malay Command and distributed as follows: 

(See following page, No 113).

From this statement, it will be seen that the Amenity Money was divided as far as the 

Regt was concerned into (1) Pocket money which could be spent on anything, and (2) PRI 
which was spent on Messing. The pocket money was paid out:

                                                      1st Period                   2nd                    3rd

Officers                                              1.50                       1.00                   1.50

NCOs                                                 1.00                       1.00                   1.00

Men.                                                     70                           60                     60

No-one could therefore be classed as being exactly rich!

A Division Canteen was opened. Stocks were allotted to the Canteen by Malaya Command 

who bought in bulk from an Indian Merchant, Gian Singh, in Singapore. Cigarettes 

and cheroots, chutney and various tinned stores were available. Wednesday was the 

normal bulk issue day, and unit reps attended to receive their unit allotments. 
After these had been met, the remaining stock was made available for individual 

purchases. The following articles were bought from time to time for BOR's Messing: 

Tinned Soup, tinned Salmon, tinned Herrings, Coconut Oil, Tinned Prunes, Dates, Barley 

Raisins,Chilli Sauce, Vegemite and Matches.

Another source of foodstuffs was provided by Local Purchase. Once a week on Mondays, 

a Local Purchase Officer nominated by Malaya Command visited the 10th Milestone and 

held a market with Chinese Merchants for the sale of such articles as Soya Bean Sauce, 

Eggs, sardines, raisins, dates, coconuts, dal, barley, etc according to lists of 

requirements submitted by units. These articles were distributed to the various

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ration stands, and collected by units. The Local Purchasing Staff were mostly 

Malay Volunteer Officers (European) and it was noticed that most of them put 

on weight! The chief snag about it was stocks varied considerably, orders 

could not be fulfilled at once, and 50% of the cost of the order was demanded in 

advance. Eggs were fairly plentiful and good, and were certainly the best buy, 

with raisins and barley running next. There was a concoction called Soya Fish 

Sauce which, when it was opened, smelt like a Sewer and was thought to be bad! 

It wasn't however as that was its normal smell! It was not popular! Blachang 

on the other hand, a strong smelling mess of dried fish, was much sought 

as a flavourer for rice and pies, as a little went a long way.

As a result of all this, a fairly varied menu could be produced by the Cookhouse 

Staff, and the following is the menu produced for the week August 13-August 
19th by which time Canteen and Local purchase were in full blast.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Thursday August 13th	Rice Cake	Curry Cake	Fried Curry Cake
	Boiled Rice	Stew	Sweet Biscuit
	Tea	Boiled Rice	Stew
	Milk	Tea	Rice and Tea
Friday	Rice Cake	Date Cake	Meat Pasty
	Boiled Rice	Stew	Stew
	Tea	Boiled Rice	Boiled Rice
	Milk	Tea	Tea
Saturday	Rice Cake & Jam	Sultana Cake	Curry Cake
	Boiled Rice	Stew	Mixed Fruit Cake
	Tea	Boiled Rice	Stew
	Milk	Tea	Rice & Tea
Sunday	Sweet Rice Cake	Fruit Pasty	Fried Rissoles
	Boiled Rice	Stew	Sweet Rice Cake
	Tea	Rice	Stew
	Milk	Tea	Rice & Tea
Monday	Boiled Rice	Curry Cake	Fried Curry Cake
	Tea	Stew	Sultana Cake
	Milk	Boiled Rice	Stew
		Tea	Rice and Tea
Tuesday	Boiled Rice	Ginger Cake	Meat Pasty
	Tea	Stew	Stew
	Milk	Boiled Rice	Boiled Rice
		Tea	Tea
Wednesday	Boiled Rice	Fried Curry Cake	Changi Pie*
	Tea	Stew	Stew
	Sweet Biscuit	Boiled Rice	Boiled Rice
		Tea	Tea

*Herring tin size and made of Bully, fresh meat and rice and baked.

