大象传媒

In the summer of 1945, HMS Hunter sailed to Colombo, Ceylon, but harboured at Trincomalee, the Naval Base on the East Coast of Ceylon. My Army base was in Colombo on the West side where the squadrons were based. Supreme HQ was high in the hills at Newar Elia. I had an Army jeep to maintain contact. I was therefore able to explore the lovely island of Ceylon while the pilots trained for jungle warfare.

Here it was decided that the pilots required 3 months鈥� training on their new Mustang aircraft and were anyway unlikely to be needed in the Burmese campaign. However, I was called to Louis Mountbatten鈥檚 headquarters and briefed for further operations. Accordingly, I reported in Calcutta (then the gateway to Burma) to receive my instructions from the Army Liaison Officer with 14th Army. From here I was flown to Burma together with my jeep and driver. I joined two RAF officers charged with surveying potential landing strips.

Over the next two weeks, I explored Burma, driving up to Mandalay to inspect the damage done by the Japanese and meeting a delightful English resident who had spent two years hiding from the Japanese in the forest. He presented me with a number of prints of the pre-War way of life in Burma.

We had to cross the Irrawaddy by raft as all the bridges had been destroyed.

Japanese soldiers were still around and liable to fire at us as we passed. It transpired that the batteries in their radios were flat and so they had not received any orders to clear out.

RAF planes were dropping rifles and ammunition so that local resistance could attack the Japanese.

The 9th Army was charging down to Burma and by the time I got back to Calcutta. Photos taken by RAF aircraft showed messages on the roof of Rangoon Jail stating: 鈥淛APS GONE鈥�.

So I returned to Calcutta and back to Trincomalee. However orders came from S.E.A.C. HQ for an Army Officer to collect the orders for the invasion of Malaya.

I was flown to Bombay on the West Coast of India and arrived at the start of the monsoon, with 27 inches of rain falling on Bombay and putting the airport out of action for four days. Finally the orders arrived and I set off in an American transport plane flying down to Ceylon.

When I finally got back to Trincomalee I found the fleet had already sailed and was waiting for orders off the Andaman Isles. Back on board HMS Hunter, I found the pilots and crew of 817 Squadron had challenged the ship鈥檚 crew to a game of deck hockey to pass the time away. The game paused while the postal helicopter landed me, the orders and the post for the crew 鈥� a popular arrival!

The following day we sailed for Penang to escort the Indian Army in transporters down to the Malayan coast.

A Japanese kamikaze suicide plane tried to torpedo HMS Hunter but was shot down by our escorting destroyer.

As we reached Penang we were informed that the Japanese Army was prepared to surrender and a small Japanese patrol boat came out to escort HMS Hunter into harbour.

The Admiral in the Command battleship sailed onto Singapore where Admiral Mountbatten prepared to accept the Japanese surrender.

On 6th September 1945, the Japanese commanders came on board HMS Hunter to agree terms for the hand-back of Penang.

Two days later we sailed down to Singapore to join the rest of the fleet. There was great rejoicing and a rush by the Indian and British Army to open Changi and other jails. I joined to free some of the prisoners and recovered for them the watches etc purloined by the Japanese. We had strict orders not to feed the prisoners as they were emaciated but RAMC produced tonics etc and we helped to bring them back to health.

The War was over and HMS Hunter sailed for home at Portsmouth. Disembarkation and freedom from Service lay ahead. Captain Torlesse asked me to collect World News and broadcast daily to the ship鈥檚 crew and passengers to help them with the future problems of disembarkation.

I was able to brush up my accountancy by teaching book-keeping and accountancy. This helped me towards passing my final Chartered Accountancy exam which had been delayed by the War for five years.

The Army gave me six months disembarkation leave plus a suit and overcoat, and normal life was resumed.

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