大象传媒

This is Michael Charnaud鈥檚 story: it has been added by Pauline Colcutt (on behalf of the Fernhurst Centre), with permission from the author who understands the terms and conditions of adding his story to the website.

An unusual and true story of a young boy who with his mother became a prisoner of both the Germans and the Japanese May 1942 - August 1945

CHAPTER 8 - END OF THE WAR AND JOURNEY TO SYDNEY (PART THREE)

We slowed as we entered the outer harbour to see the most awe inspiring sight of the greatest concentration of naval shipping in history lying at anchor before our eyes. Here were the task forces that had crushed the pride of Japan鈥檚 great Navy from Midway to the Coral Sea; from the Solomons to the Phillipines, with the great Battle of Leyte Gulf, and from the Mariannas and Saipan, through to Iwo Jima and the Kamikaze battles off Okinawa, to the bombardment of the Coastal Cities of Japan. Here were the Battle ships and aircraft 鈥� carriers , and the men who had done it all, the Seabees, the sailors, the GI鈥檚, and all the vast attendant train of Landing Craft, supply vessels and oil tankers of the US Navy. It was a spectacle never ever to be forgotten as we sailed past slowly through the anchored ranks of hundreds upon hundreds of ships, not forgetting also the large and substantial force of the Royal Navy Pacific Fleet, as well as a contingent from Australia and New Zealand. We lined up on deck of the destroyer as we cruised slowly through this vast armada, barely able to speak, filled with awe and pride when faced with the sheer magnitude, the scale and the power of the free world in winning this war. I have no idea how many ships were there riding at anchor but it must have been well over a thousand vessels possibly far more. Then as we approached the inner harbour I looked out to view the Port of Yokohama. Here was the greatest shock of all! From the bustling, busy port of three years previous, there was now only a total and utter ruin. The ship came slowly into the inner harbour and on the north side, I could see about 5 tall factory chimneys still standing. The land where the buildings of the port once stood was absolutely flat, with the roads all bulldozed clear, with the remains of the buildings and rubble barely three foot high above the ground. In the distance a few hundred yards away from the sea shore was one solitary gutted derelict building still standing. Otherwise all that one could see was the rubble covering the gentle slope of the hills around the port rolling away miles into the distance. The total and utter destruction of the great Port of Yokohama which with Tokyo is one great conurbation, had of course all been caused not by the Atom Bomb, but by plain conventional firebombing bombing as a devastating retribution for the infamy of Pearl Harbour. B29 Super Fortresses from Saipan, with incendiaries, and a gigantic firestorm had totally obliterated the city, and we were here to view the remaining ash and cinders, and contrast it in our memories with the humming metropolis we had seen just three years before! We arrived at the quay in the late afternoon and were transferred to a large LST (Landing Ship Tank) , its cavernous interior fitted out with rows of bunks and camp beds for us to spend the night. We were again given a large generous meal in the bountiful tradition of the US Navy and settled in for our second night away from our camp. The following morning after the usual American hearty breakfast , we boarded a small landing craft to meet the Royal Navy and our new home aboard HMS Ruler an assault carrier, which had been part of the British Pacific task force. Here there was a very different atmosphere on board in contrast to the fast 鈥� Get up and Go鈥� attitude on the US ships and lavish material all around. In its place there was a quiet crisp efficiency but all extra comforts were very carefully costed and rationed out! We joined a ship with a complement of 600 to which over the next couple of days were added 445 POW s to give a total of about 1,050 people cramped and packed for the voyage down to Sydney. Whilst in the harbour, the nearest ship to us lying off our port bow, only a few hundred yards away was the great battleship the USS Missouri, aboard which General MacArthur three weeks earlier had received the Formal Surrender of all the forces under the Emperor of Japan. She towered above us, her great 16 inch guns on the extremely long foredeck, must have made her a very fitting and powerful reminder to the Japanese High Command of the awesome power that America possesses when it gets angry, and what it can deploy. 55 years later whilst in Pearl Harbour I was able with my wife to stroll its decks, now part of the US Navy Maritime Museum, and just remember our first sight of her, and the comfort we gained from being such a close neighbour in the port of Yokohama at the end of the War!

