´óÏó´«Ã½

William Coates Nicholls

Born: 29th April 1919 at 21, Church Street, Bridgwater, Somerset.
School: Started 1924 at St John’s CE School, Bridgwater
Lived: 21 Church Street, Bridgwater and district.
Started work: 1924, aged 14 as a Hairdresser, joining his father.

WW2 declared in September 1939 against Germany.

Navy:
· Joined the Navy October 25th 1939, at Butlin’s Holiday Camp Skegness, HMS Royal Arthur.
· Drafted to Plymouth November 30th 1939, HMS Drake
· Drafted to HMS Sultan II, Singapore. Left Plymouth by train to Portsmouth, to Cherbourg and on to Marseilles. Joined the cruise liner, Andes and on to Singapore arriving 1st May 1940.
· Drafted to HMS Dragonfly, a Yangtze river Gunboat, in which I served until April 27th 1941 when I was drafted back to barracks, HMS Sultan II, where I stayed until war broke out against Japan, after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, 6th December 1941. America declared war against Japan on this date.
· I was moved to the Pilot House and on a water boat, waiting for soldiers who were cut off. Then we moved to R.A.F. Selecter and after to an Admiralty tug, from there to a petrol station and then back to another tug called ‘Yung Ping’.
· We eventually left Singapore on Friday 13th, and sailed for Australia, but were sunk in Banka Strait two days later. After 16 hours in the sea clinging to the side of a small lifeboat, which only held 14 men, we were picked up by an R.A.F. Aircraft rescue launch and taken to Banka where we became Prisoners of War of the Japanese.
· A week later we sailed for Singapore and back to the Naval Base where the prisoners were confined on two ships that were anchored off the base and spread around on small launches. We were put on a 75 ton coaster named M.V. Rompin where we lived for 2 years 9 months.
· During this time we were employed on various jobs around the Naval Base, such as Road building, sawing timber for the Jap cookhouses, scraping the bottoms of ships, tending gardens, road sweeping and I also spent a period as boats crew.
· During this time we made two trips to Sumatra. The Japs pointed to a port in Sumatra and told us to take them there, so we had to work out the course and get them there. After one or two mishaps such as running aground, we found the port and proceeded up the jungle river to a jetty where we tied up and loaded large tree trunks. We took walks into the jungle along a light railway which was bringing the timber out to the jetty. On the second trip we were returning towing two barges alongside, plus very large tree trunks lashed on deck, when we struck a very bad tropical storm which was very fierce and frightening. We lost both barges and the fitted window frames in the front of the bridge blew out and crowned the Jap officer, knocking him semi-conscious. We had to carry him off the bridge. Eventually the storm blew itself out and we picked up one of the barges and returned to Singapore.
· On another occasion we were returning to Singapore when we hit a ship which had been sunk and had no marker buoy. This put a small hole in the ship, but we got back alright and were taken into dry dock, where the ship was repaired.
· We were blamed for this accident and one morning they marched nine of us up to the Kimpai-Tai (secret police) headquarters and taking six of us, one at a time, beat us with a stick like a baseball bat. They had two men hold our hands while one beat us. After taking 26 strokes I decided I’d had my lot and threw myself on the ground, where they left me. Eventually they threw a bucket of water over us and then locked us in a cell. An officer came out with a sword and made signs that he was going to chop our heads off. He then came back carrying 6 swords, still indicating he would chop off our heads, but after keeping us in the cell for another hour, they let us our and marched us back to the ship. One of our men had great difficulty making it as he had taken 95 strokes. Those of us who had been beaten could not sit down for at least 14 days as our seats were black, blue and purple, but we all recovered in time.
· After about 18 months on this ship they gathered together all the prisoners that were left and put us together on 2 old ships that were anchored about 200 yards off their headquarters in the naval base. At this time we were beginning to beat the Japs. You could see a big ship from the naval base and come back 2 days later limping in with a big hole in the side or stern, so we were sinking a lot of their ships.
· From then on our food supply got worse and worse and after another 9 months our numbers had dwindled to around 45, because of illness so they sent us to the Changi Gaol. Now Changi Gaol was built on a model of Sing Sing in USA. It had a 22 ft wall with watch towers on each corner. Inside was a road around, then another wall 18ft high inside which were built the cell blocks three storeys high with a steel grid across between the cells. In these blocks we lived 4 men to a cell and then the steel grid across the middle was packed with as many men as could be fitted in.
· Surrounding the gaol were atap huts, which were wooden structures, with woven palm leaf roofs and thousands of men living outside. I was employed as Hairdresser to the warrant officers of whom there were approximately 150 living in a hut built in one of the courtyards in the gaol. So I was transferred to a hut next door which was much better than the cell block.
· From this time on rations got shorter and men were going down more and more with malaria, dysentery, beri-beri and all sorts of malnutritional problems. So sometimes I was sent on to the Aerodrome to work. Prisoners built this Changi Airport, which is still being used today. We were marched off in the morning to work and the airport was made by digging away a hill and filling a swamp. This work was all done by hand, digging and filling small baskets which were passed along a line of men and then put into a cart and dumped where needed. While working there one day, 3 flying Fort planes came over and dropped some bombs on the other end of the airfield which the Japs were using. This was the first sign in 3 years of an assurance that our forces were fighting back.
· From this time on everything gradually got worse and we were receiving ½ pint of plain sloppy like porridge for breakfast, ½ pint plain cooked rice for lunch plus 1 pint of rice in the evening with some vegetables, which we had grown in the gardens surrounding the jail. With each meal we had a cup of tea without milk or sugar.
· As prisoners we were paid 10 cents a day for sick prisoners, 20 cents for light work men and 30 cents for heavy work men. I was in the middle category so I had about $6 dollars a month to spend which usually bought enough tobacco for 1 month, plus a sheet of newspaper to roll cigarettes. About the only other thing you could buy on the camp black market was some palm oil to put on your rice which was supposed to contain some nutritional benefit.
· During all the time we were prisoners in the gaol we got news of the war on a secret radio which was run by some very brave men. We eventually heard the news of a new type of bomb being dropped on Japan. Then a few days later we heard Japan had surrendered.
· Then a new complication arose, because the Jap Commander of Malaya, a General Yamashito, known as the Tiger of Malaya ( but by us as General Shito) refused to surrender. This lasted about 10 days until he eventually decided to comply with the Jap Emperor’s orders.
· So the great day, August 15th 1945, for which we had waited for 3 ½ years, dawned and most of the Japs disappeared. The few that remained, instead of being brutal guards, became very servile and instead of us bowing to them they began bowing to us. A few days later some British officers and men dropped in by parachute and in case they were in need of a haircut, I got in touch with them. I had my first taste of normal food, some eggs and bacon; what a marvellous treat after eating rice for 3 ½ years.
·

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