Diary of John William Cardwell Wyett, 1942 - Part 6

TUESDAY-May 26th, 1942      
Visited net today after a long absence.
Tamils had cut the n trees supporting
it but had rejected it as apparently
useless.
My right eye is swollen with a small
abscess on the upper lid.
Meedle expert came round to inspect &
will start work tomorrow.
SAGGERS working party of 300 is located at
SERANGOON rd junc 2 m north of civil airport.
They are engaged mainly moving & dismantling
MT veh & parts. Jap machinery is being
installed in Ford works & is rather shoddy.
Aero & car engines are being shipped.

WEDNESDAY-May 27th, 1942
My eye was somewhat troublesome during the
night & is very swollen. Rose at 0700, shaved,

& went to move net which took some time.
Glorious morning on waterfront. Returned 0830
very wet, but came in without attracting notice.
After breakfast the ADMs noticed my eye &
ordered me off duty.
Gen HEATH came to morning tea & told us
of his experiences when shut up in dark
solitary confinement at Fort Canning for 48 hrs.
Spent afternoon in bed.
For tea we had curried snail broth
made from the huge snails one gets
here - very strong and unpleasant, and
not mitigated by the pile of rice &
vegetable broth.

THURSDAY—May 28th, 1942

My eye is still very swollen & discharged

a little this morning. Joe VINCENT squeezed

it & made it very sore. 

Lee STAHLE moved in this afternoon

from hospital & is on the verandah with

me.

I went to Phil HEAD's lecture on courts-martial

today & found it most instructive.

Very tired when I returned.

FRIDAY—May 29th, 1942

My eye is somewhat easier today & I

feel better for a good night's rest.

I missed Phil HEAD's lecture on courts-martial

(part 2) because DREV & WOODRUFF came

to see me.

WOODRUFF still very keen & pleased with

sticking work. 

GOC & Lee STAHLE ^& I talked until after 11 PM.

Curly called in after tea for a yarn.

Col GALLAGHAN came out from SPORE &

brought us a pineapple. He said that 

tps from working parties had been walking

freely round the town owing to withdrawal

of Jap guards two days ago Chinese

had set up stalls & were loading tps with

money & food. Jap MP protested after

2 days & ordered all men out of

town in one hour. 61 who did not

comply were in detention until 2 June.

GALLAGHAN made himself personally

responsible for guarding these men to save

them being confined with a crowd of 

Tommies, some of whom were suffering from

dysentery.

Food is getting short in SPORE and posn

will be acute in 2 months.

Jap "wedge" policy let Aust & Bn tps

is in evidence & courtesy & work of 

Aust offrs is praised & contracted with the 

Br.

SATURDAY - May 30th, 1942

Feel OK today & will have a rest

before starting work again tomorrow. Eye

is much improved.

This morning I wrote a report on the

Jurong recce.

I suggested to G1 that Head study the

military legal organisation in conjunction

with legal personnel in camp with a view

to suggesting a much simplified system.

He did not commit himself to a

reply although agreeing that our present

system is too complicated & quite insufficient 

for maintenance of proper discipline.

Lee STAHLE  is much improved

today & is good company.

Ron produced the betel-nut

stewed with soda. It was a good

reddish-brown colour & will make an

excellent dye.

SUNDAY - May 31st, 1942

Lee STAHLE opened his tin of Players tobacco

today & GOC & I rolled a cigarette each.

It was very pleasant after the native 

cigarettes to which we are all reduced.

I spent the morning at CHANGI village with

Brig BALLANTINE who is taking the party

of 1500 tps for overseas shortly. I did

not get a chance to meet any of the

naval personnel there.

On the way back I looked up Capt

AILWYN, Royal Marines, in hospital. He

is coming over to give a talk on the

sinking of the Bismarck when he is better.

In the afternoon I attended a lecture by

Brig CRAWFORD on KUT-EL-AMARA.

Very fierce "sunmatra" today, lasted for an

hour & blew down one of my blinds. 

