大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from CSV actiondesk on behalf of Philip Kaiserman and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Kaiserman fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

This part of my story begins on 10 October 1945 when my unit (RAF Servicing Commando Unit 3209), landed in Saigon the then Capital of French Indo China. Occupied by the Japanese and Headquarters and Headquarters of the Japanese Commander 鈥� in Chief, Count Terauchi.

We then made our way to Tan Son Nhut airport where we were to be based. On our arrival at the airport the first thing to do was to decide where to set up our camp, living quarters, cooking facilities etc. We spent the first night sleeping on the concrete floor of an aircraft hanger. Next day we spent organizing the building of huts for our use. These were of bamboo structure, big enough to sleep ten men. Local labour was used to do the cooking and any other menial jobs around the camp. This of course was normal. The white man must not be seen to do any of 鈥渢he dirty work鈥�, the natives must be shown to be below the Europeans.

The Allied Supreme Commander South East Asia Command was Lord Louis Mountbatten who was based in Singapore. Mountbatten called all Japanese Commanders in South East Asia to go to Singapore to the Surrender Ceremony. Count Terauchi informed Mountbatten that he could not travel as he had difficulty walking due to a recent stroke. Lord Mountbatten sent a Royal Navy surgeon to examine Terauchi and as a result agreed to go to Saigon to take Terauchi鈥檚 surrender.

Mountbatten arrived at Tan Son Nhut airport on 29 November 1945. As he climbed down out of his aircraft, a Douglas DC3 that was used as his flying HQ along with another fitted out as a flying communications unit, he was met by a guard of honour of which I was a member.

After being greeted by General Douglas Gracey and the other Staff Offices he called all the troops to gather round as he wanted to speak to us. The statement he made to us that day was eventually to have great significance, yet search as I may, I cannot find any reference to it. This is not a verbatim report of what he said as I did not take notes, nevertheless it is a true record of the substance of what Lord Louis Mountbatten said on Tan Son Nhut airport that day.

He wanted to make it clear that as far as he was concerned we should not 鈥渂elieve the stories we read in the press that the dropping of the Atom Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagassaki had brought about the end of the war and the Japanese surrender. I can tell you that as Supreme Commander South East Asia Command when I issued the demand to the Japanese C-in-C to surrender, the reply was that they would gladly issue the order to surrender if I (Lord Louis Mountbatten) would tell them where their troops were.鈥� They were in such a ghastly state they had no idea of the disposition of the troops. In fact it was reported that the Burma Area Army had received no supplies or reinforcements since December 1944. The Japanese 18th Army in New Guinea had no supplies since April 1944 and some units were reduced to cannibalism.

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