Diary of service - Donald Morrison, 1940 - 1945 - Part 21

POW Life: 1942 - 1945

On 9 March, Lex Watson, the ENT specialist, contracted meningitis and was in a very
bad way. It was not until eight days later that he came out of his coma and began the
slow road to recovery. Everyone was very happy with the good news as Lex had done
a wonderful job under very trying conditions.

The inside theatre was staging a play produced by Major Daltry and this was a great
success. Unfortunately I cannot recall the name of the piece. At any rate General Saito
attended one of the performances and ordered the immediate closing of the theatre for
an indefinite period. Saito said that the play portrayed the subjugation of the yellow
races to the white and was an insult to the Japanese. Daltry was accused of trying to
make Nippon lose face. Such was not really the case as the main characters were
Negroes. Daltry produced a copy of the script but this did nothing to lesson the wrath
of Saito and the theatre stayed closed for sometime.

Once again rumours of moves were in the air. This time the numbers in the camp
were to be reduced so that the concentration of prisoners would be broken up. The
tide was turning against the Nips and they did not want us to be readily available for
as instance to any invading force. 

Moves did take place during April and May but for an entirely different reason. About
7000 troops with 1% officers went off to various parts of Singapore and to Johore
Bahru to dig foxholes and other underground emplacements from which the IJA could
repel any attempted landing. The tunnelling was very hazardous as not enough timber
was supplied to carry out shoring of the roof. Many cave-ins occurred and several of
the lads were badly hurt; Tom Hughes was one who wore a plaster cast around his
body for some months as a result of being buried in an earth fall. Representations
were being made continually and eventually a safety officer was appointed; he could
halt the work if he considered that the working conditions were too dangerous. For
various reasons the personnel of the parties kept changing and it was very difficult to
keep track of everybody’s whereabouts.

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April - May 1945

Hut D 3

The Drome workers were gradually feeling the effects of the long hours on very
reduced rations. There were many instances of men backing out while on the job.
Continual requests by the Medicos for an increased ration eventually had the desired
effect as early in May the rice ration to No. 2 or working area was increased to 500
grams per day and to this was added small quantities of oatmeal, jam, sugar and milk.
At the same time the general rice ration went from 250 to 300 grams.

Frank Kensett arrived back in the Hut and immediately complained about inadequate
space for his bed. To check his complaint Dick Pockley and Norman Paul, “A” and
“Q” of the Hut, had to remeasure the whole floor space. The number of transverse
floor boards had to be counted and then divided by the number of beds in the hut; this
result gave the width of the space allotted to each officer. A and Q commenced
counting from one end and each of us had to then move his bed into the prescribed
area. If any additional bodies moved into the hut the whole process had to be
repeated. Frank Swaddling overcame the problem in his own way; he built himself a
double decker bunk and so was well out of the way of everyone.

22 April was a Red Letter Day for some of my friends. I had been off colour for a
couple of days and on that morning went to the RAP with a headache and shivers.
Bob Dick took a blood test and told me to go back to bed and await the result of the
test. On the way back I suffered four semi-blackouts and had to be assisted home by
Mel Johnson. Fred Cross gave a hand to get me up the steps from the road below the
hut. As we approached the door Mel started to yell out “Hurrah, Hurrah, Morrison’s
got the Malaria. It was my first attack but fortunately only BT, and I was to have a
relapse very three weeks for the remainder of my time on the Island.

Cases of Primary Malaria usually were sent to Hospital for a week but I managed to
talk my way out of that and was allowed to stay in the lines. The treatment was 20
grains of Quinine for each of two weeks. After the second attack I was vetted by
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Bye, the senior physician, and he recommended that I have a
course of Atebrin, two tablets a week for one month. 22 April was Red Cross issue

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day and the cooks had prepared a wonderful spread which I was too sick to eat. Bad
luck.....
For sometime cases of Primary Malaria had been occurring more frequently and early
in May had reached an average of fifteen a day. This build up caused quite a deal of
concern to the medical authorities who unfortunately could not do much about it with
their limited supply of drugs. The only positive step which could be taken was to
increase the activities of the ante-malarial squad. This squad had the task of trying to
destroy the breeding grounds of the anopheles mosquito by spraying all stagnant
water with kerosene or oil.

