Diary/notebook of Herbert Stanley Geldard - Part 4

February
5
Rather unusual working in this hospital - Patients
are French, British, Russian, Serb, speaking French
English, Arab Cypriot, Russian, various Slavonic
tongues and German. Numbers are in order mentioned,
with French easily predominating. I have charge of
a few Russians, and speak to them through a Serbian
officer who knows Italian. Their unofficial O.C. is a
young private from the Russian [[tanks?]] who speaks German
and keeps them in pretty good order.
This hospital is half of what was a big school,
four floors and a basement - basement contains cellars,
boiler, carpenter shop, mortuary; Ground floor the German
[[officer?]], kitchens, etc., 1^st floor Station 1 (med) in
charge of Allan & some French M.Os, O.P. (French officer),
2^nd floor Station 2 (surg) Fosbrook and French surgeon
with a few of my Russian medicals stuck in there ,The
linen room used as theatre for weekly [[?]] being
on 1^st floor as is the eye department under French M.O.
2^nd floor, [[?]] has [[?]] theatre and lab and [[?]]
theatre next one another. 3^rd floor contains V.D.
& skins, and infectious block  (Stat. TA), and thus
most of my Russians are. Two other British M.Os' and
our [[?]] [[?]] are on 3^rd floor our present rooms &
French quarters being on 1^st floor. All swabs, smears,
blood-[[?]], etc., X-Rays are done outside. labs here
being able to cope with simple stuff. Maj. Weston is in
charge, but with mixed staff, position at present is
rather unsettled.
February
6
Visited to-day by the Mackay. Maj. Mackay,
late 2^nd [[?]]. who is the only male-issue
of his family in Scotland this generation. All others
strangely enough are in N.Z., where they are known to
Owen [[Hetherington?]]. Approached the [[?]] to-day in
a walk this afternoon, but apparently [[?]]
should have been made yesterday. He was very decent
about it, and mentioned my desire to give away [[?]]
and thought that he might do something about it.
No sign of my tin box yet, bit of a bugger as it
contains chocolate, cigarettes, rations [[?]], prayer books,
collar, pyjamas dressing-gown, sand shoes, [[bridge?]]
notes, and quite a lot of small things which I
miss a lot. I'm losing hope of ever finding it.
No letters since we left [[?]], of course, and I'm
developing quite an itch for some. By all accounts there
was a terrific stack of letters when we left, and as they'll take
a considerable time to sort. I'll not be expecting my [[issues?]]
for some weeks yet. When we left, however, W.O. Sherriff
promised to notify Geneva of our change of address, so
that later mail should not be delayed.
Quite comfortable here - Red + parcels and better rations
than at Lansdorf, better housed, warm & dry, hot baths with
lib.. Light snow most days, and weather grey & dull.
Days & nights uneventful.
First French lesson today from Dr [[Vandevlag?]].
 

-5
February
21
Ordinary sort of day. Couple of anaesthetics
in morning, saw my Russians in the afternoon
and later had a few games of ping-pong and
a bit of a wrestle with [[Vandevlecq?]]. Was [[?]] through
my pay-book cover later in the afternoon and found
the last two letters before my capture, one from Glad
and one from Ines, and it was delightful reading
them, especially Glad's, just as though they were fresh.
The remarks re the kids were most amusing, and
Ine's words re my descriptions of Lybia, Bari etc.,
are interesting, as the fighting is taking place there
again for the fourth time. Bridge tonight with
the two French lads.
This morning the [[?]] had returned to me
five letters which I wrote on Feb 8 - two to Glad,
one to Mum & Dad, one to in-laws, and one to Des Doyle.
Reason was I mentioned our shift to a 400-bed
hospital xxxx in Berlin from Lansdorf. Must see I don't
do it again.
2
February 22
Nothing out of ordinary again to-day. Had meant
to ask for xxxxx to xxxx from xxxx lost
property office re any news of my missing tin box
but out. Early Mass and Communion. Wrote
letter to Glad and wrote to parents in evening.
French orderlies on their walk split up. One
went on his own, five with guard slipped in for
a noggin, but as it happened the bulls were on
look-out and picked them up. The five, whose
mentor stayed incog were reported for being out
without pass, the other for being out with pass made
out for six! Rather funny.
Beautiful day today, just like an early
spring, thawing all over the place and snow
dripping off the roofs.
Rumours to-day of declaration of war by
Portugal on Spain, with landing of British & American
troops in former country - Probably all balls.
German reports of fighting in Lybia about
[[Marana?]] & [[?]] & advance along coast to Lybi Cirene.
Interesting to realise that one knows these particular
places fairly well. 
 

