Diary of service - Donald Morrison, 1940 - 1945 - Part 18

POW  Life: 1942 - 1945 

wonders and it was not long before the food was of a very high standard and remained

that way for eight months when a fresh "Q" took over.

The main outside work was gardening. A big area west of Selarang had been allotted 
by the IJA in which we were to make ourselves self supporting in vegetables. In all 
more than 100 acres were cleared and planted with root vegetables, greens and fruit.

This work required several hundred men each day and, as "F" Force had taken away

most of the fit personnel, we were very hard put to find the numbers demanded by the

Nips. Malaya Commander protested that the number of "fit" was not sufficient for the

work. Medical classifications were examined by both parties and a very simple

solution to the problem was found by the IJA. Just this "Mark every man on e grade

of fitness higher". So with the stroke of a pen we had another hundred men available

for work.  

The work was pretty backbreaking as it meant chunking and planting in the main. To

start the young plants water had to be carried a considerable distance in this and this

was no joke. The produce of the garden, under direction of the Garden Control

Group, was allocated to the various kitchens. None was to be taken away for private

consumption. The boss of a party had to have eyes in the back of his head and

elsewhere to try and prevent pilfering. The meals at the Garden were very good as the

Billy Boilers were allowed to make a stew from fresh vegetables to go with the cup of

tea.

Before the departure of "F" Force a 2/29 Battalion AIF Association had been formed

with Arthur Wimpole as President. Vice Presidents represented the main geographical

divisions of Victoria and one of the other states. I thought it would be a good idea to

make an address roll showing the men who came from the various divisions. Tom

Mitchell, GSO 111 (CW), supplied the maps which I traced onto paper scrounged

from 2 Ech. I then went one further and grouped the men in alphabetical order in the

towns in alphabetical order in the divisions – e.g. North-east; Euroa, Goorambat,

Katandra. This would show at a glance the distribution of the Unit and would prove of

value, if it was necessary to contact someone in a district to do a certain job such as

practical help for a lad down on his luck.

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A Prince of the Ruling House came to have a look at the conditions under which we 
lived. The Nips got into a bit of a flap. All prisoners had to stay in their quarters and 
remain out of sight as it would never do for a Christian to gaze upon a Royal Prince. 
Shortly afterwards we had a "Searcho" for some unknown articles. Two or three wrist 
watches were taken away but returned when Headquarters AIF protested. While the 
POW were being searched on Parade other Nips were going through the lines and we 
returned to our room to find a couple of Nips tossing clothes everywhere. Norman 
Paul went straight up to one of them, tapped him on the shoulder and said "Take it 
easy, Joe". Joe just grinned and walked out with his cobber.

Black marketing was still rife. To go outside the wire to sell watches and other goods 
or to buy foodstuffs was a personal risk; the only one to suffer if caught was the 
offender and he generally got a good bashing from the Nips. However, it was a 
different matter when scarce medical supplies, such as M & B tablets, were stolen 
from the Hospitals and sold outside the wire. The supply of drugs was strictly limited 
with no hope of replenishment and every gram taken illegally could quite easily cost 
some sick lad his life To a few unfortunately, dollars were more important than lives. 
Some offenders were caught and dealt with by the authorities; many more were 
suspected but it was very difficult to prove the charges. I do not think that all ranks 
did enough to help stamp out these practices.

My main recreation was Contract Bridge of which I played quite a lot with Fred Cross 
and we did quite well in a number of competitions played a the Club. Actual sport 
was limited but we were able to stage one noteworthy event. This was a lot race over 
one hundred yards between Bill Jones and William Rooke, both 2/30 for a wager of, I 
think £10. A little training was done by both competitors but the actual race proved a 
farce as W Rooke won by the biggest of margins.

Another move

Once more we were to be moved around. On 14 August 1943 we received word that 
the AGH would vacate Roberts barracks and occupy the buildings round the Square 
while we, the infantry Gp would go to houses near Headquarters AIF. I tossed George 
McLoughlin, who was in charge of 22 Brigade, for choice of house. George won and 
picked 153 which was furthest from Headquarters but, unknown to George and 

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myself had a portion of the roof missing. I had to take house 154 which was in very 
good order. I asked Jock Lake, 2/26, to go ahead of the troops and work out the best 
way to accommodate them. He did a good job and we were able to march straight into 
the house and dump our gear on the bed sites after lunch on 15 August. 2/30 Battalion and Group Headquarters under Lamacraft were in House 150.

