Valentines day.............not as happy for some.

75 Years ago today, marks the anniversary of the Alexandra Hospital Massacre by the Japanese on Singapore.
To many this day would usually go unnoticed, to those involved, who lost loved ones, this day will always be remembered with distaste and sadness.

For my family, today means not just remembering the loss of a family member, but the lies and deceit of a government, that still 75 years on, fails to correct the records concerning the event.

My Uncle was a member of the 2/18th Battalion, battled the Japs from Mersing down the peninsula until finally placed in a defensive perimeter on Singapore.
His battalion was flanked by the 2/20th on his right and the 2/19th on his left, these three Battalions bore the brunt of the Japanese thrust onto Singapore Island and were gradually pushed back.
Records show that my Uncle was reported MIA on the 10th Feb, but the 2/20th has him recorded as being on strength with them as of the 12th Feb. (so far so good, risen from the dead) reported as wounded about the period 12/13th, and supposedly transported to Alexandra Hospital by British Soldiers carrying wounded for attention.

The Japanese attacked the Hospital early on the 14th, shooting and bayoneting Medical Staff and Patients, you can read about this yourself, I tend to beat myself up a bit when I think of it, wounded carted out and bayoneted, Nurses shot and bayoneted, walking wounded crammed into confined spaces, then systematically taken out and slaughtered.......
the atrocities go on.

So no real records of patients and staff in situ on that day, the daily register goes missing, only that 300 were killed, mainly British but a few other Nationalities amongst them.
Recorded interviews with POW's later pieced together a bit of a record, Australian Unit members who were involved in the cleanup of the bodies recorded who they could, but those bodies thrown in ditches and burnt were not recognisable.
The Brit's had a fairly detailed list of their personnel, most of the Aussies being moved(those not badly wounded) prior to this event. But those that remained met the same fate, only a few survived to tell the story.

So my beef is the Secrecy Involved, the Failure to correctly Identify and Notify family, the quashing of the War Crimes Trials and the Failure to recover all the remains and return them and to correct the Records.

Now I have a family member, who supposed went MIA from the 2/18th, but is not recorded as being on strength with that Unit, nor is he listed on that Units tablet at the AWM.
However, he appears with the 2/20th two days later and is on their Tablet as Presumed Dead, at the AWM.

Funnily enough, his dog tags were recovered from a ditch post war at the Alexandra Hospital, his name also appears on the Memorial Tablet there.

My Grandmother never got over this, she always said they were lying, having received mail dated after his supposed demise.
Having personally checked his service records myself and the file numbers relating to War Crimes that were in his file, I managed to piece together the story..........doesn't make me feel any better, just bitter.

Knowing the Oz Govt. and being bound by the OSA for my early service years, and knowing that by the time these restrictions are lifted, if ever, I will be long dead, I pity my grandchildren that try to piece together that story.

Maybe I should write a FICTION novel about those days, my Daughter(mad Archivist) can put it all in perspective........maybe.

Oh what a glorious war. Sometimes I think those that were killed suffered a bit less than the ones that survived. My uncle lived the last 48 years of his life until he passed in 1993 living with the horrors of what he saw. In Europe his Coy was decimated and when he could not function anymore in a fighting unit he was put into a Special Employment Coy that buried the dead. Almost 50 years of his life living in madness.

I hope Muffett that you can get closure in your lifetime, the Govt knows more than its letting on no doubt has a swag of things stored that we the general public will never know, thing is all the key players are dead so what is the use of hiding stuff or are they afraid of the public backlash who knows.
I have a book written by David Day that as a deal of us helping Britain they would ensure we were backed up in Singapore well as we know they left us cold footed then tried to get 2 battleships there which were promptly sunk with a great loss of life.
The battle of the Bismark sea I feel had a huge impact on Australias fate, the govt of the day had drawn up the Sydney line in anticipation for a Japanese invasion thankfully Yamamoto's proficy came true Japan indeed awoke a sleeping giant and with their help and the great work by the 39th & A.I.F regulars stopped the Japanese thrust for the first time in the jungles of New Guinea.Attachment 80664

Muffet,
My sympathies go out to you and your family on this day, who have carried this burden for too long.
I just thought I would chip in and tell you that, sometimes, it appears like there is a Governmental coverup, but often it is down to the operational circumstances at the time in war of poor recording.