9/
we could do.
After 3 days in port we
sailed from Singapore feeling
like a pricked balloons x.
Guards took up commanding
positions with fixed bayonets
but as there were only 10 of
them it would seem that little
trouble was anticipated. These
guards were friendly throughout
the voyage & there were no
incidents.
The scene on deck xxx resembled
a Donnybrook Fair or Pettycoat
lane on a Sunday morning. It
was almost impossible to move
around & definitely impossible to
find a clean place or article on
which to sit. To relieve the
congestion & also to give the ship's staff
& our Cooks an opportunity to
work and sort themselves out generally
as it were, each hold was restricted
to 6 hours on deck a-day, our hold N^o 4
had 11 to 1 pm, 3-5 pm., 7-9 pm.
When not on deck we read
books, played cards, slept or just
did anything to pass the time away.

72
considerably brightened by approx. 2oz
meat; after cutting away the bone etc
one's portion was visible only by means
of a magnifying glass)
[[?x]] meals
Bkft ground rice
Tiffin rice (boiled) & cooked greens
(usually a kind of weed that grew wild)
Supper boiled rice, & rice bread,
pasties or flapjacks when
flour allowed it.
After the Canteen opened it was possible to
add dates, x peanuts & occasionally tinned
food, but nothing could be done in a
"big" way as a private got 70¢ - 1/9d a week
& preferred to spend most of it on
cigarettes in preference to food, as the
issue of 10 p. wk was negligible. 
 

8/
Each man was allowed 1 gall
of water per day for drinking
& washing eating utensils,
clothes or the body.  As no bowls
were supplied we were apparently
not expected to wash. On a
few occasions a seawater
hose was put into action
when out of harbour.
As for latrines - one can't
give a true picture of the life
on board the "luxurious"

"Fukai Maru" without touching
on them —, in the best "circles",
receiving camps, Engineers
in their wisdom allot a
latrine to 10 men, probably
who ever laid out the conveniences
on the Fukai reckoned that
with less food the ration should
be [[?]] & allotted 3 to
200. To make matters worse
the majority got diarrhoea &
some dysentery, & with the result
that the lack of latrines was a
serious & distressing problem,
more especially as they stank
to high heaven despite anything

73
Hospitals. 
← ? Australians [[?]] first operated at [[?]]
Proceeding later to Roberts Brks.
About a week after capitulation a
start was made to move Hospitals &
C.C.S^s from S'pore to Changi. On arrival
the 10 & 13^th A G H'^s & the C C S were amalgamated
& occupied some 4 large barrack bldgs
in the Roberts Hosp. area with the [[?]]
Hospitals. No sooner were they estab.
than the epidemic of dysentery broke out
& every bed was filled. By Mar 23^rd, 480
cases cluttered the Hospital, filling every
available space, there which worked under
shocking conditions, & difficulties.
Latrine, cooking, xx cleaning & washing
arrangts were inadequate, the staff of
orderlies was untrained in the work
prev. carried out by the Nurses, the Doctors were
overtired, the wards stank to High Heaven,
flies crawled over everything, xx the patients
couldn't stomach dry rice & literally starved,
& no Epsom Salts was available. Epsom
salts!! hated by everyone, but a god send
to a man in the grip of dysentery. But
from Mar 23^rd the number of cases
decreased rapidly & by Apr 6^th the figure
was 267; May 15^th, 110; June 94, & Aug 63. tho'
not before 28 deaths had occurred from
dysentery or its effects.
 