May – June 1945
Before the war, Singapore Island was virtually free of malaria thanks to the never
ending battle waged by the Health Department against the mosquito – spraying of
breeding grounds, keeping all grass (even on the sides of the roads) cut short, use of
mosquito nets at night and preventative medicines. Mention of mosquito nets reminds
me of the time that Division Headquarters went on an exercise in November 1941.
Orders had been issued that all ranks were to wear their jungle shorts rolled down and
tucked into stockings between the hours of 6.00pm and 8.00pm. Soon after Reveille
on the first morning Billy Kent Hughes went the rounds to ensure that the shorts were
rolled down. Most of the lads gave a bit of a grin when they were chipped about their
dress because they could see something that Bill could not. A little way behind Bill
walked Gordon Bennett and his aide, Gordon Walker, both with their shorts rolled up.

At Changi, preventative medicine was out as supplies of Quinine and Atebrin would
permit the issue of just enough drugs to treat a positive case of the wog; those with a
negative blood test could get nothing. Mosquito nets were practically non-existent and
were reserved for those who got frequent relapses. Eventually I was issued with a net.

Malaria is a very trying disease. One cannot eat, has lousy headaches and then comes
the “rigor” when one shivers so much that one breaks out into a violent sweat –
perspiration is too polite a word – in spite of being nearly suffocated by a pile of
blankets which will not prevent the cold shivers. The shivers are so violent that the
whole building shakes and cups on the shelves rattle. The whole business is very

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weakening and under our conditions made life even more unbearable. After each
attack the period of recovery is more drawn out and by the end of June it was not
worth two bob.

On 29 May, the twelfth hundred day, we had an influx of 150 officers and 11138 o/r’s
most of whom belonged to the Royal Netherland Forces. I do not know whether the
Dutch were wise, but they were certainly practical, in one aspect of their colonial
administration; namely, granting European classification to any one from the
Netherland East Indies who had more than 10% of white blood in their veins. In
contrast to the British code of living in foreign parts, the Dutch did not socially
ostracise those of their planters, Government servants etc who inter married with the
native races. It was hard for us to treat as European the larger part of this party who
were very, very dark.

Two familiar faces reappeared with these latest arrivals. The first was Bill Tebbutt
who was G iii Operations when I joined Division Headquarters in September 1941. In
October Bill went to the Far Eastern Combined Bureau as Liaison Officer and was
still there at the fall of Singapore. He managed to get away but the Nips caught up
with him, and many more, at Pelambang, Sumatra. The other was Lieutenant
Commander Clark of “Repulse” who was at de Soussa Road with Division
Headquarters.

I have mentioned earlier Mel’s electric oven, his next home comfort was an
immersion heater which was also a great success. This enables some of us to have a
cup of tea at odd times, particularly early in the morning. Harry Gibson, 1/18
Battalion, who had had a pretty rough spin made it his war work to prepare the early
brew. It was a luxury to be woken up wit and to find a hot cup of tea by ones bedside.
As is often the case when things are going smoothly a snag appeared. The IJA were
complaining about the excessive use of electricity and all element heating appliances
were to be banned. Several inspecting officers were appointed to see that the ban was
carried out, with power to confiscate for infringement.

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Doug McQueen was appointed inspector for the AIF. Now this was really bad as
Doug’s bed was opposite to that of Mel who was his best friend. But Mel had a heater
and we wanted our early cup of tea and we did not want Doug to get into a row over
neglecting his duty. It was decided that Doug would stay asleep until the tea had been
made and the heater put out of sight. In spite of vigorous patrolling by Doug and his
opposite numbers the demand for electricity did not lessen and eventually all heating
appliances were confiscated.

Entertainments had been hard to arrange since the “Grove” was shut down on 7 April.
Bridge was the main standby with an occasional Hut lecture. Some that I bring to
mind were simulation of Disease by Bruce Hunt; Architecture and the Planning of the
home by Brindley; The Diamond Trade by Hiddleston; Cricket by Carstairs, Sec of
Essex; Quizzers had had there day so it was a relief when the “Grove” reopened on 11
June but, unfortunately, for two weeks only. Visiting other Huts or just talking were
as good ways as any of passing the time. The Peelers made a dart board and this gave
them a lot of fun. They organised a team and had a number of successes against other
Huts. Don Trewin was their best player.

A bit of interesting news came through in the middle of June, concerning the College.
Bob Uren was told in a letter from his Mother that Mr Rolland was resigning at the
end of 1945. He had been Principal for twenty six years and had pulled the school
through a very awkward period and had then re-established it as one of the leading
schools in Australia.

The Hut garden was once again having troubles. Vegetables were disappearing during
the night and certain people were to be observed doing cooking at odd hours. In the
pots were vegetables which obviously came from the garden, but it could not be
proved. A change of garden personnel was indicated so, after talking the matter over
with Arthur Davis, I appointed Fred Cross as head gardener and sacked Lillie. It was a
good move as we had no more worries from that quarter.

