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Brigadier E.W. Goodman, D.S.O., M.C. Changi
I am writing this in January 1945. I started to keep a diary of what happened from day to day from February 16th 1942 onwards, but in a very few days it was obvious that this would be very dull and I stopped it. But in May I started a letter to you, as I thought it would be interesting later on to be able to see how one’s mind was working at the time and what one’s point of view was. I was sorry then that I had not begun it immediately after the surrender and put down what I thought about things at the time. Well I started this letter in May 1942 and wrote it up at intervals. It wasn’t a diary but told of the chief things that happened and some of what I was thinking and by August 1944 it had reached a length of about 160 pages of varying size and mostly pretty small writing. In September 1944 we were suddenly moved from Taiwan to Manchuria and the box containing this letter, amongst other things, was lost on the way. I happened to have 11 odd pages of it in a case which did arrive, so you will be spared having to strain your eyes trying to read the 149 odd pages. But I am sorry it has gone because it would have been of interest I think. So I now propose to start again and just write up the main things which happened from 16th February 1942 as far as I can remember them, aided by other people’s memories. So after all there may be something to strain your eyes over!
16th February 1942 We spent the night of Sunday 15th February in Fort Canning. I don’t think I realised at all at the time all the implications of the surrender. I’m sure that I had no thought that three years’ time would still find me a POW and under the conditions we are in. The continuous withdrawal since the beginning of the campaign and our inability to make a stand anywhere even though this was primarily due to lack of seapower, practically no air force and greatly insufficient numbers of troops and not so much due to lack of will to fight on the part of the troops, had a cumulative and most depressing effect and I think that many of us did not look at things normally by the time the end arrived. This is why I wish I had kept a letter from the beginning as now it is impossible to recapture the outlook that one had at the time. I remember that that night seemed extraordinarily quiet. The Japanese did not come in until the next morning and so there was not anything to show that we were prisoners. I think that water was very short and the only food we had was what we had accumulated. I had foreseen that happening and had turned Howard on to collecting rations for my own headquarters, so we had about five days, and water for the same period. On the morning of 16th February we were told that all POWs would be kept out at Changi, the new cantonment at the east end of the Island and about 15 miles away. We were also told that the Japanese had allotted 18 lorries to move some 55,000 prisoners out there. That was the first taste of what was to happen. This of course meant that lorries must be used chiefly for food carrying plus a very limited amount of kit. Brigadiers were allowed to drive in a car. Late that day the move was cancelled as I think that we protested that there was no water on in Changi, so the Japanese gave us 24 hours to get some water supplies going. So we spent the night of the 16th in Fort Canning also. During the day the Japanese came in and we had to hand over revolvers and papers. I got my papers back (which included all your letters since August 23rd) but not unfortunately my notebook containing all the papers connected with my service, dates of promotion, etc. and copies of confidential reports. I was very sad at losing this but it was foolish of me to have had it with me in Malaya at all. The one bright spot of the day was receiving your cable of, I think, February 2nd, which had been lying in the Signal Office for about 4 or 5 days. But that cable made one realise, with an unpleasant suddenness, that now one was completely cut off from the outside world except as far as the Japanese would be prepared to get letters to and from, which certainly would not happen for a good many months.
17th February 1942 The move was put on for this day and I think we had to be within certain limits in Changi by sometime that evening, probably about 6pm as I think we set off about 1.30pm. We left our kit behind to come on in the lorry, a roll of bedding each, and I carried a pack with my more precious belongings in it, like your dressing case, and a change of clothes. I decided to walk with the HQ. Our way led through Singapore’s Chinese quarter, which was full of evil smells and showed many signs of shelling and bombing. Near Kallang Airport we passed a long and rather tragic procession of civilians – all men and white – on their way to their place of internment near the Sea View Hotel. They were all ages but many around 60 who had obviously been used to many years of comfortable living. Some were pulling suitcases along on homemade carts, some had just haversacks, one even had only a bottle of whisky as far as I could see, and some had the greatest difficulty in just getting themselves along. The Japanese guards with them appeared to be behaving quite correctly. Well we went on our way. We were all out of training for marching and found it pretty hot carrying packs. I was very annoyed to see lorries passing carrying troops instead of supplies. That too was a sign of the state of affairs amongst many at that time and for a good many months afterwards. We were about halfway when several empty lorries belonging to 18 Div passed us, saying that they were on their way to Changi, why I don’t remember, and offering us a lift which I took and, privately, was very glad of. Much to my disgust two of the men had fallen out with sore feet. We arrived at our area in Changi, near Fairy Point, at about 4pm I should say, and were allotted a room in a bungalow plus a share in the verandah. Eventually the bungalow had in it some fifty or sixty people – it was designed for about five white people! I and Chester went up to a bungalow right at the top of Fairy Point, where the Army Commander was going to be with about nine others. So that night I spent the night up there with the Army Commander, Percival, and his ADC, Patterson. The rations we had brought out, only a portion arrived, were taken over by Nelson and put under lock and key and he laid down a scale of issue which seemed very small then but later would have seemed magnificent. I had a beautifully airy room to myself for that night and probably slept well as I know I was pretty tired and not in particularly good spirits.