I run a system called GRAVEWATCH predominantly for The Parachute Regiment, but also Special Forces in some cases, and log the burial place of every soldier that fell in conflict, whereever it is in the world, with a full record of him and his ultimate sacrifice to his country. The aim is to ensure their graves are ALWAYS in a good condition and reflect their service ton their country with the help of the CWWG Commision and other volunteer parties.

The reason I raise this, is because, on a number of occasions after extensive investigation, I have found gravestones insitu, but found the alledged person buried there had in fact be repatriated later in the conflict or shortly after in many cases back to England by the families.
Also the graves shown as being there but no gravestone.

Having just recently found three examples of this, one in Cyprus and two in Silent Valley, in Aden.
These three lads died in conflict in fairly recent times, ie 1965-7, and their records were wrong, even those held by MOD/CWGC and the National Arboretum.
They are thankfully being changed as we speak, but it was a long hard slog to establish the right information. You note I didn't use the word truth there, because, I truly believe, pressures were on recording such graves in the days when computers were not around even in these recent times, and everything was done by manual hand written paper in triplcated usual Military format, with many manual records destroyed for whatever reason later once the "job" had been done!!.

I make no excuses for any Government, but I do see their situation, especially in the Fall of Singapore, having lived there for 3 years I know only too well the sacrifice that ALL nations made on behalf of the "Commonwealth" having visited all the graves at Kranji Cemetery and other places on the island.

Take solice in the fact that his death along with thousands of others, helped to stop the Japanese Empire going even further south in their dominance of the world with Germany, and I know that probably doesn;t help me saying that, but I know these men and women did a fantastic job that is even today appreciate by the People of Singapore.

It helps to speak of these things as PTSD affects everyone within families and your story is a very sad one indeed. I am sure when your Government open access to the files you'll find your Uncles journey will in part be logged, but in the realisation, that it must have been a hard thing to do accurately in the circumstances, knowing how vicious the Japanese were with all prisoners.
I wish you luck in your quest, one that might be helped by speaking to your local Government "ex service" MP or representative who will at least be sympathetic to your search for the truth if it is recorded and the files are still there somewhere!

Muffet, my grandfather was wounded in singapore and I'm guessing in the alexandra hospital as he said he was on the last hospital ship out of singapore and all those left behind were bayoneted in their beds.

My grandfather told of the doctors walking down his ward, looking at the men, their charts and then deciding who they thought could survive the trip and who was not likely to. (I think he also said something along the lines of he thought they were including the likelyhood of them making a decent recovery as well)
His opinion was that the doctors knew the gravity of the decisions they were making and took it very seriously.

He ended up being made a TPI (legally classed as totally and permanently incapacitated and never able to work again, from his war wounds for the non australians) in his late 50's or early 60's but i think the emotional marks were far greater than the physical as he was well aware of the fate of everyone who stayed in singapore.

It is my understanding that the Japs didn't just bayonet soldiers in their hospital beds but in some cases female nurses threw themselves over their patients in an attempt to protect them but the Japanese soldiers simply bayoneted both the nurse and the patient on the hospital bed.

This is the first I've heard of this. While I am American I still kind of wonder why I haven't.

Sad...

Sadly, this one episode was not unique. The marauding Japanese soldiers massacred many more U.K/U.S & Commonwealth soldiers on many of the islands in the Pacific, normally those classed as non combatants or "easy" prey.
These links perhaps tell it honestly the second being from a former patient:

BBC - WW2 People's War - The Alexandra Hospital Massacre

Soldier's account of Japanese World War Two massacre to be auctioned - Telegraph

The video shows specifically video footage of the Australian involvement in Singapore which was vital: No Prisoners - The Fall of Singapore - YouTube

I do not think one nation on the allied side of the coin escaped the absolute barbarism of this IJA yes it was that generation but the infamy of that generation will long be etched in this world no matter how the eons pass, Australia had Sandakan where the POW's were told "Nippon very sorry but men must die" they used murderous tactics on POW's where ever they were.
The Bataan death march was another for the US troops I remember reading in a book I have where a Captain approached a high ranking Japanese to complain about the way the men were being treated as if they did not keep up they were shot or bayoneted. There was a discussion between them which resulted in the Japanese officer getting highly agitated he had the captain kneel drew his samurai sword and decapitated the captain there and then to the horror of the onlookers one describing the head rolling past them with dark blood gushing from the headless body and the hands jerking clenching and opening in spasm.