The normal issue of Boiled Rice was ¾ to a full mess tin.

Notes:  a. Tea issued every afternoon at 1600 hrs.

b. Regimental Guards have an extra ration of tea and some cake for dinner, 

at 2000 hrs.

c. Facilities provided for cooking eggs and soup until 1830 hrs.

T. Ford Beecroft, 2Lt RA O/C Messing

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The Rations received much from week to week, but the following are given 

as specimens of what was received from time to time.

Ration issue from 31.3.42 to 2.4.42 (both inclusive)
Fresh Meat	1.4019	Rice	2.1144	ozs per man per day
Flour	1.4629	Ghee	.2642
Sugar	.5181	Salt	.0547
Tea	.5181	Milk	.8914
Ration issue from 14.4.42 - 16.4.42
43 lbs Fresh Meat	1.3180	6 lbs Salt	.1839	ozs per man per day
22 lbs Tinned Meat	.6743	6½ lbs Ghee	.1992
57 lbs Flour	1.7471	27 lbs Milk	.8276
22 lbs Sugar	.6743	23 lbs Oats	.7050
440 lbs Rice	13.4864	9½ lbs Tea	.2912
Normal Daily Scale of Rations during August (but not always got!)
Rice	16 ozs	Flour	1.¾ ozs	Tea	5/16 ozs
Neat	k½ ozs	Ghee	5/16 ozs	Sugar	1 oz
Veg	4 ozs	Salt	5/16 ozs
Drawn on 5/10/42 for 7 days for 443 officers and men
Sugar	114 lbs	Rice	3334 lbs
Salt	28 lbs	Flour	136 lbs
Ghee	32½ lbs	Tea	18½ lbs
Soap	27 bars
For obvious reasons, a reserve had to be built up and the following instructions were issued:
1. 1 day's hard scale for every man on strength of unit
Bully	4 ozs	Held by units in unit stores
Tea	1/8 oz
Rice	12 ozs
This reserve was built up gradually and was completed.
2. 2 days Command Reserve
Rice	17 ozs	Bully	4 ozs	Held under Command arrangements
Flour	1.¾ ozs	Sugar	1 oz
Salt	5/16 ozs	Tea	5/32 ozs
Ghee	5/16 ozs	Milk	½ oz

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3. 8 days Divisional Reserve
Rice	17 ozs	Ghee	5/16 ozs
Flour	1.¾ ozs	Sugar	1 oz
Salt	5/16 oz	Tea	5/32 oz

Latrine paper was an issue and took the form of back numbers of the Los Angeles 

Times, Los Angeles Chronicle, New York Times and occasionally a Pittsburgh Paper. 

The first two were a godsend to Cinema Fans!! The great problem arising from the 

perusal of the New York Times was "Who would win the World baseball series!" 

The New York Yankees were a certainty for the final series. Their opponents 

would be either the Brooklyn Dodgers or the St Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers fans 

were in a quandary, as they would have to book their seats for the final at the 

Brooklyn ground and the Yankee Stadium, before knowing whether they would be shouting 

for their home team or not! The Deity was kind, and the last issue received showed 

that the Yankees and Dodgers were both in the final, and their grounds were only 

separated by a short ride in a street-car. Anyway, "the Bumph" provided a lot of 

very amusing reading matter, the last numbers received being of about October 1941.

New Conditions, Concerts and Recreation at Changi

Conditions in Changi had considerably improved as regards visiting other areas. 

The IJA had increased the supply of Flags, and 11 Div now possessed 7, in addition 

to the flag which had sponsored the Kranji party on their journey, and which had 

not been returned. It was handed over to RA 11 Div and known as the RA Special Flag! 

