大象传媒

We were in Singapore a few days when Singapore got bombed. There was supposed to be a Jap convoy, an invasion convoy up the coast of Malaya, and we went up there to intercept them. We had the Repulse and 3 destroyers with us. If we'd got amongst them, it would have been all well and good, but the only thing was we were found out before. The Admiral, Admiral Philips, he decided to return to Singapore. On the way back we got a message to say there had been a landing further down the Malay Straits at Katan.
We went in to see what that was, but there was no invasion there. We put to sea again, but picked up about 87 Japanese bombers, torpedo bombers and dive bombers, I mean high-level bombers. The first hit we got, unfortunately, was right in the screws of the Prince Of Wales. From pictures which I've seen and divers' reports, the 2 torpedo hits, you could get a double-decker bus through. That twisting the whole screw up ...

We headed out to sea and picked up the Japanese aircraft. The first 2 torpedoes sent the whole screw shaft right up, and the screw turning opened up the whole stern of the ship. We took on thousands of tons of water, immediately took a list and that put the generators out, and most of the AA guns. It left us a sitting duck. I watched from my action station at the aft rangefinder, and I was able to see the Repulse being hit and sunk and going under. Then we got the order to abandon ship ourselves. HMS Express, a destroyer, came alongside, and many of us managed to jump across onto the destroyer and were taken back to Singapore.

You might be a bit scared, but discipline and drill takes over. You knew exactly what to do. When you're in a naval barracks in Dock with nothing to do, you're more scared because you've nothing to do. But aboard ship you have a job to do.

I was in Singapore wireless station. I got sent there until the Japanese invaded the island. They were just a couple of miles from where the wireless station was. I eventually left Singapore on a ship, an auxiliary minesweeper named HMS Koala, which was trying to do a mini Dunkirk. This was civilians - women and children and all the rest of it. We left on Friday the 13th - good day, wasn't it? The next morning alongside a small island half a dozen Japanese aircraft picked us up and bombed us. We took a few direct hits. We managed to get the civilians into lifeboats. There was a big lot killed aboard ship. Then the Japanese planes kept coming round and circled and machine-gunning in the water and onto the small island. The island was called Pom-Pom island as a matter of fact. Junks came, one thing and another, and got a lot of people away to Sumatra. The Navy personnel waited until the last, until the women and children and nurses and so on got away.

We got through Sumatra to a place called Padang, on the west coast of Sumatra. I got taken prisoner on St Patrick's Day.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.