'His Life Worth Living' - Page 50:
WED MAY 13: Another general parade this morning on which Callaghan addressed the parade for last time. He seemed to express doubt as to going back to home on this trip. He seemed to make out it is another working party for Japs. Spirit of men still as high as ever never the less and everyone confident we are going to Timor and thence home. Nothing done about B2 men yet. Some talk of us going on hospital ship. I am not cheered with the prospect of parting with Jerry. They seem to be going away definitely tomorrow and things are going to be very quiet. I flat with him. Everyone busy going over their kits. More parades. One thing about our crowd, if they do get a chance they bung on parades. I bet the Japs wouldn’t have a parade a week. Last parade last night was at 10.30 “To see if the packs were properly packed.”
THURS MAY 14: Everyone going away, turned out at 5am this morning to dump their packs in heaps to be picked up. Later at 6am 30, 3 ton trucks came and picked them and a large number of men who were the final party to go to Singapore. I think we will have to move out of this building into A/T. It will be much better. Well all the fit men have gone and only we crocks are left. They left 40 to a truck and very tightly packed but very happy never the less. They had a good lunch of stew, a little stronger than usual, with their rice and a bun. Each man of our unit had 2 buns emergency ration in case the Jap lets the men down, for he promised to feed them en route, they have a little tinned stuff and biscuits put by. Things are very quiet here now but we may not be here very long. There would not be more than 15,000 men left now and 1000 of those at hospital. Afternoon the longest I have known since I have been in Changi but it had its compensations at tea time for we had a REAL MEAT PIE with ROAST SWEET POTATOES and TEA with milk and sugar in, the PEARS with rice. Surely food for the gods. Too good for us anyhow after all the weeks of eternal rice. We also had 2 buns which I could not eat and which I kept for supper when I am told we get COFFEE. A day to be remembered for although the meat in the pie was tinned tongue it was delicious and the first real taste of meat for 3 months. There are 25 Gunners altogether, 20 Officers and the rest N.C.O’s making about 80 in all. Tomorrow the a/15 and A/T are coming into the same building so we will very likely go back to ordinary fare again. I wonder how the boys are getting on in Singapore I understand they went straight to the boats and will be sailing, destination unknown, at midnight. I think the place will be Timor alright where they will be camped pending an exchange of prisoners. We are with the convalescent class here and there is a possibility we will go home in the hospital ship. I hope Jerry makes the trip O.K. for he is a very good scout and the only one who did not change or alter with the times under which we passed which is more than can be said of most of the men here, for, with the tightening of belts and shortage of smokes, men get very short in the temper, yours truly included. But Jerry is always the same and is never put out. He is deliberate in his speech, verbose perhaps, but what he says is usually well thought out and he rarely makes a mistake. Which I suppose is not surprising considering he holds a high position in the National Bank. He is what I would term “A good fellow” and I was very sorry to be parted from him. Learned today for the first time of the terrible casualties we inflicted on Japs at Bukit Timor Village during the last few days of the war here. 5,000 killed. Shows how determined they were to take the place. But we were outnumbered at least 5 – 1 and very tired from 3 weeks fighting with very little rest. Even then we did not lose the Battle for the Jap realizing he would never get us to give in by fighting us, used that other dreadful weapon. Firing on the civilian population of Singapore – a mob of about 1,500,000 crammed in a space the size of a small town where every shell that fell must kill people. We had to give in at this stage. But there is still a doubt in our minds. Why did “they” not allow us to keep firing when the Japs were landing on the Island and why did they not allow us to destroy our guns before handing them over to the Jap. These and a host of other questions will have to be answered eventually and I well say it will be a very interesting story, one which will reveal quite a lot. For there can be no shadow of a doubt that if we had been allowed to fire when the Japanese were landing in Kranji and other places then we would have held them off for a few days more at least. We had coffee and biscuits for supper which was very much enjoyed. Had long yarn with Jules on matters pertaining to war and Jap and he found them mostly very good at Bakit Timor, where he was working. Got some interesting facts from him and also learned he was on a burial party for 3 A.I.F. whom they found. It appears the party working there are still finding remains even after nearly 2 months. It was here the Jap suffered his biggest losses namely at least 6,000 dead and according to him the Jap is building the road and monument as a memorial to the Jap dead.
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