大象传媒

In 1944 and the war was very active in Europe, most service people when they had finished their trade training were sent overseas, mostly to Burma which was a scene of great conflict. After I had finished my training, and I was posted overseas. I was sent to Morecombe to get kitted out, and along with others I was issued with my tropical kit. We were then given inoculations and further training before going overseas. Some of our party were then told we were 鈥榦ff the draft鈥� and to hand back our tropical kit. We were then moved down to RAF Hennisford in Staffordshire. On arrival there we were told to go to the stores and draw our kit, upon which were issued with army uniform, despite being enlisted in the RAF. We couldn鈥檛 understand why we were issued with army uniform. After kit issue, we were taken under the wing of the RAF Regiment who trained us in military tactics in a very intense manner. We were then told to go to the stores where we were issued with tropical kit, but instead of the pith helmet, we were issued with bush hats. The boots we were issued with were called mosquito boots and were made of suede and came up to just below the knee with a tape to tie around the top. We were also issued with putties. We were then taken to Liverpool where we boarded a ship. The only briefing we were given initially was that we were going to an island in the Pacific. We hoped it would be Hawaii. Once at sea we were given further details, that we were bound for Japan and were to form part of the invasion force. Our target date for landing on Japan was 1st November 1945. We were also told to expect 75% casualties. The reason our party was to be included in the first wave of the attack, being RAF, was that we were an airfield construction squadron, previously unheard of made up of bricklayers, concrete layers, plant operators i.e. bull dozer drivers. It seemed that immediately after an area of land was captured, we would be used to build a landing strip, most trades needed to build a strip were attached to these 3 squadrons. The ship that we were aboard was the Empress of Australia and we were bound for Okinawa where we would disembark and prepare for the invasion. Our route was across the Atlantic and pass through the Panama Canal. We were given some restricted shore leave at Panama before entering the Canal. We had to stay in the dock area and the USO put on an entertainment show for us. That was where I had my first taste of Coco Cola. We were also given some 鈥榞oodies鈥�, things that we hadn鈥檛 been getting in England, like sweets and ice cream. We then set off through the canal, and during our journey we had an American commentator on the tannoy who vividly described the history and difficulties of how the canal was first conceived and built. He described the technical difficulties in the construction and the disease which had been rife during the canal鈥檚 construction. It was most interesting and the detail has remained with me to this day. On reaching the other end of the canal, we stopped off at Colon the town at the Pacific Ocean end; Christabel being the town at the Atlantic Ocean end. We were then joined by an escort of 7 British destroyers, 3 on either side and one ahead as there were Japanese submarines operating in the area. We next headed for Hawaii, which had been our first thoughts on hearing of an island in the Pacific, then on to Pearl Harbour, where we could still see the remains of some of the ships which had been sunk there, the masts and the superstructures were still atop the water. We were given about a week ashore there in Honolulu and some American dollars spending money. We were treated very well by the Americans. During our time in Honolulu the Atomic Bomb was dropped. We, the ordinary service man had only heard it was another big bomb, but didn鈥檛 realise the significance of it. We had only been a few days at sea again, when we heard that Japan had surrendered, at this time we were heading for Manila in the Philippines. On arrival at Manila we didn鈥檛 get ashore, but took on some supplies and set off again for the Marshal Islands, eventually heading towards Admiralty Islands towards Australia. We didn鈥檛 get ashore there either, and continued sailing in the Empress of Australia. Due to some political debate, American opinion said, the British needn鈥檛 go back to Hong Kong it should be handed over to the Chinese, who said that was a good idea and they would be in Hong Kong in 10 days to repossess the island again from the Japanese who were occupying the island. The nearest British troops were at Burma, and it was estimated that it would take them 3 weeks to get to Hong Kong. Then someone remembered that there was a ship load of RAF fellows sailing around the Pacific with nothing to do. Idea, 鈥淲e鈥檒l send them to Hong Kong鈥�. So there we went. During our journey we had crossed the Equator and it was announced over the tannoy that we were due to cross the International Date Line during the night; that today was Saturday and tomorrow would be Monday. There were complaints that we had lost our day off, but amends were made and we attended church services on Monday instead. After the International Date line, we were hit by a typhoon and everyone on board was 鈥榓s sick as a dog鈥�, for three days and couldn鈥檛 eat. Eventually we arrived into Hong Kong. There were 3000 RAF on the ship and 20,000 Japanese in Hong Kong, officially they had surrendered, but had not handed over their armaments and we didn鈥檛 know what to expect. On our arrival in Kow Loon harbour the Japanese were in Barracks and things were uneventful, they surrendered without incident. 2000 Japanese took to the hills to evade being taken prisoner, they used to come down from there at night and carry out some minor attacks and pillaging. The other 18,000 surrendered without incident. Our RAF force had to take over the administration of the colony due to the British soldiers having to escort the prisoners back on the ship we had arrived on. The local police force was commanded by British Officers and Sergeants and, they were going back, as were the British civil administrators of the colony. There have been so many changes to the skyline of Hong Kong, the highest buildings at that time were only 4 stories tall, there was no electric lighting, the Japanese had let the power station fall into disrepair when they heard of their surrender. There was only one lorry in the whole colony, the surrendering force had ditched the others into the sea. Circumstances showed that 鈥榳e鈥� were the ideal force for such a situation, we had been trained for an invasion and had a vast range of skills in our body, ranging through engineers, administrators and medical staff to keep the colony 鈥榓float鈥� until replacement civilian authorities came out from Britain to resume control again. We had to police the whole area for some time. There was no money in the colony, we had no money, and had to be supplied with all the necessities of life, even down to cigarettes.

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