Letters from Leonard Stanley Marquis to his mother, Amy Edith Marquis, 1945 - Part 1

26405

P/O Marquis, L.S.

R.A.A.F.

 

HMAS "Diamantina"

at Sea.

Monday - 17 Sept 45.

My dear Mother,

Well Mother

dear, the first phase of

the operation is over & we

are on our way back to Torokina. it has

been a most wonderful experience & I have

enjoyed every minute of it. I shall now

give you a description of what happened

in chronological order. But first let me

tell you that I'm well, sunburnt

& that up to now the sea has been

quite calm.

We put to sea about half past four on

the Sunday afternoon, 9^th Sept '45, this ship

leading out the two merchantmen

"River Glenelg" & "River Burdekin" & proceeded

north-nor'west. Land was in

sight until night fell & next morning

we were alone in the vast expanse

of the Pacific. About nineish three or four

small islands were on our starboard

2/. side, but after that no more land

was seen until Nauru Is hoved into

sight at six o'clock on Thursday morning,

Sept 13^th. Life on board ship was

very pleasant. I was the only Air Force

representative on board. Four of us slept

in the sick-bay. The official Military

History photographer (moringo); the war

correspondent, Noel Ottaway, & a Sth Aust.

from Mitcham, Lt Geoff Mainwaring

who was the official War artist for the

National Museum at Canberra. The other

military officers on board were in

other parts of the ship, but we all ate

in the ward-room, except the Brigadier,

who dines with the commanding 

officer of the ship in his private suite.

As a consequence, everything was just

perfect. Good food in nice surroundings.

The first night out, the ship still observed

black-out precautions. All ports & scuttles

were closed & over the entrances

double curtains with weights were

hung. However she did burn

navigation lights, as did also the two

merchantmen behind us. It looked very

comforting to see the lights across the

ocean. One did not feel quite so much

alone. I spent most of the days on deck,

relaxing & brushing up on some words

which would have ^be been necessary

3/. in the surrender ceremony. Also I had

to prepare the translation of the actual

surrender agreement, which was to be

read out in Japanese after the Brigadier

had first read it in English.

I was up early on Thursday morning

showered & shaved & went on deck. Far

ahead to the east, a little bulge on

the horizon denoted land & the easter

sky was all burnished as the sun arose.

I went below to gather my papers &

iron a shirt. This must have taken

1/2 an hour & when I went up on 

deck again we were heading close 

into the shore & many native craft

were offshore fishing. A motor launch

came out to the of ship - it had

been waiting for us - & a Japanese

Lt-Commander came on board with

a Chinese interpreter. This Chinese

spoke excellent English - he had

lived on the island all his life - but his

Japanese was not the best.

At Sea.

Tuesday 18^th Sept '45.

I interrogated the Jap officer as to numbers

on the Islands, trucks, cars, barges etc &

then detailed instructions were handed

over to him. The surrender ceremony

was fixed for 3 o'clock on board the 

"Diamantina". So he returned to the shore &

we made out to sea to pick up the

4/. two merchantmen whom we had left 

behind about Wednesday lunch-time, in

order to get to the island in the early

morning of Thursday. We picked them

up about eleven & headed for the island

once more, reaching there about one o'clock.

It was a f weird sight to see the shore

line with devastated buildings & burnt out

steel factories. There is no harbour to 

anchor in. Ships must keep steaming on

the leeward side (the westward side) all

the while. A reef surrounds the whole 

place, but a small-boat harbour with

channel was dug by the Germans before

1914. Motor boats & launches use

this harbour, which is very much like

a fishing village harbour one sees in

England. You know - one with a stone

retaining wall keeping out the 

waves. Many native fishing vessels were

off-shore as we came in. The Japs used

to make the natives fish for them. The

diet for the past year has been pumpkin

& fish, with a drink called "toddy" made

from coconuts. It is intoxicating. Up to

six months ago rain was scarce & 

vegetables were short but since Feb 45, they

have had some good falls & as we 

discovered when we went ashore next day,

they have been growing beans, maize,

potatoes, tobacco & tomatoes. These have 

5/ supplemented the monotonous diet & all

the people on the island, Japs & natives, 

are in excellent condition indeed.

Pumpkins! I've never seen so many 

in all my life! They are everywhere.

And Jap storehouses are full of them.

Also wild passion fruit grows here &

there & one of the Jap officers was telling

me that they clip the tips of the

runners & cook them as a vegetable. 

They even make their own tea from

a plant on the island.

An Allied flying boat had flown over

both Nauru & Ocean Islands on Sept.

8^th & dropped leaflets & so they were

expecting us, since then. As we found

out on the Friday when we went ashore,

all guns had been dismantled &

handed in, during late Aug, on orders

from Tokyo. Consequently, the Japs

had very little to do, in order to implement

the surrender which required

such gathering in of weapons & ammunition.