March
12
Two more dopes this morning. Getting the hang of
these [[chlos?]] now, the old rule of [[?]]
chls. and plenty of air is the main point to be on
the way to a decent anaesthetic. Judging of depth is
the hardest thing to do, and apparently a greater
degree of relaxation can be obtained with a much
higher chls. anaesthetic than with a corresponding
depth with ether. Fairly good relaxation even
at the stage where a patient is about to cough
and gag.
Letter sheets & cards to-day, two of each, but I felt
a bit too blue to write - waiting anxiously for
letters from home. What's happening to them!
Beautiful day to-day.
The two dopes to-day were for two acute appendices,
both genuine, left over from yesterday.

March
13
Friday the 13^th. Beautiful day, two anaesthetics,
both went well.
Lads went out for a walk this afternoon, on the
whole had a good trip. I'm still staying in.
The McKay, M.O. at one of the Stalag [[Commandos?]]
came in for eye-treatment and had lunch with
us. Visited by a Swedish Y.M.C.A. lad who
is the one who came to Lansdorf while we were
there.
Rumour that Russians have taken Danzig.
Well!!
 

February
3
Spent time in theatre this morning watching Fosy
and French surgeon do a couple of jobs assisted by
very pleasant German theatre sister - Continental
system of anaesthesia, strapping down of legs and
tying down of wrists made me gasp a bit. Went
on then to room corresponding to O.P. or M.I. room
which Allan and I will eventually run and
saw them work for a bit — will have to be a
linguist to hold down this job, a working knowledge
at least of French and German.
Slept in afternoon and played bridge again
at night, after which I asked the French surgeon
to arrange for me to give anaesthetics. Has to see
the [[?]] about it.
[[?]] popped his head into Fosy and Stokes'
room to-day, where we mess, and told us that our
new room should be ready for occupation to-morrow.

February 4
Were awakened late to-day and so just missed the
first op. this morning, but saw the second appendectomy
by Frenchman— at first incision the only thing that saved
the whole caboose was the strap on the patient's legs, otherwise
he'd have kicked over the whole caboose — objected quite
a bit vocally too, but the show went on just the same.
Found out afterwards that the [[oberartzt?]] vetoed my offer
of anaesthetics, said that as there was now an extra
English surgeon, he could give the dopes. Means I
stick to the medical side, blast it. To-day started
in on taking history of three Russian cases, all
"war-[[oedemas?]]" malnutrition [[?]], per medium of a
Serbian who speaks Italian & Russian. This
place takes about 400 cases, about 150 of whom are
[[oscillating?]] the [[?]]. This is so because of [[?]]
consider it is O.K., but many others in Stalags are
probably waiting to come in and something will soon
have to be done about it. These men, according to
[[Stabarzt?]], suffer from thymotoxicosis also, which is O.K.
according to them, suits them down to the ground, they
like it.
Miss meeting to-night, decided to leave two beds in
mess-room to discourage any possible attempt to take it
from us, the four of us to go into new rooms.
Frenchmen (officers) had their weekly walk to-day, said
to enjoy it for more reasons than one.
 

 
5/
We xxxx ^lay around xxx tired
& hungry confined to the ship
till 2 O'C in the afternoon when
a 2^nd meal of rice & fish
was served. By this time we
were famished. It was at
this meal that the Gov^s of Singapore
and D N.E.I. (Java) were seen in a
meal queue with plate & mug,
like everyone else & filing past
the kitchen for their rations.
Representing, with Gen Percival,
the Bth Govt, Dutch Govt & Bth
Army resp. it angered us
to see these men treated in
such a beggarly fashion.
The next we saw of H.E. was
when he left the ship some
hours later with the gallant
400 ^Special [[?]] (H & B parties), leaving our
C party (C) of 1000 souls in
possession. It would seem
that better counsel prevailed
& the Japanese saw the impossibility

76/
task before him. Up to this time men
refused to pay any respect even to their
general, but by gradual persuasion &
calling on the men's self-respect, the
tide turned & after some 3 to 4 weeks
normality returned & with it a better
outlook. Furthermore, whereas men blamed officers,
Junior offrs blamed Senior offrs, & junior formations
blamed senior formations for the tragic end to the
battle of Malaya & their subsequent incarceration, sounder
reason began to prevail & it was realized that the fault 

lay with higher authority outside of Malaya's province.
Much work had to be done in the
camp such as salt water & food
fatigues. Ration parties pushed trailers
over a mile to the A.S.C. dump daily, &
the sight of 10 men pushing & hauling
a loaded trailer up the hills at Changi
will be remembered forever.
Other parties cut & carried wood,
some cleared drains, cut grass, filled
shell holes, — there was always lots to do.