Dissention had been growing at the next table because of the unhygienic habits of a
couple of lads. Eventually words became very heated and Mel told the offenders
exactly what he thought of them and demanding that they sit elsewhere. No other

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table was available but that was easily solved. Mel borrowed a rip saw and cut the
table in half. Mel and Doug then ate by themselves.

June – July 1945
Hut D 3

At the same time the Camp Representative Officers were having their little troubles, (I
can do better than you sort of thing), so it was decided to replace Newey with Dillon
who was a much stronger man. Takahashi was transferred by the IJA and his place
was taken by Mura. With the coming of Mura a rather interesting change took place
at the conferences between him and the Rep Officers. All discussions were carried on
in slow English so that the Koreans who were always in attendance could not
understand what went on. We knew, unofficially from the IJA point of view, that the
Island hopping and the advance in Burma were going our way, so maybe Mura did
not want the Koreans to hear any pertinent questions concerning the progress of the
war that Dillon might pop at him. The Koreans were kept very much in the dark and
had no means of hearing the true state of affairs which showed that their time was
running out.

I was still getting the wog every three weeks which was not good. Fred Cross, Mel
and I used to take it in turns, quite unintentionally to be stricken. Everyone’s weight
was very much down and the necessary duties were getting harder to carry out each
succeeding week. Man power was very scarce for any of the heavy jobs such as wood
carting.

There was a tremendous shindig in the Goal proper on the night of 11 August. The
Dutch had heard that the war was over. A bomb had been dropped on Japan and had
done q terrific amount of damage. More were to come if the Nips did not call the
whole thing off. Not true of course; they had heard a garbled version of the
Jap/Russian peace feelers.

Obviously the end was near; we were further advanced with the war news than the
IJA would admit was the case. It was not until 19 August that Mura would admit that
the war was nearly over. From 11 – 18 August, we were very much on our toes but
had to keep quiet and carry on as if we were without the latest news. Very hard to do

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but, after putting up with so much for so long we did want to get home now and after
all the nearest allied forces were still a long way away.

Fred Hore celebrated the end of hostilities by paying a social visit o our Hut. We were
flabbergasted as it was the first time he had been near us since we got to the Goal. I
think the trouble was that Fred had no troops directly under his command and had lost
whatever touch he might have had earlier on.

August 1945
Hut D 3

The Nips, to our way of thinking, were preparing for the end of the war. On 13
August, ten warships of various sizes were rendezvous for the remains of their navy in
SEAC water. Mura told us on 17 August that the work parties would be returning
from various parts of the Island and from the mainland and that the camp must be
organised to accommodate 11,700 men. To cheer us up a little bit we were issued with
an additional 50 grams of rice the day after Russia declared war on Japan.

Sunday 19 August, day number 1282, was notable for two things. In the first place
Mura admitted that the war was nearly over but that we would have to carry on under
Japanese administration for the time being – actually for another two weeks. Secondly
AIF officially brought us up to date with the war news by issuing typewritten screeds
on what was happening but they insisted that we must continue to step warily as the
IJA had had no personal instructions from the Emperor to say that the war was over.
Until such a message arrived we would be treated as POW whose lives were not
worth two bob. The Atom bomb certainly saved the lives of many thousands of
prisoners because, if a landing had been affected by the Allies on the mainland of
Japan, all POW would have been executed by some means or other.

Our Camp staff then put into effect the first stage of their repatriation plan. This was
to return all men to their own units which moved to a formation area. 2/29 moved
with the rest of the Brigade to the hundred metre huts in No. 2 area. Saf was Brigade
Commander while Pat Garde took over the Unit with Rutherford as his Adjt. I was
OCB Company but as I was pretty useless after the wog, I was given Archdall as 2IC.

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Harry was with me for one day only before he was taken away and made Mess Secty
so I had to struggle on as best I could.

Danny Knott was CSM with Bob Stephens P & O Corporal. The usual Company
fatigues had to be dome – “Q”, Hygiene etc – and then there were the outside work
parties to be made up. These latter jobs were a bit of a farce as the Nips were not
interested and the men could not care less.
An issue of clothing, mainly IJA shorts was made to all men and was most welcome
especially to those who had been away from the Goal on work parties. More
important than the clothing issue was the increase in the rations which included
Australian butter, tinned meat, cheese and cigarettes, as well as some fresh meat and
fish.

I made a bit of a glutton of my self one night when I had three big cups of coffee each
with a very liberal helping of sugar. About midnight I awoke with a terrific tummy
ache, jumped out of bed in a great hurry to get to the latrines hut, unfortunately, I
failed to reach my objective by about twenty yards. I was wearing nothing but a G-string 

so no serious damage was done. A most uncomfortable business!