Aboard the Ruler we could at last relax, chat with the officers and crew, catch up on news, and read some British papers, and magazines such as Picture Post and the Illustrated London News. We had followed the broad thread of the war thanks to Fred Garner鈥檚 translations of the Japanese press. Now we began to learn in more detail the things that had brought victory all about, and the scientific dimension to the whole military effort. For the first time we learnt of Radar, sonar, penicillin, Whittle鈥檚 new Jet engine, the 10ton Block buster bomb, Lancaster Bombers, the Dambusters just to name a few. Then there were all the other ex- prisoners from military camps all over Japan to compare notes with. One sizeable group of Army personnel mostly Australian were from a camp at Hiroshima, just on the other side of the hill from where the Atom bomb was dropped. They were made to work in the shipyards near there, heard the explosion and then saw the fireball ascending to 40,000 ft . Fortunately the hill had protected them from the flash and they had not been injured at all..

On the 14th September in the late afternoon, the anchor was hauled up with a deep vibrating rumble and we were at last slowly under way. The ship鈥檚 Royal Marine Band stood on the flight deck with all the sailors lined up and played 鈥淚n the Mood鈥� and 鈥淭he Saints go Marching in鈥�, 鈥淏less 鈥榚m All鈥�, and other Glen Miller and Bing Crosby tunes, and everyone was overjoyed as we waved and cheered our hearts out to the other vessels of that giant armada as we slowly passed by, to at last be sailing from Japan on the first leg of the long voyage home. The crew of the 鈥淩uler鈥� had been continually at sea for over 5 months since they had left Sydney to arrive at the tail end of the battle of Okinawa. Now all they could think of, were the pleasures of Sydney and then back to UK. The ship was one of the many small carriers hurriedly built in America to help their island hopping attack of Japan and also to give air cover to the North Atlantic Convoys. The Ruler鈥檚 hull was laid down at Tacoma, Washington in September 1943 and she was completed by December only three months later, as part of the amazing crash build up of ships in America. Nearly 500 ft long with a GRT of 15,000 tons she sailed for Vancouver and was commissioned on the 25th February 1944 to the Royal Navy under 鈥渓end - lease鈥�. Some of the crew at that commissioning were still with the ship and had now sailed over 78,200 miles or more than three times round the world when we had joined her. Basically it had the hull of a large 鈥淟iberty Cargo Ship鈥� which was a standard pattern, but instead of the normal superstructure, a flat top flight deck had been added, a side bridge and control tower with its radar etc. and a cavernous interior with a hydraulic aircraft lift . In all she could carry about 30 planes, which included some Avengers, but a lot of the bent wing Corsair fighters. At the time of our arrival the total number of planes had been halved through losses, none from enemy action, but all due to various accidents, in landing, take off faulty engines etc. One slow Walrus amphibious spotter plane had even been blown overboard in a gust because the crew had been slow to tie it down onto the flight deck! But as with everything to do with the war at its end , nobody seemed to care, getting home was all that mattered. Earlier the Ruler had been used to carry planes and strategic supplies across the North Atlantic, making a total of three crossings, but finally in the autumn of 1944 she had been stationed at Belfast where the complicated job of operating planes from the carrier was finally commenced with the arrival of 885 Squadron fresh from the Normandy beaches. In January 1945 the long voyage East began, culminating with its arrival in Sydney in March and then on to join the Pacific Fleet at the battle at Okinawa, and strikes on the Islands of Sakashima off the North East of Taiwan. After the battles there, she had retired to re-supply at Manus in the Admiralty Is. and there teamed up with the fleet carrier HMS Implacable for attacks on the large Japanese Naval base at Truk. Finally she had dropped anchor in Tokyo Bay on August 31st having been at sea 57 days since leaving Manus.