[[LHS]]*repairing shell bombed

houses & making them habitable*
All this was left to D.H.Q. The Jse admin^r
drove over the camp occasionally but
in the main left the running of it
entirely to A.I.F. H.Q.; each day a liaison
officer went to Changi Gaol (Jse HQ) to receive
orders & report progress of made. Things
ran so smoothly that only the ^occasional guards &
barbed wire were the visible signs
of a P.O.W. camp.
 

January 18
First Mass for Sunday for a long time. Served
for Fr. Berry
January 19
Slept in, missed Mass. Waited impatiently
for afternoon for long promised distribution
of mail sorted in last week. Missed out -
Max still out of luck. Must write soon - have
been waiting so long for more letters without
success that I've not written since John's
birthday. Pretty bad, but I've wanted so
badly to hear from Glad.
 

February
7
Nothing much doing to-day - had a walk
this afternoon, Fosy, Allan, Owen and I. Feature of
life in [[?]] is [[?]] quiet for a big city, few
pedestrians, practically no cars, a few Jews wearing
yellow 6 pointed star and "Jude" on their left breast,
and great number of kiddies playing about in the
snow on their little sleds - John and [[Mack?]] would
love it. Very little to be seen in shop windows.
Tonight was shown the second half of the 1936
Olympic Games film, quite good, ending with the
caption — "And so the youth of the world will meet
again in 1940 in Tokyo"!!
8
February
8
Padre was to call me for early Mass this morning
but as he failed to turn up I went to the 10.30
Missa Cantat, where most of the congregation was French
and it was quite an experience to hear them all singing.
Our batman, Crane, played the piano but I do not know
whether he is Catholic or not. Spent quite a lot of time
this afternoon writing letters, two to Glad, one to Mum & Dad,
one to Boxshalls, one to Des Doyle, cards to Ines, Tom Meagher,
Geneva re change of address
Am reading "Imperial Palace" by Arnold Bennett
at present and I find it most interesting. This evening,
after the French officers' walk in the afternoon, we had a
customary visit from Lt Vanderbecq, who is a most interesting
young chap to speak to in his broken English - concerned
mainly [[shovels?]] in general, the pros & cons of prostitution
& the morals of French in particular. His views are very
refreshing to say the least of it, and his stories of
happenings to them since capture extremely illuminating.
 

February 

11
Couple of chls, anaesthetics this morning, both
went well though one later developed a fair dose
of conjunctivitis. Rest of the day more or less uneventful.
Great discussions amongst us during the day on all
sorts of questions - the Irish question, the question
of education of Catholic children with remission of
education tax. Very interesting, discuss any subject to
pass away the time.
News that Singapore has fallen, bit of a jolt, made
me think a lot of Glad & kids - hell how I wish I
were there, should be doing a job of work at home or
near it. Not right to be here.
 

February 

12
Gave an anaesthetic this morning for the [[?]] -

he was half an hour late, and then, because the 

induction was not complete when he was ready to 

start he became a little [nippish?], gave a lot of orders

as to how I should carry on, and generally behaved 

as though he had left his old-school tie at home. 

Most unpleasant. To make it worse, the patient, though

lightly anaesthetised, refused to breathe for quite a long

time and looked very much like passing out. I

definitely do not like chls.

Had our walk this afternoon, and enjoyed it 

thoroughly, spent a few hours in a [[?]] guard

[[?]], all for getting us [[?]] and all the trimmings

but we, that is Stoker, [[?]] him. Took pretty

[[?]], eight noggins not enough to raise a spark

but excellent afternoon as a break from our normal routine

Latest news is that only town of Singapore has been 

taken not the fortications, so I think I'll sleep better

to-night