大象传媒

The European war was over. As an air mechanic with 882 Royal Naval Air Squadron on H.M.S.Searcher, I was looking forward to leave after we had been operating out of Scapa Flow for several weeks. Our last operation against the German U-Boat base at Kilbotn in Norway, was one of the last Fleet Air Arm operations of the European war.

Following a ten day leave we reported back to the ship in the River Clyde, knowing that our destination was to the Far East. We sailed from there into Belfast to pick up supplies and then south on our journey through the Mediterranean Sea. Our first port of call was Port Said in Egypt, we spent one night there and had the opportunity to go ashore. The next part of our journey was through the Red Sea in to the Indian Ocean where we proceeded through heavy seas as the South West Monsoon was in full force. The ship arrived at the port of Cochin, India in July. After a short stay in Cochin we then travelled to Ceylon (Sri-Lanka) arriving in Colombo harbour where the air squadron was disembarked. We had to load our tools and equipment aboard L.C.I.s (Landing Craft Infantry). The unloading was particularly difficult at the docks due to the heavy ocean swell in Colombo harbour, with the landing craft bobbing up and down.

Our destination was the naval airfield at Katakarunda. This airfield appeared to have been constructed as a temporary air base and was surrounded by jungle. The runway consisted of formed steel strips set in the earth.

Upon our arrival at the base we were assembled in front of the adminstration hut and given a lecture by a naval officer on the dangers of the area and the things to watch out for. He informed us that the previous week, a British civilian engineer had been murdered in the area.
Also we were advised not to leave our tool boxes unattended, or other items that could be stolen. Certainly not a lecture to boost ones confidence.

On the second day at Katakarunda, we wwere told to report to the sick bay to be vaccinated. A few of the guys were afraid to have the vaccination and one guy in particular stated there was no way that he was going to have the procedure done, he had a long standing hatred of the navy that went back to an incident at a naval air station in England, so his reasons were not the same as the others. I had my own reasons also, the fact was that I had been vaccinated less than a year before and did not think I should be required to have it again.
The result was twelve of us getting together and deciding to refuse the vaccination. I had previously studied the Kings Rules and Regulations while stationed at an air station in Scotland and recalled about the only thing you could legitimately refuse was vaccination, when I told the group about this, they were all very encouraged. Consequently the twelve of us refused.

A day passed and I thought the situation was resolved and there would be no further action. Then on the following day, the squadron was ordered to assemble outside the administration hut. A P.O. had a list in his hand and he called out my name to step forward, then continued calling out the other eleven names of the refusniks. It then became fairly obvious that we were in trouble and without a doubt I was considered as being the ringleader.
The Squadron Commander stepped forward and addressed us, he said " I know that I cannot force you twelve to be vaccinated , but I would strongly suggest that you reconsider your actions. However if you persist, from this day on none of you will be allowed out of the base and when we return to the ship, you will never be allowed ashore anytime we are in port. These conditions will apply until the war is over and we return to England". After considering the bleak prospects of being confined to the ship or shore base for several months or even years, we all decided to relent.

If the next phase was intentional or not, I will leave the reader to make the judgement. We went to the sick bay for the vaccination and I received nine cuts on my arm, consequently the wound became infected, forcing me to return to the sick bay. When the sick bay attendant saw my arm he immediately called the M.O. in, the M.O.s first words astonished me, he said " where the hell did you get that done ?", my response was "here sir" to which he replied "no you did not". I then said "I had it done here yesterday sir". The next words from the M.O. really shocked me, "are you listening to me, you did not get that done here". I got the message. They did however treat my infected arm and it subsequently healed, although leaving a nasty scar for several months afterwards.

About two weeks later the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. We were then in Trincomali naval base as part of Admiral Mountbatten's invasion force assembled for the assault on Singapore.

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