MONDAY - June 1st, 1942

Went to RAA with G1 to arrange

lecture room for course (staff course for

all Bd Offrs & general course for others).

Called in on Chas KAPPE and left

watch for regulating.

Fixed blind outside my window.

Stich Stitcher finished maint this

afternoon.

Gen PERCEVAL came tonight with Brig

TORRANCE & Brig RA for dinner with

GOC, G!, AQ, CRE & ADC.

They attended the Div concert first 

& saw a very good show indeed. 

After the concert I walked home

with Chas KAPPE who yarned till 2200

hrs & gave me a most excellent

cup of cocoa.

The party was still here when I

returned & left about 2230.

TUESDAY - June 2nd, 1942

Flap about yeast at conference this morning.

The GOC was about to announce that

units would discontinue individual production

in favour of a central issue when JESSUP

produced a note left for me by

DREVERMANN saying that there would be

no further issues this week owing to

the fact that the hospital had drawn

twice.

I spent the morning with DREV who is

very fed-up. I drew up a

suggestion that distribution be made 

an AASC responsibility. This was

ordered by the 

We played the medicos cricket this

afternoon.

Tonight RAA are playing out crowd bridge

so that I shall not be able to

get my early night .

After dinner I attended a lecture

on the geology of MALAYA  with the G.O.C.

Lee STAHLE caused some amusement today

by arranging to come to the cricket

match on a trailer. The GOC forbade

this as he considered it undignified
for colonels to ride on trailers.

Lee would certainly have looked like a

little Buddah.
WEDNESDAY - June 3rd, 1942

Bill K-H, Lee S & I worked out dispositions of 8 Aust Div

in respect to Europe as follows - 

HQ - LONDON ( + 2 bdes)  23Bde^ less one bn - MALTA

Tulip Force - SHETLAND IS  22Bn - 100 miles North of Kabul BAGHDAD 

Wren & Heron Forces - B in Russia 100 miles North of KABUL

HQ 23Bbde - Athens.

We are certainly well dispersed.

TUESDAY - June 2nd, 1942

Flap about yeast at conference this morning.

The GOC was about to announce that

units would discontinue individual production

in favour of a central issue when JESSUP

produced a note left for me by

DREVERMANN saying that there would be

no further issues this week owing to

the fact that the hospital had drawn

twice.

I spent the morning with DREV who is

very fed-up. I drew up a

suggestion that distribution be made 

an AASC responsibility. This was

ordered by the 

We played the medicos cricket this

afternoon.

Tonight RAA are playing out crowd bridge

so that I shall not be able to

get my early night .

After dinner I attended a lecture

on the geology of MALAYA  with the G.O.C.

Lee STAHLE caused some amusement today

by arranging to come to the cricket

match on a trailer. The GOC forbade

this as he considered it undignified
for colonels to ride on trailers.

Lee would certainly have looked like a

little Buddah.
WEDNESDAY - June 3rd, 1942

Bill K-H, Lee S & I worked out dispositions of 8 Aust Div

in respect to Europe as follows - 

HQ - LONDON ( + 2 bdes)  23Bde^ less one bn - MALTA

Tulip Force - SHETLAND IS  22Bn - 100 miles North of Kabul BAGHDAD 

Wren & Heron Forces - B in Russia 100 miles North of KABUL

HQ 23Bbde - Athens.

We are certainly well dispersed.

FRIDAY - June 5th, 1942

Feel lousy & depressed today.

Visited beach area & piece this

afternoon. Acquired 1lb dates & 3 pkts

of cigs for $2.00 today.

Shearing got a bowl of rice &

the padre ( JONES) Bill IGH, SHEARING &

myself had supper consisting of two 

tins of sardines mixed into the

rice & a cup of coffee made with

some essence which SHEARING 

produced.

SATURDAY - June 6th, 1942

Still feeling fairly depressed.