Formal Brigade duties were resumed and soon it fell to my lot to mount as Brigade Fd
Officer. One special duty was to inspect the wire picquet at 3.00 am. This Picquet was
placed at various points around the perimeter wire to ensure that no troops went for a
walkabout especially in the direction of Singapore. It was a ridiculous duty really as
no one except the very senior officers cared who went where as long as they were
backing the lines in time for Reveille. Unfortunately, a couple of the lads were caught
in Singapore and this brought in another restriction which was that Company
Commanders would carry out roll calls at the most unexpected times.

These walkabouts were very hard to stop as the Relieving troops went out of their
way to give a lift, in either direction, to any POW they saw wandering on the road.
Naval Officers stopped their staff cars to pick up sightseers and in some instances
took the lads to their ships where they dispensed very liberal hospitality. The war was
over so why not have a good time while you can seemed to be the motto of the Navy.

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The Chinese were very generous to any of the men they came across and plied them
with tinned food, cigarettes and even money in some cases. The fortunate ones would
come back to camp with their pockets bulging with good things and then another feast
would start. I am pleased to say that very few (and they could have been named as the
offenders months beforehand) made themselves objectionable to the locals.

The rank of the cap on the receiving end of the hospitality had no bearing on the
amount of kindness handed out. Anyone who looked a bit forlorn or bewildered was
treated most generously especially by the Navy who turned everything on.

Our first personal contact with the outside world was on 30 August, day number 1293,
when 2 Lieutenants, 2 MO’s and 3 Ordinance Officers were dropped by parachutes
onto the Changi Drome. The senior Lieutenant took over control of Singapore and the
mainland of Malaya with the authority of Lord Louis Mountbatten to back him up.
This authority made him a “Supremo” in his own right. His immediate job was to
organise the IJA into assembly as under the terms of the “Cease Fire Agreement”.

After lunch on the same day some much needed medical supplies were dropped and
on the Friday two orderlies with Transceivers were put down. Communication was
established with SEAC Headquarters at Colombo and the immediate needs of the
POW and Civilians (food and medicines) were advised.

The war had been over for three weeks and we felt very much of a lost Division. We
had expected that a message of good cheer or something similar would have been
received from the Commonwealth Government. Everyone thought that failure to send
such a message was a pretty bad show. However, on 7 September there was an A/T
from General Blamey stating that we would have first priority for any shipping to take
us home. Very good news!

As was only to be expected we were champing at the bit about the time RAPWI were
taking to get us on our way home. Of course we did not know, or did not want to
know, all the obstacles that had to be overcome before we could be moved but still
RAPWI were loafing; this was considered very fair comment at the time. On 7
September, word came through that the first large scale evacuation would take place

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on 9 September when the hospital ships, Manunda and Oranje would take the hospital
cases and the not so sick respectively. The first to leave Changi were 8 USAF who
were flown out by Douglas to Labuan. One of the Yanks paraded for embarkation
wearing nothing but a “G” string; he had a water bottle draped over his left shoulder
and a real stinker of a cigar sticking out of the corner of his mouth. Some people insist
that important events occur in runs of threes. Sometimes they undoubtedly do as on 7
September 1945. The first event was General Blamey’s message; the second, the news
from RAPWI and then this little incident. A Red Cross Aide walked into Hut E 3 and
asked the chap who was sitting on his bed by the door “Where is Rex Mason?”, “Yes,
he is over by that window”. “Oh Rex, I was talking to Kathie (wife of Rex) at lunch
last week and Ann Rowe (wife of chap sitting by door) was there etc, etc.” Strange
but true…… The girl was Alison Knox.

The last fourteen days of captivity were a mixture of freedom to roam in places long
since denied to us, of being mucked about in good old army fashion by our camp staff
and of the happiness of meeting again, friends who had been up-country and
elsewhere on work parties. Company Ordinance rooms were kept very busy preparing
embarkation rolls which had to be compiled to show the state in which the man
enlisted. Except in very special circumstances discharge was to be taken in the same
state. Also, Padres wanted lists of their adherents.

There was also the unpleasant but very necessary job of writing letters of condolence
to the next of kin of those who had been killed in Action, Died of Wounds or of Other
Causes. I called a meeting of all those officers who had served in “B” Company and
we dealt with each person in turn. I tried to work on the principle that the officer who
knew the man concerned best should write the letter; of course there had to be a lot of
give and take in such a scheme that every next of kin was written to as soon as
possible after our return. When the job was done each officer was to advise me of the
fact.

Ivan McKay, 2/20 was, I think, the first of the juniors of the AIF to get away. He was
flown out to India on 10 September, where his father Sir Ivan McKay had a senior
staff appointment.

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