Water was the big problem aboard, as after all the months at sea, supplies were limited and distillation was slow for so many people. Unfortunately they could not take on fresh water in Yokohama as the supply was contaminated and very suspect and so we were strictly rationed to two pints per head per day. The ship was full of wild cats which were everywhere, There were about three dozen of them, which had started off as a pair from England and had gradually bred exponentially. They were so wild that no one apart from the ship鈥檚 cook could touch them without getting scratched. In the afternoon however the cook would feed and handle them and they would all suddenly appear in the hanger to receive their rations. For the crew they were considered good luck in spite of their rude manners, and so we all journeyed together back to civilisation, cats, Pows and the Royal Navy Crew. My first night in a hammock bunk was so hot and cramped as there were 5 layers that once in bed it was almost impossible to turn over without being hit by the guy above or below. Also the excessive heat did not help, so next night I made myself a nice nest in the body of an Avenger in the hanger, and there I slept quietly away free from all the crush with only the odd cat for company all the way down to Sydney.
It was marvellous being at sea again and cruising over the blue Pacific which was quite calm except for the heavy swell. On the first day I lay on the Flight Deck with my legs dangling over the forward edge relishing the cool breeze, but I got very severely sunburnt and never repeated that again and instead would lie under one of the wings of a Corsair fighter for shade and read a book. In the afternoons the flight deck would be the scene of team games, usually hockey and anyone who wanted could take part. Later at sundown there would be an issue of the standard Navy ration of grog (diluted rum) and sometimes a bottle of beer each, I would collect mine, and pass my ration each day to the Geordie seamen who had been so good in looking after me in the camp, and who welcomed now the extra supplement! The crew and other POW were all amazed when I told them my young age, as most assumed that on account of my height, I must be at least 18 years old. I certainly felt far older than my years. I was a child when taken prisoner, but now over three years later, of which two years living in the sole company of men, and having to be quick witted with the enemy, and also smart in learning how to evaluate characters under stress, made me feel very mature, but all I wanted to do was to catch up on my education. Whilst cruising the Pacific before we reached Manus Mother wrote her first Air letter to brother Hugh in Ceylon on September 20th

鈥溾�︹��.Michael and I have been through the mill alright鈥攁nd Michael has taken it like a man with never a grumble and admirable behaviour throughout 鈥� when one was very tempted to lapse and go off the straight road with intense hunger and cold to contend with---I have aged quite 10 years- I lost pounds in weight- from 10 stone I went down to 6 陆 stone, but I have already worked up to 8 stone and Michael is also getting very fat 鈥攏early every man on board has put on over a stone--we are being fed on the fat of the land 鈥�.鈥�

I also wrote to Father in Ceylon an Air letter giving him for the first time a brief account of our capture by the German Navy and subsequent imprisonment in Japan (copy enclosed)

Some of the military prisoners that we met had harrowing tales to tell. One example alone I will recount here. There was an officer I think of the 2nd Battallion 鈥淭he Cambridgeshire Regiment鈥� whose captivity had started at Changi Jail, in Singapore on February 15th 1942. Disease was rampant, overcrowding appalling but then he, together with 109 other members of his regiment, were transferred in October by rail, river barge, truck and forced marches, being sniped at by Thai bandits, until they finally reached Chunkai jungle camp and began work on the notorious Burma - Siam railway. They had to cut through 300 miles of virgin jungle and out of roughly 45,000 white POWs some 15,000 died and a further 32,000 Chinese, Tamils and Malays also perished during the years of construction. Japanese policy was if you could stand, you could walk, and if you could walk, you could work! After a year, having survived this ordeal, he returned in the same manner back to Singapore. But on July 4th 1944 he was packed in with 1,287 men into the holds of a small ex- British tramp built in 1904 bound for Japan. Conditions were so hot and cramped and there was no room even to lie down. Sailing via Borneo they reached Manila in 20 days when because of engine failure they had to spend a further 58 days in harbour during which period 94 men died. Finally when the ship put to sea on the very first day in a convoy of 8 transports, American Torpedo Bombers sunk the entire lot. Out of the original 1,287 men now only 221 got ashore and were taken back to Manila. On October 1st 150 of these survivors together with 1,116 Americans were battened down again in the holds of a 3,000 ton steamer. All the way to Taiwan the convoy was attacked by allied aircraft and submarines and only 2 out of 8 ships made it to port, with a further 34 prisoners dying at sea. Water had been rationed to 1 pint a day and twice a week 50 men were allowed on deck to wash in seawater for 10 minutes. In January the party finally reached a camp in North Japan and were put to work in a lead mine, were another 14 died. Out of the 110 men of the Cambridgeshires鈥� only 8 survived the whole ordeal.

On Saturday 22nd September there was a ships concert, in which both crew and passengers all made contributions. Gabriella Lyon sang French songs There was a Cabaret of sailors in drag and the proceedings were started off solemnly by the Padre reciting from the Chronicle of St. Jago:

Cont/鈥︹�ee A Child鈥檚 War Part Eighteen

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