18th February 1942 I was up early and went back into Singapore in one of two lorries which Coles, the Camp Commandant, had acquired, with a view to rescuing some more kit, food, etc. We got into Fort Canning safely without incident and there I was able to collect a suitcase I had left packed and also pack a second one though I had to leave behind your tin-lined trunk. I collected some of the belongings of the others and oddments like towels, buckets, etc. I also tried to raid a NAAFI full of most useful stuff but was chased out by a Japanese who pointed a revolver at my tummy. Singapore itself was by this time full of Japanese soldiers and full of our lorries being driven by them, generally at full speed down the middle of the road. We got back safely in the afternoon when I got some much-needed food as I don’t remember having much of anything since the evening before. By that time the bungalow had filled up and there were in my room Brigadier Simson, the CE, and Colonel Giblin, the CSO; in the drawing room Brigadiers Evelegh, the DOS, Newbigging, the DAG, Richards DDSiT; in another room Brigadiers Torrance, the BGS, and Lucas, the Bi/cA; in another the Army Commander and in the last bedroom the ADC with the food which the Commander had managed to bring out. Later the DMS, Brigadier Slinger, came.
19th February - 11th March 1942 This was a period of sorting out, improving and trying to get the show going and discipline tightened up. The barracks at Changi were very modern and up-to-date but designed for a peacetime strength of about 5,000 and we were 55,000. I was given a part of an area to look after. Changi was eventually divided into five areas – Corps, Southern, 18 Div, 11 Div and Australian.) My part was known as Command Troops and consisted of RASC, RAOC, some signals and, at the beginning only, two officer reinforcement camps, altogether as far as I can remember something over 2,000. I was given a Colonel Graham of the Gordons as a staff officer in addition to my own HQ. It took some time to settle in, find out where everybody was and get the place clean. We suffered initially from lack of water and food, lack of cooking utensils, fire wood. Some units had much more than their share of some things and lacked others and in course of time distribution was evened out. Some units played up, some definitely didn’t; morale was low, troops and officers were very hungry and, although we were running our own show, officers had no real disciplining powers as in peacetime and the bad hats amongst the troops knew it and took advantage of it. Food was ordered to be handed in to a central supply depot. But there were some bad cases of non-compliance and also a general feeling of mistrust. It was altogether a very unpleasant time and it is very regrettable to have to recall that many officers were amongst the worst offenders, almost all I’m glad to say ECOs (Emergency Commissioned Officer). Hunger certainly brings out the worst in some people very quickly and conversely shows how wonderfully unselfish others are. Initially in our mess we had only two meals – about 8am and 6pm I think. But we found that too much of a strain and made the available food up into three meals. The Nipponese started to issue rations from our depots in Singapore about the 23rd and it consisted mostly of rice. There was then great difficulty in cooking it well and for a very long time we suffered from badly cooked food. Some of the rice was parboiled when issued and was very evil-smelling. Still hunger made a good sauce. Another great difficulty was the scarcity of big boilers in which to cook rice, the ordinary British pattern kettles not being of much use for rice in bulk. There were one or two inspections by the Japanese C-in-C, Naval C-in-C, etc. for which we had to turn out and line the road. The Japanese administered us through a liaison officer who lived out by Changi Gaol and dealt with our HQ. There were almost daily conferences and some sort of order was gradually produced. At first we were able to bathe but that was then stopped by Jap order and washing became difficult until the water supply was put to rights. About the 8th March our area was much restricted and we were told to move into such a small area that there would have been hardly room for everyone to lie down, let alone cook and move about, etc. After protest this was altered and more reasonable areas were allotted, the move finally taking place on 11th March.