Just before. we moved to 154 I was detailed to sit on a District Court Martial. I often 
wonder if the holding, let alone the findings, of such a thing would stand up in 
Military Law. One Rogie was charged with selling watches in contravention of an 
AIF order; the ownership of the watches was not in question. It was a very boring 
affair. The highlight was the speed with which WO Sherriff, Headquarters AIF, 
recorded the verbal evidence direct to the typewriter.

August - October 1943

House 154

As is generally the case after a move, things were a bit haywire for a few days. 154 
were the quarters occupied by a married Captain of the regular army in the "good old 
days" but a bit of shaking down the 120 - 130 men of the Company, (numbers 
varied slightly), were able to make themselves fairly comfortable.

There were two main jobs for a start. The first was for the Light Duty men to clean up 
round the house and to erect a suit roof over the messing area which was outside. No 
one was allowed to eat in the sleeping quarters unless it was raining. Material for the 
roof had to be scrounged and one party discovered a large tarpaulin which made an 
ideal shelter. "Comforts" were being provided gradually until we had good washing 
facilities, clothes lines were erected, hot water to sterilise the mess gear before use 
and even seats for the Mess.

The second was to keep up the numbers for the two work parties – Garden and 
moving the AGH. Moving the AGH was a really big job and was very tiring. 
Everything had to be brought more than a mile by trailer, of 10 – 20 man power 
according to capacity, along a rather hilly route. "Everything" was everything - sick 
personnel, bedding, medical supplies and paraphernalia, pots and pans and food. I 
think it was a great achievement to complete the move in eleven days. Once again the 

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cooks come under notice as they had to have food ready at all hours for the trailer 
parties who ran to no fixed schedule.

These parties entailed a lot of organising and I had Bill Skewis, 2/26 to help Reg 
Philpott. These two carried on for a time but they were too fit to sit on their backsides 
all day and eventually had to be sent out on work parties. Their places were taken by 
Scottie Campbell, 2/4 MG, who did the "Q" and Leo Green, 2/26, the "A" and these 
two carried on until the Group broke up on the return of "F" Force.

The 2/29 Battalion poultry farm was still supplying eggs for the sick in AGH; it was 
my job to make out the list of the deserving sick in the Unit. Unfortunately two of the 
recipients, who were stomach cases, decided to sell their eggs in order to buy tobacco. 
This was reported to me and there was quite a slanging match when I ticked them off 
and said "no more eggs". Both sides got rather heated. Most of the lads were very 
grateful for the addition to their diet.

Ration Scale

Our ration scale was revised on 8 September 1943 as follows:

• Rice (including flour and gristings), 16 ozs
• sugar 3
• salt 705
• tea 176
• oil 881
• fresh fish 2½ including head and guts 
• potato and vegetables nil
• some paper and soap

We buy out of the Central Messing Fund, rice polishings 3, taugeh 2, peanuts 1, and 
white bait 1. Issue of all or any not guaranteed.

Canteen princes at this time were:

• Herrings 2.35
• chicken 2.20

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• sugar .80
• matches .35
• cigarette papers .15
• eggs .28 each
• coffee .55
• tobacco .20
• cigars .1,.25,.4
• soap 1.80

G L Party

For a couple of weeks there had been talk of a big local work party. Sure enough, on 
18 September 1943, we were told that the AIF had to supply 1200 men daily from 
0800 to 1730 for six days a week to build an aerodrome. As The Hague Convention 
prohibited any work of a military nature being performed by POW, the IJA referred to 
the task of Ground Levelling.

Each party consisted of 3 officers, 3 sergeants, and 3 billy boilers and then 91 
workers. Because of sickness reducing the numbers available it was not long before 
the sergeants had to work and the billy boilers were cut to two. The site selected was 
east of Changi and was of a flat to hillocky terrain covered with all kinds of tropical 
vegetation. All growth had to be removed and the whole made level so that two 
runways, one of 2500 metres and the other 1800 metres, could be constructed. The 
officers worked week about but the men got no relief.

After bulldozers, a legacy from RNZAF, had knocked down the trees the men had to 
carry them away to a central dump where they were burnt. This carrying was done by 
rolling the tree onto four or five carrying sticks and then sixteen or twenty men would 
take hold and march off.

The main difficulty was to keep the log from rolling side to side; a bit of skill 
was required to keep the carrying sticks on an even keel.

