Diary/notebook of Herbert Stanley Geldard - Part 3

February

9

Eventless day - slept in till very late, had lunch,

saw my patients in afternoon and then read for

quite a while. Shifted up into our new quarters which

have a floor-space slightly less than that of our old

room, and settled in. The four of us are to sleep here,

all of us are to mess here, leaving small room for

Fosy and Stoker to sleep in.

February 

10

Slept in again, and, as luck would have it,

Chefarzt came in, when I was shaving in pyjama'

pants, to have a look around the room. He made

no comment, but came back almost immediately to say

that I should start giving anaesthetics as from the moment.

I wonder whether the site of me reminded him of the

subject, or whether it was a pointed indication that

he does not approve of idleness at 10 a.m? No matter,

I get my point.

Had first meal in new quarters this afternoon

complete with table, chairs, stools, and new crockery.

French lesson this evening from Vanderbecq, who is

I learn, not a lieutenant, but a medicin auxilier,

i.e., not a commissioned rank, but carrying work
and privileges of commission without its pay - he

says this system in the French army is particularly

rough on men without independent means, as they

have to live up to officer standards without adequate

means to do it.

*It was not till 4th Apl that

the housing was satisfactory.

For the period 15 Feb - 22 Feb & again

from 7 Mar till 4 Apl the barrack

rooms were very overcrowded &

the men had little to sleep on.

Had an epidemic of measles,

influenza, or the like, started then,

the result would have been tragic.

61

Accommodation. It was possible to put nearly

all [[t/n?]] under cover & when on Feb 22 a party

of 750 was sent to S'pore for working purposes,

the situation was well in hand. But on

7 March a redistribution of houses & barracks

took place & AIF was put into a smaller

area & forced to relinquish a considerable

am't of its accommodation, with the result

that some 3500 men could not be housed

despite the barrack area being over-crowded. 
This shortage was overcome by

the men who, by foraging every piece of tin,

& tar parafin, built serviceable huts which

in marny many cases were made decorative &

highly ornamental by using palm fronds

which were weaved woven closely together to make

waterproof sides. As a another large party

went to S'pore a few weeks later, the matter

of housing was satisfactory & indeed we had

much to be thankful for when one consideres

the large area in which we were able to move 

& the number of large airy buildings

allotted to us. *

Wiring. It was not till the 12 Mar that each

Division received orders to wire itself in.

Until this time the whole of Changi area was

accessible to all t/n could roam from the

water front on Johore Strait to the Sea beach on

[*2*]

March 

2

Not even any anaesthetics this morning. Rest of the

day just as quiet. Wrote letters this evening to

Glad and to Mum & Dad.

Dr Elbaz to tea with me this evening.

[*3*]

March
3

Chefarzt operating this morning, and he wanted

the French dentist to give the dope for him. As it

was he didn't come in until close on midday.

Bit of fun otherwise, as one of my Russians, in whom

I had queried a typhus came back a positive

Weil-Felix, which caused a stir in itself, added

to which some goat on our floor faked the temp.

of a patient who was due for discharge and was

found out. Result was a bit of a stick for me, with

the suggestion that N.C.Os should check temps

daily & M.Os twice weekly, after which a

genuine T^o chart might allow of early diagnosis
of possible Typhus. Chefarzt took to Stoker, too, re
Russians & fact that W.Fs were not done on all.
Said an order to that effect had been given (never
reached us) and that anyway, our own commonsense 
should have told us. Not bad, giving
that our orders are that investigation on Russians
are to be kept down to minimum. The Ruskis, if
they're so suspect, shouldn't be in this hospital.
I should have got the kicks, not Stoker.
Cards to-night to Ines, Ginge & Ian, & Cawleys.
Boys walked to-day, I stayed home.

January 
16
Bull & Tory left at 8 a.m., I served Mass for
Fr. Bury, then had a most pleasant walk to
Lazarette with Padre Middleston & Posten, spent
morning there, talking to C. Eng. Tonie, John Bouire.
Rex King & Alf Slater. The pine woods in their
mantle of snow book beautiful, but give me the
sun any day. I can imagine the kids having
the time of their lives with snowballs &
snowmen - and to-day we hear that there is
a heat-wave in Australia!!
Inspection in 38B in p.m., a little bridge
later, and poker at night with a win of
30 marks.
Nell's birthday?

January 17
Mass again this a.m. after a freezing night 
and a freezing morning subsequently arranged 
for inspection of warrant-officers of compound in
p.m. Visited the new arrivals from Crete and 
found two lads from 2/7 Bns. They had an absolutely
hellish trip from Salonika because of cold.
One man so rumour has it had both feet 
amputated because of frost-bite. Can confirm 
from medical authorities.
Dust-up in my compound after lunch when
several senior W.Os refused to be inspected. I 
reported them to Stan Sykes, S.M.O, and I hope
he forces the issue - He should.
During S/S Ogden's session I met an RAF 
Flight Sgt. who was a pal of Dick's - funny to
meet pals of Dick and Tom in Barce then one of
Dicks in a Stalag - strange world.

