大象传媒

This is not my personal story but a letter which was treasured by my father George Chisholm from his best friend William (Bill) Grindley who died on the Burma Railway. I found this complete letter in my Dad's effects so I too treasure it in turn.

The letter does not deal with fighting but the day to day life of the lads in the regiment, from the eight week journey on board and insights of stops along the way.

Bill seems to have relished the travel and the times spent ashore but of course he couldn't say where his visits took place. I find it quite sad when he says that one day he would tell my dad all about them.

The lads seem to have had fun playing golf and going to the pictures and fishing and swimming. Playing tennis is something Bill and my Dad often did together.

It's nice that he mentions my mother Edith and me (I'm the baby). I was born November 1940 and the letter is dated June 1941.

I guess that after being away from home for four months would have seemed an eternity as they had no letters. He mentions the "Dig for Victory" and questions it, also that dad was in the Home Guard.

It is so sad that he experienced so much that he enjoyed but did not come home to share it with his friends and family. I am happy now that at least I know where he is but sorry that my father didn't - he didn't talk about Bill but had kept lots of photos of them together before the war began.

There must be more to Bill's story as he was in Malaya for another two years; I just have to hope it wasn't all spent being a prisoner of war.

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Here is the letter sent to George in June 1941.

"Dear George,
No doubt you will have been wondering where I was bound for, if you received my letter sent from the boat. It all happened so quickly that I only got the chance to send a short note home to say I was moving - we got word on the wednesday morning to get our kit ready and travelled during the night and were on the boat early on Thursday morning, that was the 20th March. The voyage out there took eight weeks and I had a great time on the boat - I managed to get ashore at two places and had a great time at both. I can't of course give you names of places but I'll tell you all about them some day. The first place we arrived at the people gave us a grand time and did everything possible to make us welcome. After seeing practically nothing but sea for a month we were glad to get ashore for a spell. My collection of foreign coins has grown a bit - I've got all sorts and sizes. It's remarkable how quick you get used to it. The next visit ashore was at a different country - we of course didn't get the same sort of welcome but we saw a good of the things we've heard and read so much about. It's a grand experience, and I hope I am able to see a few more on the road back. I was very lucky on the boat and was in a cabin - four to a cabin - so we were able to spend the voyage out in comfort.

I've been at this place for six weeks now, and am nicely settled down and looking forward to doing a bit exploring about the place. All the boys I came out with are still with me and at present living in tents but they are ok in the climate. The tents are the kind with both ends open, sometimes we wish the top was split as well. The climate isn't too bad - we are only about one and a half degrees off the line but it's a sort of humid heat and makes you perspire a good deal. It has been very hot the last few days - one of the boys said that they had a reading in the sun yesterday and it jumped to 130 degrees. I don't know if that was correct but it certainly felt like it. We get a lot of rain here - more than you get at home. It is only in showers though, and can start and finish and the sun shining again in a very short while. But what showers! Take the worst summer shower we used to get when we wanted to play tennis and multiply it by four and you will have something similar. In the town there are channels from three to four feet deep at the side of the road , so it must rain some in the rainy season - I reckon that lasts about six weeks. When it rains it's the only time you feel at all cool. Nobody bothers about it and you can be wet and then dry again in a short time.

We are out of town, but only about as far as Wylam and can get in quite easy. As a rule we don't bother to go in through the week and generally go about twice at the weekends - after pay day - we can spend enough there. It's quite a big place and is a very unusual sort of place - four fifths of the people are Chinese and there's always an infernal din from that stuff they call music. Some parts are quite modern but most of it looks though it would fall apart at any moment. There are a number of first class picture halls - very up to date and the pictures they show seem to be quite recent. The best of them is they are all air-conditioned and going in is like going into an ice box. Inside makes you feel like being at home, it's about the only place you can escape from that very strong Eastern smell. The town is quite interesting and there are all kinds of merchants down back alley sort of places. It's quite a job buying anything and you have to barter for everything you buy out here. The currency is dollars and cents - a dollar is worth about 2/4 and we reckon the cents as a little more than a farthing each. When you buy you ask his price first and then offer him about half - if you get it for a few cants more than that you can guess you are about right. The chinese and Malays think an awful lot of their bellies and they have food stalls of the most revolting looking things you could imagine - the sight and smell is enough for anyone. There's one thing about this - you can see them coming out of the small awful-looking hovels in spatteringly clean white slothes - in the morning there's washing hanging out from nearly every window. Where we are is like living in a huge park, and so we are away from all that including the smell.
When we go to town there's generally about four of us together - coming back we hire a taxi and can get right up to the tent door for 80 cents for the four. Of course we have to beat him down too - generally they ask about $1.20 but we start the usual bargaining. It's getting such a habit I'll be doing it in the shops when I get back. We also have a garrison cinema, quite a nice affair, equal to some of the out of town cinemas at home, and they get the pictures shortly after they have been out in town.

We generally go fishing or golfing on Sunday mornings, the golf course we play on is in private grounds and they supply the clubs free. I was pleased to be able to start again, I haven't had a game for over a year now but I played much better than I expected. When we don't go golfing its generally fishing. We fish from one of the small islands, and hire rods from a coobie. Going across is quite a business, four grand fellows and a coobie in a little sampar, the least movement and you expect it to be in the water at any moment. It's a good job these fellows are experts and can swim and dive like fish. Talking of swimming reminds me that we have a first class pool in the grounds - diving boards etc. The only trouble is the water's always too warm. You also have to be very careful about your ears and treat them every time you come out - it's the same sort of thing you get in the tropics.

It's over four months nearly since I left and I have only had letters from home that were written soon after I left so I don't know what the news is. I expect you will still be very busy and spending most of your spare time with your HG duties. What about this did for victory idea? I hope your effort is better than last year's - or have you passed that on to Edith. The baby will still be the great attraction I expect, and I hope she is getting on ok.

I've taken a few photos - one I'm enclosing, the trouble is that the sun is too bright during the day and I think the cheapest and slow film would be better. Two of us were away sight seeing last Sunday and I took some snaps - if they came out alright they should be worth the trouble. We had a grand day - I can't give you any names but we were very lucky to see round a place of great interest.

I'll close now and hope to hear from you in the near future.

Give my regards to Edith and the baby - don't forget to include your mother and father. I often think about those Monday and Friday nights. We had some grand times.
Cheers, and the very best of luck,
Bill

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