SINGAPORE AND THE THAI RAILWAY EXPERIENCES OF ...

and start it myself, and then rush up to the searchlight to be ready for the order, "Expose". I
was the operator on the searchlight for sweeping the sea to search for Jap landing craft. We at
the searchlight - that is Bdr. Kennedy, who was i/c and changed carbons and myself were in a
very exposed position so we asked for additional protection from machine gun fire, and we
spent a couple of days building up an earthwork in front of the searchlight, and behind which
we could crouch and still operate. On the night of Dec. 7th 1941 I was in bed as usual with
clothes and boots on when the alarm sounded at about 4.30 am of Monday morning, the 8th
of December. We rushed out to our positions and, as I went, I saw going up into
8.
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the air from the direction of the Naval Base strings of Bofor tracer. I thought they were
'flaming onions', and that we were having warlike games with some realism. And then came
the whistle and crash of bombs from the direction of the town, and we knew it was an actual
air raid. We got ready for action and then, as the planes were coming overhead, we went into
the slit trenches. The AA searchlights picked up 2 planes, which passed right overhead, but
apparently the AA fire was too short for they did not seem at all troubled. The AA still
seemed to be bursting at least 10,000 ft. too low. We heard afterwards that this was indeed
the case. So ended the first night of the War on S'pore, and the next morning we were told
that the Nips had landed at Kota Bahru at 1.30 am and yet all the lights of Singapore were
fully on 3 hours later. Fifth Column was suspected. We heard on the wireless at 9.30 am
Shenton Thomas announce the
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declaration of war. We also heard of the attack on Pearl Harbour. We were keyed up to
expect an attack on Singapore from the sea - nothing came. On Wednesday, fateful day for
Malaya, we heard the terrible news of the sinking by 70 Jap 'planes of the Prince of Wales
and the Repulse. Our spirits fell - and it was cold comfort to be told by Churchill over the
wireless "our hearts go out to you in Malaya tonight" Duff-Cooper spoke on the wireless and
we were told to expect even severer blows. We all felt that this could only mean the
subjection of Singapore and how right we were. But our spirits changed as the war went on.
News was 3/4 days delayed in reaching us and we learnt of the fall of Penang, Ipoh, Slim
River, Kuala Lumpur, Batu Pahat, Muar and then finally of the retreat onto the island on the
night of the full moon - Feb. 1st 1942.
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When we evacuated Penang - without warning the local population of our intention - our
beach post was reinforced by several of our Battery that had been working in Penang. They
had indeed a grim tale to tell. The Jap air raids killed about 3,000 civilians and there were
about 4 Brewster Buffaloes only to oppose them. All were shot down. The Japs tried
repeatedly to sink an ammunition ship - without success. Looting started in the city and all
services stopped when the civil population deserted the town and ran to the Hill. The dead
bodies in the streets began to decompose and the Volunteers were detailed to dispose of them
- which they did. Then suddenly the order to evacuate and not to tell the civil population.
This was a disgrace. The town was left undefended and for 3 days the Nips bombed it
without opposition. Dicky Hoops prophesied, and how right he was, that we should be