X Also Collecting scrap iron &
furniture for shipment to Japan.
*A party of 46 went to Mersing
in Apl to find & demolish mines,
many had been laid there.

Nothing was heard of this party
up till 16 Aug. (when I left for Japan).

[*17

See page 18*]

[[64?]]

some parties levelled bomb shelters & filled 
in shell craters etc, others worked on the 
wharves, while 2800 helped to erect a
monument to the Fallen Warriors. 
[* X Also see op. page*]

Numbers of these men had to be replaced
at times due to dysentery, as the sanitation
at their camps was often bad. In the
main the men were better off than those at 
Changi & there was never any trouble in 
getting volunteers for working parties.
*
Overseas. On May 14^th 3000 t/n left for Burma
under Brig. Varley. It was ascertained later
that they were put on to building a drome
& making a road in the vicinity of Pt Victoria.
They were foll. by a party of 1500 under Col.
Walsh which went to an unknown destination.
When orders were issued for the movement of 
these parties it was stipulated that they
should proceed by march ^to S'pore carrying packs.
[[N.?]] Col. remonstrated that many men
couldn't march the distance & few could
do so & carry their packs. On a proposal
being put for. that all packs should be
transported & at least 25% of the men,
the Japs replied by agreeing to transport
everyone, which was something to their credit.
The next parties for overseas left on 16^th August

when a party consisting of all senior officers and
30 o/R left for Formosa & a wkg party of 90

proceeded to Korea.

[*ull

[[londs?]]

& above*]

February
19
Usual couple of dopes this morning.  During
day we were informed that our senior was to
be ready for transfer as M.O. to working-party.
Thinking of volunteering for job, as I'd do better
work there than running this show as I might
possibly have to do, being next in seniority. Swan
would be the natural pick, having been a
hospital superintendent in civil life.
Two members of Swiss embassy, one a Doc,
came around to visit the place and look
into conditions here.
W
February 
20
Nothing of interest much to-day except that I
tapped my Russian's chest again and withdrew
600 ccs. He fills up so rapidly that I guess he
must be a Tb.
This evening while we were chatting Fosy gave
me a little book containing, fixed in it, about
a dozen transparent envelopes for holding snaps.
I accept it gratefully, and put all my snaps 
of Glad & the kids into it. I can carry them
around with me now quite comfortably.
Got about 120 French & Polish cigarettes
each from canteen to-day. Not bad ones.
Walked out about 6 miles around suburbs.
Received first "blurt" from a civvy, they are
quite decent all-round.

*This came into operation 48 hrs
after arr. in camp. In the meantime
men existed of on the rations they carried
out 0 which were augmented by food
held by the unit QM's. that they
were able to transport from S'pore.
[[?]]
fairly high order.
After 20 hours travelling through 
fertile country dotted everywhere
with small villages & native huts
conspicuous by their straw-thatched
roofs, and smallholdings intensively 
farmed we reached Keijo, the 
capital city of about 1 million people.
Another gruelling 1¼ mile march
with packs brought us to the P.o.W
Camp - our future home.
Here we were assembled on
a parade ground while the
Supt of P.o.Ws for Chosen prepared 
to address us per medium of 
an interpreter.
"I am Colonel Noguchi, 
we are fighting for the emancipation 
of the nations of East Asia, firm and
unshakeable is our resolve that our
enemy Britain & U.S.A. should be crushed
66

The full ration scale was fixed by the Jse
Rice 1.1023 lb, meat .11-032 lb, flour .11032 lb,
Veg 022 lb, sugar .044 lb, salt .011 lb, [[?]]
Cooking oil .011 lb daily. Cigarettes 40, latrine
paper 100 monthly.*

During May ^and after it was inc. to take 2½%

of the ^rice & sugar ration & 1% sweet potato to
make feast for the purpose of Combating 
beri-beri which had "reared its
ugly head".

Outside of an inc. of salt to .022 lb,
fat 5 gr to 10 gra, sugar .044 to .066 lb,
the ration was fairly regular in regard

to scale of issue & delivery.
It will be seen that the rice comprised
the backbone of the ration. Many could
not eat rice or at least much of it &
the immediate necessity was to devise
ways and means of serving it up to the men
in an edible form. To this end mud stoves
were built, rice grinders made, & after much
experimenting it was found possible to
make bread, cakes, pasties, etc. by 
mixing wheat flour & ground rice, with 
milk & sugar (if one only had them) it would
have been relished.

