Notebook of Harry Raymond Green -Sep 1941- Apr - 1943 - Part 3

Is no fun at all.
3 While the bombs & bullets blast
That's where there's no quarter given
And no quarter asked
The outside world by this time.
4 Know's we went before the foe
The odds they were terrific
As every Digger knows.
5 The "Native's" "Boongs" we call them
Are not like as before
They walk around quiet lieslessly
Say hello joe no more. ↨
6 For they, like the rest of us prisoners
Are under the Nippon Law
But now we're in a prison camp
Like a bird whose wings are clipped
Still listening to the rumours
And longing to see a freedom ship.
The End.

2/30^th Lament.
1 Yes we are Gallaghans Greyhounds
Bedecked in purple & gold
But will we ever leave Aussie
"No" we'll be to B — old.
2 They said we'd go at Xmas
To our mates across the sea
But the "Brigg" just smiled & softly said
Yes my lads maybe.
3 You haven't learnt^ed your rifle
Or your guns or mortars yet
So until you master them thoroughly
You'll have to stay and fret.
4 Because I want you to be perfect
In fact a model you see
When you reach that standard lads
Then you'll go "maybe".
5 So forget about the showground
And Bathurst camp as well
For that to you was heaven boys
And now I'll show you hell.

6 Why do you want to leave this camp
Conditions arn't so bad
If I take you overseas
It will only make you sad.
7 For you'll miss your little hut of tin
That keeps out the cold whilst you sleep
And in a few more months my lads
It will keep out snow and sleet.
8 So why give up all your comforts
To rush across the sea
Settle down I'll get you there
Yes my lad "Maybe".
The End
The Soldiers Farwell.
1 With tears you saw me sailing
You watched me drift away
You tended me with every care
But you couldn't make me stay.
2 And as we stood to-gether
With joy deep down in my heart

In those last few moments of parting
I saw you smile at last.
3 And now I've sailed away my dear
Far across the sea to roam.
And memory is the only thing
That we can call our own.
4 I think off you in silence
Though none may see me weep
But deep down in my heart dear
My love for you will keep.
The End
Our Appreciation.
1 The battle raged unceasingly
With bursting bomb and shell
Both dead and wounded lay about
Amid the unearthly hell.
2 Then through the smoke of battle
We saw him standing by
The Red Cross Man for all to see

3 The wounded men were loaded
We wished them the best of luck
We blessed the driver & his men
For their courage & their pluck,
4 Back to the 9^th Field Amb
Where willing hands stood by
To mend the wounded & sooth their nerves
And see they did not die
5 Day & night these gallant men
Worked for hours & hours
And when a shell burst near they'd say
Don't panic boy's that's ours.
The End.
Pictures In the Fire
1 A maiden sighs as she gazed
Into the fire growing dim
Seeking a picture of her lover
Wondering what has become of him.
2 He left her side to serve his country
To fight against the foe

He sailed across the oceans
Saying Darling I've simply got to go.
3 For months she got his letters
Treasured letters tied in blue
Each one with the same old ending
What ever happens, I love you.
4 But now for weeks there has been silence
Where was he when they did disarm
The wireless told her nothing
Except one & all be calm
5 There has been no anouncment
Of the wounded or the dead
The papers printed no names nor numbers
All thoughts of them have fled.
6 But when Mother, Wives & Sweethearts
Keep hoping with a loving heart
That from their husband or lover
They'll not always be apart.
7 She still sits before the ashes
Was that a message there she saw

Take courage sweetheart I'm still living
But held a "Prisoner Of War."
The End
How Long Will It Be.
1 The boys all sit and wonder
Just how long it will be
Till we regain the rights to see the sights
That we left across the sea.
2 Six months is a common guess
The optimist says three
There are others wont commit themselves
As to just how long it will be.
3 Our thoughts go back to Aussie
And dear old Sydney town
We've had some time to think it out
Since Singapore went down.
4 As prisoners of war we carry on
Until they set us free
Our G.B. Shaw tells us how long that will be
With the hateful noise of conflict.

5 No battle clouds over head
We offer up a silent prayer.
To our Glorious Dead
6 We fought a losing battle
But their courage didn't fail
We are sorry they are not here to say
When are we going to sail
7 The boys are on a diet
Of rice & Bully Beef
There is tea with out sugar or milk
Its more like witches brew
8 Thing's couldn't be worse
With rice & no drink of tea.
We'll stick till the word come through
We'll soon be on the sea.
The End.
We joined The Army.
Its years since we joined the army
And went to the Showground to dwell
We saw both Tamworth & Bathurst

Where we learned to go A.W.L.
2 Now we would have been perfectly happy
Tormenting the Chocos all day
But some silly digger started asking
When are we going away.
3 Soon we were on the ocean
We had never been sailing before
They landed us on an island
Which is known as Singapore.
4 They taught us to march & salute sir
To keep our boots spotless & bright
We learned every thing in creation
Except how to bloody well fight.
5 We with-drew retired & surrended
And looking back now I would bet
That had we not run out of country
No doubt we would be running yet.
6 They promised us aeroplanes by the hundreds
We would have them to-morrow perhaps
But the only planes we ever saw

We freely supplied by the Jap.
2 They dive bombed and machined gunned us
The future looked murky and black
They cried Singapore must not fall
And ordered us not to shoot back.
3 There were cows who lived in slit trenches
Were silent throughout the x campain
And now the fighting is over
And by cricky they are back with us again.
4 We are living on rice three times daily
We are driven but never let roam
There is only one song I have strength to sing
And it's "Show me the way to go Home".
The End
Singapore Defeat.
1 Oh we had to leave our home land
For a distant foreign shore
To be thrown in a turmoil
Off horrors known as war.
2 With rifles long out of date