At 3 o'clock, Capt SOEDA, the

commander of the garrison came on

board with the five staff officers &

after handing over his sword to the

Brigadier sat down at a ^red plush covered

table on the quarter deck (at the

stairs of the ship) facing the Brigadier &

6/. his staff. The Brigadier then read

out the terms of surrender in English

& then handed them to me. I read

them out in loud Japanese from

my copy & as soon as had finished,

had to ask if the Jap Commander

if he understood. On assenting (in

English "I understand perfectly") the

signing business commenced. There

were six copies to be done & I had to

show them where to sign. Positions

during the ceremony were as below.

[Diagram - Refer to original document]

I, as interpreter, 

had to stand during the ceremony.

Today I've heard that the photographer

missed out on the first part as he had

no film in his camera! However,

he did catch the end. After the signing,

the Jap Commander left, leaving

his Staff Officers to give details

of the garrison strengths, gun positions

etc. This lasted about two 

hours & they left about 5 o'clock. I had

the help of this other interpreter at this conference.

7/. At seven o'clock, next morning, Friday,

Staff Major Clarkson & I went ashore

in the ship's pinance. We both

carried loaded pistols. We stepped

ashore on some old stone steps. All

Japs had been withdrawn from the

area surrounding the former town

& only Chinese labourers & Nauruans

were about. Some Australian troops

were already ashore & two barges

were beginning to unload the "River

Glenelg". The Japs had maintained

the electric-power on the island &

the Chinese soon had the crane working.

They & the Nauruans were all

pleased to see us & told us stories of

how the Japs had beaten them if

they did not work. The natives

have a funny smell about them.

Oily if anything, but they are a

fine type, with well built bodies,

& long shining black hair.

About 8 o'clock the Jap officers

came along & we issued instructions

for all their trucks & cars to

be sent down to the wharf to assist

in the unloading.

When they arrived at 9 o'clock, a

part of us Maj. Clarkson, myself &

8/ two Jap officers, Lt SAKURADA & 

Ensign YAMADA, together with an

armed Aust. escort party got on

to a truck & set out to inspect the

fixed fun sites, weapon & ammunition

dumps. It was very interesting

as we climbed up a steep road

to the top of the ridge. Here & there

were the phosphate pits. They are not

one big hole but are full of limestones

pinnacles like this. The

[Diagram - refer to original document]

phosphate was

all in the crevices

& had to be dug

out. Thousands of years ago a reef 

began to form on the top of a submerged

mountain top. Possibly a 

disturbance caused it to rise above

the sea & then birds made it a 

resting place (It is 300 miles from

the nearest land.) And over the eons

of time the phosphate (bird droppings)

gradually filled up the crevices

between the pinnacles. This accounts

for ships not being able to anchor

off shore as the formation is like 

this. 50 yards off shore it is 6000-10,000

[Diagram - refer to original document]

9/. feet deep!

It was very dry & hot as we made

out our tour of the defences & dumps.

Only once did we enter the Jap

occupied area & that was to collect

the swords & binoculars. It was

in a grove & about 20 Japs were

located there. They were eating

their midday meal & since they

knew they'd be leaving the island

in a few days they had fice also.

The rice stocks had been held in

reserve for the hospital patients of

which there were not many. Out 

of a total of 3700 Japs on the island 

-only 140 were in hospital.

Dysentry was the main trouble.

Skin troubles are practically 

non-existent.

I forgot to mention that the landing

area was very dep delapidated &

smelly. Dead fish & pumpkins lay

around, but in land the Jap locations

were quite clean. All the

buildings are either completely

destroyed or very badly damaged

& the phosphate works are wrecked

beyond repair. They'll have to be 

completely rebuilt. Most of the damage

was done by Allied bombings

since the occupation.

10/. At mid-day we returned to the 

boat harbour & after lunch, the Brigadier

& party came ashore for the

flag raising ceremony at 2 o'clock. 

After that was over, I went with the

two Jap officers & escorting party

to complete the tour of the island's

defences. Maj. Clarkson did not

come on this tour. The photographer

& war artist came along with us

& recorded the various scenes.

It is about 12 miles around the island

& was a most interesting drive.

When we returned to the "Diamantina"

at seven o'clock that night, we were

all so very tired out. The climate

is hot & dry, like Adelaide's summer.

Next day, Saturday, we went ashore

about 9 o'clock & I did an interrogation

on two of officers. This day we

returned to ship for lunch & went 

ashore again in the afternoon when I

sat in on interrogations of native

& Chinese as to conditions on the island

after the Japs arrived.

On Sunday we again went ashore in

the morning & I had to interrogate

another Jap officer who may turn

out to be a minor war-criminal!

Nothing was said to arouse his

suspicions though. It was all very