大象传媒

Written by Kenneth Waterson telegraphist (trained operator) as observed from the R class destroyer H.M.S Relentless at sea in the Malaccan Straits.

On September 1st 1945 we sailed out of Trincomalee as we had done many times, the lower deck hands battened down below until the habour had been cleared. Then we were allowed up top in the fresh air whilst the upper deck men not on watch went down below to get out of their lily white tropical uniforms. They had had to stand to and line the gunwales in time honoured ceremonial. That was the drill every time we entered or left harbour. It was the nearest thing to a sunday morning parade. The Japanese capitulated on September 2nd 1945.

This trip we reached landfall on the Malaysian side of the Bay of Bengal. All the way across was a double line of ships riding the swell, approximately half a mile apart, half a mile astern of each other. A sitting target before the war had ended. We sailed straight through the middle of them all. We went to Penang where HMS Nelson had her 16" guns trained on the town. The Royal Marines had taken 3000 Japs to the mainland of Malaya. We went into the harbour on September 4th and stood by with mosquito nets and khaki dress. We draped the mosquito nets down in the mess deck but still slept on the upper deck as there was no danger of mosquitos, someone had said. It was pleasanter on the upper deck.

The town was starving and just a small eastern affair, that had once been an important port. Some of the lads got ashore for a visit. Everybody wanted to go but numbers had to be restricted, leading hands and above only got to go.

The Japs we saw in Penang Harbour who were cruising around the harbour in a lighter(barge) were big beefy chaps. They were the General's bodyguard and they were waiting for him to come off HMS Nelson, where he was agreeing surrender terms locally. That General was a cruel man and had a lot to answer for. The inhabitants of Penang had had a grim time. Mind you the bar there which was called "Tokyo Bar" was hurriedly changed to "London Bar" when our lads got there.

We left Penang and went on working up exercises to cover landings. A whaler was sent ashore in charge of a sub-lieutenant. Revolvers were issued to the five man crew by the officer. They had a practise with the revolvers ashore on some island. The gun the officer kept for himself would not work for some reason. Why this exercise was held is not known. The whole ship's company watched the proceedings with amusement. During the working up spell, the 1st Lieutenant deliberately missed out B gun during one reload instruction. The Gun Captain, a beefy and popular Leading Seaman Gunner, had the gun reloaded not wishing to be caught out with out a shell up his "spout". When the 1st Lieutenant only ordered A, X and Y guns to fire, "Jock" was caught with "one up the spout". He had to report "B gun ready to fire sir". "Jimmy the One"(the 1st Lieutenant) gave him a dressing down over the "intercom";which all could hear. The round was fired out to sea to clear the gun. Everybody was keyed up.

On September 9th 1945 we overtook an invasion fleet and stood by at "Action Stations" from 05:00 to 13:00. With others we covered the landings at Port Dixon and Port Swettenham. Marines were put ashore during a long a slow operation. There were no incidents, the Japenese surrendered without resistance.

From there we sailed behind HMS Nelson and the French battleship, the Richelieu, to Singapore. I think we must have filled up both of our oil tanks or else we could not have spent all that time at sea. Perhaps we also refueled at sea, an oily business. I forget.

Going to Singapore, we took on board a Japanese pilot who guided us through an approach channel. The big ships let us go in front. I thought to myself, they are using us a live mine sweeping shield. Therefore I hung over the bow and looked out for mines with others. We went at full speed, to impress the battle wagons behind us. I expected the Japanese pilot to lead us into a batch of mines but he did not.

We saw some of the first troop ships sailing out of Singapore laden with sick ex-prisoners of war. Some of the lads got ashore, the off duty watch. They saw Japenese soldiers, now prisoners of war, working on government buildings. The work they had to do was digging up turfs and relaying them a few yards away. Some had spades, others used their bare hands. The Indian guards slapped them every time they stopped working to the cheers of the onlooking Chinese population. Some of the Jap's fainted in the heat. Later I did get to see them digging at the side of the road. I found out after that it was a stinking storm drain that they were clearing out. The Jap's were small and stocky, although they were muscular they appeared to be stupid looking. There were two rings of Indian troops to keep the local imhabitants from attacking them. We were allowed to walk through there ranks however, per a note of September 12th 1945.

It was monsoon time and when it rained it rained. That was what the storm drains were made for. After two hours of torrential rain it needed a storm drain to take the flood waters away. The storms are violent and forked lightning lights up the sky vividly. The sea blows violently rough at this time and strong cool winds blow. If sleeping out on the upper deck one was driven down below wet through. No chance of swimming either in the rough seas. Also the seas around Malaysia were shark infested nor were there any shark nets to keep them out. Reading Morse was difficult during electric storms the signal went up in pitch and then off the speaker returning seconds later.

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