ADMS approached me today & asked

me how I was as he did not 

think I had been looking the best

for some days. Offered to settle

anyone who was being objectionable if I

told him about it - presume he

means Alex but he doesn't worry me.

I visited Michael WOODRUFF tonight

& admired the view from the hosp.

block. WOODRUFF wants to come

over to the Yeast Centre. DREV is

very fed up he told me this

afternoon - I played him checkers

to cheer him up.

Supper tonight similar to

last night.
SUNDAY - June 7th, 1942

Rain at breakfast time and a cool breeze

has dropped the temperature to 80°F.

As a consequence I feel more alive than

I have done for weeks & can think
clearly.

This is a most Gilbertian show.

Absentees from units are listed AWL, the

Jap has decided to pay us for the

work done around the camp & on

agricultural plots, and, funniest of

all, two jap soldiers were caught

raiding our vegetables a few nights ago - 

they had come in over the wire

(not by the gate) and ran off hurriedly

when surprised by our picquet.

Lee STAHLE is not very well this morning

& has just asked me to take his pulse.

ADMS has checked him up.

I spoke to ADMS about DREV this morning &

the chances of getting WOODRUFF over to

take his place. He has some vital

matter affecting senior offrs on hand at 

present.

A small quantity of hops arrived

today from ROBERTS - not enough, but

a start anyway. 

MONDAY -June 8th, 1942

Cent sch started today for capts or under.

DREV came over this morning & looks far

from well. He thinks he is in for

dengue & has gone off to bed. I

spent the morning at the Yeast Centre &

found a formal note from Brig MAXWELL
on my return, asking me to dinner on the 

occasion of "Tinggis" birthday. He is 50

today - also has D.S.O., M.C..

I dropped my peep-bo into engrs for

alteration on the way across, arriving 

at 1815. We had yeast (sweetened)

out of sherry glasses & hors-d'oeuvres of

sardines on fried bread. For dinner

we had soup, curry & rice & sweet

date-pudding. There was sugar 

butter & salt on the table & scones.

The meal finished with black coffee &

sugar & concluded a most enjoyable

feast.

On the way home I mixed the rice -

yeast with a batch of cooked rice

as a sub-culture.
TUESDAY - June 9th, 1942

I went early to the Yeast Centre & spent

all the morning there with WOODRUFF

who arrived today to take over from

DREV. We inspected BOUNDY's outfit

& had a taste of his special brew. He 

has rigged up a still & is full of

bright ideas. Cpl BUNNING from

the supply depot arrived during the

morning & made himself known from

the days when he was storeman at

CADBURY'S. In the afternoon I 

attended Chas KAPPE's talk on Prince of W

to senior offrs, there being the first

lecture of a senior staff course. I am

next on Thursday for staff duties.

12 galls of yeast arrived

from Spore tonight & I went to Sup

depot to see about it meeting there

a dentist friend of Keith MELDRUM's. He

told me Keith had another daughter.

I went from there to see Michael W

& found Tom M talking to 2/9 a CAMBRIDGE.

I stayed till he finished a most 

interesting chat & recognised Michael's

voice in one of the questions.

On my return I found SHEARING 

had cooked 5 eggs (fried) & this concludes

a good day.

WEDNESDAY - June 10th, 1942

Went to 0830 Communion this morning. Tom M

was there.

Went through my lecture on div staff to 

senr offrs tomorrow with G1 & then to

Yeast centre where I spent the rest

of the morning. WOODRUFF is

settling in quite well & is interested.

We are going to try some of the rice -

yeast on a dog & also endeavour to

test its efficiency for B1 on some fowls.

The afternoon I spent partly in playing

Lee STAHLE Chinese Checkers and mostly

in reassembling my peep-bo.
THURSDAY -June 11th, 1942

I spent most of the morning preparing a

lecture for the afternoon to offrs of the

senior course (Majs & up) on "Organisation

& duties of Div Staff". It was well

received & both Col THYER & GOC congratulated

me - Big stuff!