And very obsolete
That they helped us in our downfall
The Singapore Defeat.
3 How the heads in all our cabinets
For many & many a day
Promised us air support
And it was well up its way.
4 But the only ones who knew
Knew how slim our hope would be
Was a section of the army
The boys of the A.S.C.
5 How were we to fight with
Old guns against new tanks
Just for rice, tin, & rubber
And Singapores old banks.
6 There were orders flying left
And excuses galore
Is it any wonder
We lost the battle of Singapore.
7 It was lack of air support

That let us down so hard
And this is not the only place
Where none was to be had.
8 Just cast your minds back
To the days of Dunkirk, Greece & Crete
Then do not blame us soldiers
For the Singapore Defeat.
The End
North of Singapore.
1 We landed in Malaya
The land of half bred chinks
Who live in filth & squaler
And everlasting stinks.
2 Fighting was our aim at first
But now we are not so sure
For duties take preference
In the second fiftienth war
3 The boys were as keen as mustard
And they would have been hard to beat
But who can fight & give their best

With not enough to eat,
4 Theirs curried rice & onions
Boiled beef and parsnips too
With stinking butter out of tins
Also some half cooked stews.
5 Sometimes we got an apple
A banana or a pear
But mostly fruit was very scarce
And good thing very rare.
6 We took to digging ditches
And filling trenches in
Or marching in the jungle
Sweating ourselves thin.
7 There's tinea and other diseases
And leeches hanging from trees
Hook worms by the millions
And germs flying in the breeze.
8 The water is always treated
With chemicials and such
And the pay we got for all us

I's not very much.
9 One lady wrote about us
A lot off rotten hiss
Her name is Adelin Shelton Smith
But she never used her eyes.
10 I suppose she sat in comfort
In an officers mess somewhere
And penned that glowing story
Away from sun & glare.
11 If she had only saw us
Sweating in the sun
She'd have known we were no glamour boys
Drinking beer and having fun.
12 Life here is far from a picnic
As Miss Smith makes out
So take no notice of her
Or what she wrote about.
13 There's mosquitoes by the millions
Carrying germs galore
A lot of boys have got Malaria

Up North Of Singapore.
The End.
Memories Of The War.
1 Have you ever stopped to comptemplate
Of p the places you have been
Since signing on the dotted line
And the strange things you have seen.
2 In years to come you'll think of this
As you lean across the fence
And tell the next door neighbour
Done at their expense.
3 You'll forget there is an Aussie
And some states you'vre never seen
It will sorta slip your memory
As you brag about Johore.
4 And then you'll discuss the island
And maybe get quiet sore
Because the chap you're talking to
Has never heard of Singapore.
5 You'll eascially mention Changi

And the village of Taping
Where you caught the nigger for & ten cents
When you bought that lairy kin.
6 You'll laugh when they mention Malaria
And throw out your chest with pride
For how could a wee mossie
Penatrate such Aussie hide.
7 Then you'll talk of the cobras & tigers
And scorpon's twelve inches or more
But what the hell will you tell him
If some one mentions the war.
8 Maybe you'll mumble & mutter
Of pine ridge and stunts of Wambool
And you'll pray to the million to one chance
9 You've got a mug who's easy to pool.
9 Then you'll excuse yourself in a hurry
And that old heart of yours will be sore
For clean sheets & a comfortable charphoy
Is your chief memory of the war.
The End

A Soldiers Wish.
1 Oh how I wish I had never strayed
From the land where men are free
Oh how I wish that I had stayed
In my home across the sea.
2 There's many a tale of Singapore
I can tell when I get home
Of my life as a prisoner of war
On this island across the foam.
3 As the time rolls past, I return at last
To Aussie home sweet home
I'll spend my life, with my darling wife
Never no more to roam.
The End.
As you brag about Johore.
4 And then you'll discuss the island
And maybe get quiet sore
Because the chap you're talking to
Has never heard of Singapore.
5 You'll casually mention Changi

A Pledge the British troop were
forced to sigh while a P.O.W.
No --------
I, the undersigned, hereby solemnly
swear on my honour that I will not,
under any circumstances, attempt escape.
Signed: H.R. Green
Date: 12^th Sept; 42.
At: Singapore
Nationality: British
Rank or Position: Private.

9 You've got a mug who's easy to pool.

Then you'll excuse yourself in a hurry

And that old heart of yours will be sore

For clean sheets & a comfortable charphoy

Is your chief memory of the war.

The End

Gemas to Singapore.
1 When you open history's pages
You'll find one decked in Purple & Gold
Telling of heroes of Gemas
Each one proved brave & bold.
2 One Battalion against one Jap Division
The odds may seem pretty long
But the deeds of these new born Anzac's
Live for ever in story and song.
3 We blew a bridge the first evening
The Japs mended it before morn
And came across with tanks & men
The action started at dawn.
4 Two tanks were soon disabled
Another limped back from the fight
Our rifles took toil of his legions
They turned, We put them to flight.
5 Then they used their dive bombers
And we were forced to with-draw
How we cursed our air force
The deal they gave us was raw.
6 From Gemas we went to "fortrose"
Then back to Segamet with drawn
Blowing bridges as we went
But the Jap would be there by dawn.
7 Segamet, Yong Peng, Ayer Hitem,
Shelled and dive bombed each day
Never getting a moments spell
In the front line all the way.
8 And so we kepted with-drawing
Fighting, delaying action, they said
Holding the Jap, till a line was formed
Many a brave digger left dead.
9 So at last across the causeway
Air support we are sure to get
But we found out they'd gone to Java
We aint seen a bloody plane yet.
10 So we finished back at the city
That was the end of our flight
Proving that men and rifles
Can't beat Mechanical might.