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To satisfy the Nips on this work it was necessary to keep moving the whole tie and to 
appear to be doing something. Even in the AIF if a chap was walking around camp 
with a piece of paper and a pencil in his hand he would seldom be questioned as to his 
job. The Australian habit of doing a manual job and then having a rest before 
beginning the next was frowned upon by the Japanese. The Poms were more expert, at 
the start, at this perpetual slow motion way of working.

From an officer's point of view the work was never dull and the hardest part was to 
get the chaps to do the work as instructed by the Nips even if that way was the slowest 
or the most awkward. The Gunsa, used to mean here NCO in charge of a work party 
but more correctly a Jap Sergeant, would not stand for any argument. For two reasons, 
mainly he had been told to do it a certain way and secondly he could not and would 
not try to understand what we suggested. The sticks that they carried were very useful 
in driving home their point – a crack over the head stopped any argument.

One who could be shown the error of his ways was the Gunsa who wanted us to dig 
up a pipeline. His idea was to make trial diggings parallel to the pipeline until we 
struck it and then follow it down. Our scheme was to dig down at right angles in two 
spots and then put in markers when we found the pipe. Dig along the line of the two 
markers. This Gunsa had the brains to see the advantage of our idea.

Another nuisance was the chap who would wander away from the job and be found 
up a palm tree after coconuts in spite of AIF and IJA orders that such sport was 
forbidden. Some days we would be allowed to take home nuts and it was the general 
rule that such coconuts go into the Group kitchen. All the rules about foodstuffs were 
based on the idea of giving the most to the most.

Before they were made to work on the GL the Sergeants were a bally pest. They were 
supposed to supervise but there was not much for them to do. Consequently, a game 
of hide and seek developed in which the officer was trying to find out where the 
sergeants had hidden themselves. Nothing very serious but rather frustrating.

The GL Control Group, Administration officers, interpreters and such like, had three 
white tents which constituted their Headquarters. Here they ate and made themselves 

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available to settle any arguments that might arise over the work. After lunch one day 
the control officers went about their various duties and when they returned for their 
cup of tea two tents only were standing. Consternation everywhere. In the space of 
five minutes or so one of the work. parties had dismantled the tent, cut the canvas into 
long strips and securely concealed same, and disposed of the pole, guy ropes and 
pegs. A thorough "Searcho" revealed nothing but it was not many days before white 
shorts became more fashionable.

The general affairs of the Company had to be attended to all the time. There were 
boots to get mended, the sick to visit, pay to be worked out.

Most of the men were broke before the monthly pay day and as a whole camp was 
paid on the one day the rush on the canteen was terrific. To help overcome this rush, 
as far as the Company was concerned, I used to borrow money (there was no security 
except the work of the men) from the officers mess. The Secty was a friend of mine 
and a couple of days before the official pay day I could generally rake up enough cash 
to give the men 50 to 70 cents each. This enabled House 154 to buy a few necessities 
before the big rush on the canteen commenced. The loan was to be repaid 
immediately after pay parade and not once did I have a defaulter.

November 1943 – March 1944

House 154

The lighting in the Houses had been inadequate so the Engineers were gradually 
working their way around the camp trying to improve matters. They spent three days 
in 154 and when they had finished the reading conditions in each room were much 
improved. At the same time they overhauled the water supply for the showers and 
toilets. They got the upstairs toilet to work and this was a great boon.

With the comings and goings the accommodation was a bit messed up. Leo Green 
reorganised things so that officers, sergeants and most of the corporals shared the one 
room. After three months in the house there was less room than ever although the 
numbers were about the same. Each man now had a bed of some sort - anything at all 
that would enable him to sleep off the concrete floor. These beds reduced the space 
per man but the additional comfort made up for any deficiency in room.

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At the beginning of November 1943 we lost more men to another Work Party – this 
time to Blakang Mati Island, a few miles from the harbour. This was a good 
opportunity to get rid of some undesirables, which I had no hesitation in doing. One 
or two were very much "agin" the government and were making the conditions more 
trying for all. This party lived fairly well but whenever a hospital ship arrived they 
knew that they would have to work extra hard. In the convoy there was sure to be an 
ammunition ship and they would have to unload this by hand.

Christmas was only six weeks away and some of the men wanted to start a fund to 
buy extra rations for Christmas dinner. it was suggested also that the walking sick in 
the AGH come over to the lines ad eat with the men of their own unit.