The greatest improvement was the introduction of the Ferry Service. It was now 

possible to cross the road to the Australian area every 15 minutes under a flag 

supplied by 11 Div. A brick walk through the Australian area enabled a traveller 

to catch a Ferry run by the Australians every clock hour. This service took one 

along the back road and deposited one in the Hospital Area adjoining 18 Div. From 

the far Hospital gate, another Ferry was run by Southern Area, and went up the 

main road passing Temple Hill, and terminated at the Southern Area gate by the Main 

Supply Depot. These Ferries were in action from about 0900 hrs to 1800 hrs after 

which time special passes, sparingly granted, were necessary.

The Division Flags were used by Ration and Canteen collecting parties, and other 

outside fatigues during the daytime, but from 0630 to 0830 and from 1700 to 1900 hrs, 

they were available in rotation for small parties, who wished to go out for walks or 

scrounging parties. Some were allotted to units in rotation, but others could be 

booked beforehand by individuals. A fishing "paga" had been started, and the daily 

catch was allotted to units by periods. The Regimental period lasted 10 days, of 

which 2 went to the Officers Mess, 2 to the Sgts Mess, and 6 to the Men's Mess. 

The daily catch varied considerably in quantity and quality, so it depended much 

on luck as to how much the cookhouse benefitted. The nets were emptied at dawn by 

a small fatigue party wearing rubber boots, as occasionally the nets contained
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fishes of the biting or stinging variety!

As  regards Discipline, Malaya Command issued an order which stated that all 

Prisoners of War were to be considered as being on Active Service, but that GCMs 

and DCMs could still be held. A Command Detention Barracks was opened at Temple 

Hill, and was specially designed to deal with men awarded Field Punishment. Each 

area had its small "Detention Barracks" but the Temple Hill establishment was 

meant to act as a deterrent. Unit commanders were advised that men should be 

charged under AA 9(2) whenever possible as any offence under 9(1) would be 

treated as a very serious offence.

On Sundays, many officers and men used the Ferry services to visit the Hospital. 

By now this vas very much a going concern, and could accomodate 2000 bad 

cases. All the hospitals in the Singapore area had been emptied during March 

and early April, and in some cases the IJA had ordered men to be moved who were 

really seriously ill, and some men died as a result.

The Blocks in the Hospital were divided into Sections for Surgical, Dysentery 

Fever and Isolation cases, and there was a Central Inquiry Office in which 

a patient could now be tracked down. Capt Blair, the Regimental Medical Officer, 

was in with an acute attack of Dysentery, Col Jephson had beri-beri, Bdr Deebank 

and others were also in with dysentery. Signaller Putland was in the Surgical 

ward recovering from a war wound in the stomach, but was in very good spirits, 

and responding to treatment, though all had lost a considerable amount of 

weight. The diet for men who were seriously ill was fairly satisfactory but the 

ordinary diet at first left much to be desired, though it improved later. The 

Hospital did noble work, and were lucky in having a first rate Surgical Staff.

The time has now come to mention the Divisional Concert Party, known as the 

Pow-Wows. The first performance was held on an open air stage rigged up by the 

Regimental Artificers on the Padang, and was a great success. The General 

Manager at first was Lt Col Outram of 137 Field Regt, but he soon handed over 

to Lt Morrison RAOC who had had Concert Party experience in India, and with the BBC 

in England. The third performance took place in a barrack room in the 

lines of the Lanarkshire Yeomanry, but this was found to be too small, and a stage 

complete with Curtains and scenery was built on the edge of the Signals' Parade 

Ground.

At first, the artists provided by the Regiment were L/Bdr Lowe, accordionist­-pianist, 

L/Bdr Goldberg tap dancer and comedian, Bdr Berry pianist, and Dr Muirhead 

and Foxcroft vocalists. The chief comedian was a Lancashire gent called Sgt Brimslow 

(Albert Winterbottom), but later, he was challenged by Goldberg, who proved a 

first-rate comedian, whose patter was up to date and topical, and who usually 

produced some red hot "crack" made up during the performance itself!
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