[[?]]
route we were counted and recounted
till it became ludicrous.
Apparently our arrival had been 
well propagated as the route taken
was a circuitous one of about 4 miles
& was lined by all the inhabitants 
of FUSAN while our resting place 
was in a school ground where
hundreds of children gazed at Europeans
for the first time as they do
at lions at a Zoo. It is not surprising
that much interest was taken by both
adults & children as it was learnt 
afterwards that we were the first 
British (or American) troops to be 
sent to Chosen.

After 5 weeks aboard ship with
little walking exercise, the march
was most trying, some failed to

get to to the station without help & even
the toughest were dead beat when
they arrived.
The train arrangements were 
an agreeable surprise, we were
put into long corridor cars, & each

man had a comfortable seat, 
and packages of rice & fish were
issued at each meal time. The rolling
stock on Chosen railways was is of

67

One cannot speak too highly about the
amateur chefs who sprang into 
existence with the creative ideas 
that supplied the answer to the question
of serving up rice in an edible form.
At first the rice was ground by means 
of rolling it on a flat surface with bottles,
but this tedious means was superceded 
by the devices that made the process
less laborious.
On the 25th Feb. a letter was submitted 
to the Jse pointing out that their ration
scale gave 1120 2100 calories whereas
the A.I.F. ration gave 4200. The position
it was stated was very serious. In the
words of a leading dietitian a man
required 2100 calories to live provided
that he took no form of exercise, & slept
as much as possible. The request went

for additional food was followed up
at frequent intervals later.
On the 28th Feb Jse administrator 
advised that we must be self supporting
in 2 months. Immediate steps were 
taken to conserve the fruit on all cocon

cocoanut and pawpaw trees in the area &
to commence prepare some 50 acres of land
for growing vegetables. Besides this
communal garden units were 

[*4*] 

February

23

Dope for Owen indirect hernia with decent [[sac?]]

for a change. Most of cases operated on lately are
Frenchmen with "direct hernias", which, when
opened, show only a bulge of peritaneum, due
to lack of muscular tone brought on by conditions. Would
probably be better to leave them alone & attempt
correction by feeding and graduated exercises. Meant
to ask Chefarzt to inquire at railway lost-property-office
re missing tin-box, but left him alone out of respect
for the Monday-morning feeling.
The French tailor brought back my two shirts, 
having made attached collars from their tails and
a tie from the tail of one of Allan Ballantyne's old
shirts, and I feel really dressed once more.
Wrote a card to Des Doyle and one to Ines, and 
corrected the rejected letters to Mum & Dad and to 
the Boxshalls. It's a relief to write home to ones
families & friends, even though so few letters are
received in return. Hope some more reach me 
soon, with photos.

February
24
Anaesthetic this a.m., later saw Chefarzt and asked

him to enquire re my tin box at railway lost-property
office. He asked me to write him a note containing
the details. He had just rounded up Stoker and asked
him whether an Arab patient was fit for spell in clink
for smoking a cigarette in the wards against orders.

Unluckily, or luckily, the Arab is due for appendictomy
to-morrow.
Owen, Stoker, and I had a stroll in afternoon and 
spent an hour or two in a rubbedy, on both trips, out
& in, my slouch hat drew a lot of attention - would
very much like to get back to the cap I lost in my tin-box
Met again the lad who is due for the Navy.
Found on our return that everyone had received
letters but me - Hell!!

March 
6
A dope this morning, then checked through
my Russkies, one of whom has been given a diagnosis
of Tb by the German radiologist. The lad with 
the recurrent pleural effusion is obviously another.
Took a book of his down to one of the French M.Os
in the afternoon and promptly went to sleep on
a bed in their room.
Confirmation of news of encirclement of the

German army in the South, rumours that 
another is suffering the same fate, and that
Anglo Yanks are massing in Iran.

Vanderbeek & Viellat came to tea with us this 
evening & stayed to bridge afterwards.
No letters yet.
Tatov, the Russian artist, produced the first of his
pictures for our room this evening, nude of a girl
sitting on a stool - jolly good.
Report to-day, I think, that Japs bombed Broome.
Probably do more damage to local Japs than other

persons or property.
March
7
Finished anaesthetic a lousy chlo. with the lad
continuously blue, light, and spasming, to find
that the Weil-Felix tests done on the Russians
gave seven results positive in titres ranging from
1/100 to 1/800, five from 1/150 to 1/800 going to [[Buisdorf?]]
I went along afterwards to the pharmacy and through
the chemist order a set of Spalkholz, a Bing, and 
a stethoscope. The rest of the day passed [[?]] quietly
except for four reels of film in the evening, fairly
interesting, but nothing to write home about.
Couldn't find the Padre to hear Confession this
evening.
Had our second antityphus injection to-day, still
quite painful, but not so much as last week's.
Had it [[subiet.?]] in the rt. breast this time.
Just about due for a top-up of T.A.B., too.