Many ideas were put forward on how to raise some dollars and it was finally decided 
that Frog Racing would be the answer. Murray Rogers said that it would be easy to 
work out a scheme to operate a Tote and the the profits of the Tote would provide 
ample money for the Christmas fund. Frogs were ready available at the drome and 
all we needed was permission of Headquarters AIF. This was given with the proviso 
that the Tote must not be too prominent as IJA do not allow gambling in their army. 
Supervision of the frogs, to avoid malpractices such as pins etc, was as strict as the 
stewards could make it and each frog had its pedigree and its racing colours. The 
course was completed when a frog moved from the central starting point to cross any 
part of a circle drawn with a radius of six feet from that point. "Black Jack" presented 
the trophies on the final night and so wound up a little venture which raised $110 for a 
Christmas feed for House 154.

The Committee decided to allocate the money thus:

a) Supper for 150 including the chaps from AGH;

b) 1 oz tobacco for all members of the Company in AGH;

c) Refund of 20 cents to each man if the money holds out.

Eventually all the arrangements fell through because of the return of F Force. Another 
meeting of the Committee then decided to split $110 n the proportion of 2/26, 2/29

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and 2/4 MG in the company lines and each unit to spend the money so received on its 
sick in hospital.

While at House 154 we had two mascots. The first who had been with us in the 
Square after F Force left, was Biddy. A dog of many breeds who faithfully followed 
the GL party to and from work act day and lived on the same kind of food as the 
men. Being a female she had many suitors from various parts of the camp. I think she 
cold have been a bit snooty as she never went on the wander and much preferred to 
entertain at home. Biddy's fate is part mystery but threw s reasonable evidence to 
show that she finished in a Nip cooking pot.

The second mascot was one of Biddy's pups. Unfortunately he did not reign for long. 
Like a lot of pups he considered it great sport to chase motor trucks and cars and like 
many pups he chased on once too often.

On 16 December 1943, the first contingent of F Force arrived back. This comprised 
500 men under Lieutenant Colonel Kappe who went to the G and W area across 
Changi Road. We had been notified of the shocking mortality among the Force but we 
were not prepared to see our friends in such a pitiable condition. The vast majority 
were no better than working scar crows. Everyone wanted to to over to G and W to 
see their pals and to take them comforts in some kind or other.

Major Johnson, 2/30, took over the command of C Gp fro Alf Lamacraft and he 
very nearly succeeded in making us to very regimental again. This spit and polish 
under the Black Prince as not at all appreciated and led to a deal of grumbling. Alf 
may have been a little lenient in this command but the food was good, military crime 
nil and men contented.

F Force has nothing in the way of amenities and their supply of clothing was very 
meagre so that a request for assistance met with no opposition from the C Gp. A lot of our 
hard won furniture in the way of bed seats and tables went across the road. Some 
clothing was also forthcoming from the men. The officers were asked to hand in all 
clothing in excess of the following:

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• 1 hat
• 1 cap
• 3 shorts
• 3 shirts
• 4 pairs socks
• 2 pairs boots
• 1 pair shoes.

My clothing consisted of 1 hat, 0 cap, 2 shorts, 2 shirts, 2 pairs socks, 1 pair boots and 
1 pair of shoes, so I could not do very much from the list but did manage a shirt and 
some underwear and a couple of biscuits from my bed.

The way things were shaping it was obvious that the various Brigades would be 
brought together again and that senior officers would take command of their units.

Some much needed Red Cross supplies were distributed at the end of January 1944. 
Apart from 28 cigarettes, 1/3 bar of soap and 1 oz of chocolate per man, the contents of 
the parcels were issued to the various kitchens. Practically all the milk went to the 
AGH. All through their Changi POW days the AIF were fortunate in having a 
commander and staff who considered it their duty to get every possible man back to 
Australia, with this and in view, Black Jack, after consulting his Medical Officers, just 
issued an order as to what would be done with such windfalls as RC supplies and that 
was that. Other formations could have taken a leaf from the AIF book in its 
consideration for all.

In March 1944, General Saito decided to have removed from in front of his house the 
Dannert wire put down by the British to hinder landings. I was in charge of 25 AIF 
and 25 Brigade troops who reported to the scene of operations one Sunday morning. 
We were ticked off as soon as we arrived for not bringing wire cutters etc which the 
General had told the Malaya Commander to supply. After the job was finished MC 
said that there was no such order. The wire was overgrown with ialang and other  
grasses so I suggested that we burn the grass first and then roll up the wire. There was 
a near panic by the Nips who were so scared of fire. However, the interpreter saw the 
wisdom of such a move and we had a good old blaze.

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