Other books tell of similar treatment across the board in the end justice was served to those who deserved it but the biggest battle was for those left behind from those camps and island campaigns the horrors and nightmares sentenced them for the rest of their lives. Even though the US did not have a 4th bomb to drop I should say there are plenty of the vets who like Gene Hackman said in Crimson Tide "Yes sir I'll drop that sucker twice" or words to that effect to drop as many nukes as they possibly could before they ran out. The No.1 bomb was detonated in the Manhattan project to see if it worked which it did.

Alexandra Hospital was known to us all out there as BMH Singapore. It was the main hospital 'in theatre' as well as a small hospital at Malacca where there was a base and another smaller hospital, BMH Kinrara. If BMH Singapore/Alexandra couldn't fix what you had wrong it was 'goodnight nurse' or get flown back to Oz. If I remember it, the roof of the main building was white painted (or a huge square section was white) and there was an equally huge red cross on the roof. Didn't do any good. There was also - so said - an unmarked cemetery on/under the sports field. Whether these bodies were later moved to PPJ military cemetery and then to Kranji, who knows but the sports field was always said to be revered ground......, albeit the ground where cricket was played!

Off at a tangent so look away now if you are so inclined......... Seems strange that we/I was there only 25 years afterwards. To be honest, nobody was or seemed really interested in its recent past. We knew about the big battle at Parit Suloing as we used to regularly drive down the main road (as was in '42 and '68) and across the Muar river bridge. One of our nasho Lieutenants was a bit of a history buff (from Sydney Uni) and he would take blokes on trips up to the North. But....... and I know it's hard to say.......... he didn't have good things to say about the RAAF nor one particular Indian Infantry regiment who crumbled easily. He called them "......The Galloping Ghawali's". Mind you, he did point out that they were British Officered. But that was during the week. On Friday lunchtime until Monday mid morning, they were totally UN-officered due to the fact that the Officers were having a slum in Singapore! His great praise was for the Sikhs and the Aust and UK Artillery. I wonder where Lt 'Flip' McKeowan(?) is now

I think that we should also remember the thousands of ethnic Chinese civilians who are thought to have been murdered in cold blood during the first few days of Japan's occupation of Singapore, simply because they were of Chinese origin.

There is the Banka Island massacre as well: http://www.pacificwar.org.au/JapWarC..._Massacre.html

The list goes on, and on.

That is the reason that I, personally, avoid buying anything that is made in Japan if I can possibly help it.

Awesome 4 corners, I feel the author surmising and not interviewing the Australian soldier who left Singapore re entered the fighting on Java only then to endure the captivity was a mistake on his part as he took for gospel what another author had written this I found repugnant, for a start the soldier was only 23 y/o and totally untrained I mean they gave him a Bren which he had never seen before or fired how was he to cope with a stoppage or choked gas cylinder without training!
Also the Australian soldiers acquitted themselves well killing 18,000 of the 30,000 casualties the IJA suffered in the Singapore campaign I do not think that authors book will find its way here as it is to flavoured by facts from other books and the authors spin on things.

Great story Badger thanks for that bloke.

Churchill at least once said that what was needed in the Middle East theatre was a field court martial and a firing squad. What was needed in Singapore?

For pure viciousness the atrocities at the hospital in Hong Kong beat even that; I won't recount them here. Brigadier Lawson ought to be remembered for his example.

Not sure what Percival's problem was. He certainly was not afraid of upsetting civilians when he was fighting the IRA in Cork.

If Ironside had been sent things might have been very different, but he was probably too senior for the job by then.

Even worse was Manila and the Japanese in China there are some ghastly graphic images out there of both campaigns especially where Manila was declared an open city did not phase the IJA somewhere in my library is a book where they raped the nurses for days on end and other women pregnant or not then bayoneted/hacked/shot them. Somehow this nurse survived to tell her story after the war it was god awful reading tolerance is a thing to be practiced but at times its hard to let bygones be bygones. It is not the generations following the conflicts fault or to pay penance but you have to wonder about the mindset of tradition..............if it all started again.

The BIG lesson learned from the fall of Singapore that we all learned - and still holds good today - is that there will NEVER again be a situation where you have uni-trained/uni competent soldiers as happened in backwater Singapore (and Egypt apparently.....). Where they learn their trade as cooks, bottlewashers, clerks, blanket stackers etc......... They are ALL DUAL-trained. First as soldiers who can fight, live and survive and only then will they be trade trained. This feature is still drummed into the higher echelons of the recruit training system. They call it OMNI-competent and quite right too

Peter,
Absolutely right, gone are the days of a drummer boy at the front, or a lone piper leading troops into battle (not so long ago WW2) they do need to know how to defend themselves and others first, as it is for the man beside you that you fight to survive, and Queen and country second!!

Too right. 'Every soldier is a Rifleman first.' That is as is should and must be.

It doesn't matter if you are the best paper shufflers or computer geeks in the army. Without being trained, equipped and capable as an infantryman, you are lambs for the slaughter and useless.

The father of one of my school headmasters was captured by the Japanese in the Far East during WW2. Although I don't believe that he spoke much of his time in captivity, one thing that I do recall that was mentioned by him was that the Japanese provided him and fellow P.O.W's with seeds because they were expected to grow some of their own food. How much actual food was provided and how much was expected to be grown I am not sure but judging from pictures of P.O.W. released in 1945 very little actual food was provided.

Not even the Red Cross parcels that were sent were provided, and then only sporadically and at the end. Worth remembering that the official Japanese plan was to kill all PoW's before surrender and in some places this was carried out.

Meanwhile the interned Japanese Canadians were enjoying care packages of special foods from the Imperial Government, with the exception of a small group who refused them on the grounds that they were Canadians and had no need of charity from an enemy government! From some camps polite greetings were exchanged with various Japanese government officials and on the whole the attitude seems consistent with that of interned enemy aliens. Along with celebrating the emperor's and Hitler's birthday, Japanese Navy Day, Pearl Harbour Day, etc., etc. Very pally with German PoW's too in some places where the camps were nearby. These are not allegations by the way, but all straight from their own accounts of which I have copies. There is much more that could be added I assure you.

Back to Singapore.... I often wondered whether there were any soldiers captured there who had a reasonable life. After all, there must have been cooks, mess orderlies etc etc.

While I was in Oz and NZ we had a fair few FEPOW's who worked in the camps and one of the boilermen, an ex RNZE (Royal Engineers) was working as a supervisory engineer with the Water Board when Singapore fell. For the next few weeks they remained in situ, under Jap control of course but working on their own, repairing the damaged water infrastructure. He and the other RE's and RAE's made out that they were really civilians and were expecting an easier life as civilian internees after they'd finished their tasks. Alas, the Brit overall boss of the Water Board dobbed them all in after a couple of weeks so it was off to Changi

From my library another fearsome struggle with no quarter given by either side pretty brutal reading of the USMC's struggle against a ruthless enemy........

Peter,
Called into the Changi Museum on our way back from the Plaman Mapu battlesite in Borneo in 2015 with The Parachute Regiment veterans on the 50th Anniversary of the battle.
As we were formally visiting the two graves of the two lads killed during the battle we also went to the museum.

Highly recommended if you go back out there, it holds no punches as to what occurred on the island under Japanese occupation and especially at Changi Jail.

It probably scratches the surface and doesn't really show the true hardships and the unecessary loss of life and how they all died, but it is a befitting memorial by the people of Singapore. Those who served there will know the two photographs, the first Raffles Hotel out of bounds to mere mortals
Lest We Forget

Some years ago a vet was taken back there and the secret radio they had built was still in its hiding spot as he located it I think it was on 60 minutes maybe 10-12 years ago.