12th March - 15th August 1942 We lost over the move and our new bungalow, right under the hill where the RA Mess was, was stuffy. We added two to our number, two RAOC colonels coming in to make us up to 16. Lecture and educational courses were started – I began German in April – and things gradually improved. My daily routine consisted of a walk round some of my units in the morning to see that they were keeping their area clean and to find out their wants; then on to a conference at Southern Area HQ and then home to lunch. In the afternoon German or a little digging in a garden (not v. much of this!), possibly a lecture or just reading; supper and bridge which I learnt to play and so to bed. About the beginning of March all the sick and wounded who had been left behind in hospitals in Singapore were ordered out to Changi, regardless of their condition. Three big barrack blocks were converted into a hospital, which was soon full of, I think, 150 patients. Imagine two-storied blocks with no water laid on, no electric light, very limited linen, very poor arrangements for hot water and a cookhouse more or less centrally placed but ill adapted for cooking rice, the staple food for the patients. An operating theatre was improvised. Sanitary arrangements were grim. To start with the death rate was very high as conditions were so bad. Here too the ugly results of hunger showed themselves and many orderlies grew fat at the expense of the patients. The medical people would not for a long time consent to having outside help to assist in running what would have been the matron’s side of the administration. It was a pity. Our movements were restricted to our own areas which were wired in and one was only allowed outside with a flag, which were limited in number. Sikh guards, whom we were ordered to salute, were put on outside the areas – many of them being renegades from the Indian Army but many also being pressed into it. Our badges of rank were taken off and officers might only wear a star over the right breast. None of this helped the officers’ position vis-à-vis the worst elements amongst the troops, as was intended. It is difficult rewriting this in 1945 to remember all that happened. The more disagreeable things fade out and I find that I can only remember the better things, without a good deal of effort to recall the worser. Thank goodness that, at the time, one did not realise what three years and more of captivity would mean. There were a lot of optimists who thought that we should be out by the end of 1942. I don’t know what I thought, possibly I had vague thoughts of the end of 1943, which then seemed very far away, but I really can’t say. I practically never saw a Japanese, which made the whole thing seem more unreal. Occasionally a few lorry loads of troops would drive through or an officer would come out to Command HQ but these were comparatively rare events. In May, the 17th I think, I was summoned to the Conference House at Changi Gaol, put in quite a comfortable quarter for two nights and given some questions to answer. Luckily they were quite harmless ones. I served in the food line as they gave me good European meals when they remembered. Breakfast the first morning was about 12 noon as far as I remember. In April or May too two or three lorries were allotted weekly to fetch canteen stores out from Singapore. Podge Howard made a very able treasurer and we had a manager who had run a shop in Singapore. Arrangements were made for the local purchase of eggs, pineapples, peanuts, dried fish paste and palm sugar (rather like gum) and tinned things and cigarettes were brought out from Singapore. We were paid what was called an ‘Amenity Grant’ of, I think, $6 per month, ORs getting about $3.00. To start with there was more stuff in the canteen than there was money to buy it. The money situation improved later. We made a good deal of money in the canteen and a good deal of it was devoted to buying food for a ‘Diet Centre’ where some of the walking skeletons, who came out of hospital, could be built up again. There were some quite good concert parties, the Australians especially having an excellent one with some professionals in it. I also went to see Arms and the Man produced out of doors and very good and The Dover Road done in a hall and really quite excellent. Large numbers of troops were sent into Singapore to work on clearing up, building roads, etc., etc., so that troops left behind could spread out a bit. There was a certain amount of malaria and dengue, a good deal of beri-beri due to lack of vitamins (we were very, very short of any fresh vegetables) and diptheria too. Anna Nelson was not at all fit and in August had to have an operation for piles which pulled him down very badly as I think he worried about himself a lot. I heard later that in November he was still far from well. We were well off for books. Classes were started in all sorts of subjects as there were plenty of competent teachers in all sorts of subjects. My German teacher was called Mackenzie, a very nice person aged about 32 I suppose, who had been employed by BATs in Bangkok. We had an OW dinner on June 18th, everyone contributing something in the way of food. There were 30 odd. There was great vegetable growing activity to try to supplement the rations. We had a lot of sweet potatoes but eventually left before they were really ready to pick, though we did have one dish of them. Food loomed large, as it has nearly the whole of this captivity. One felt the sudden changeover to rice with the complete absence of bread and very little fat or butter. Sugar too was very scarce. Eggs were a great boon when obtainable. I was lucky enough to get two a day for a week or so after getting over a mild attack of dengue, which helped a great deal. A few peanuts helped too and an occasional bottle of Radio-malt. Fuel was a difficulty as there was practically no coal and so trees had to be felled. The axes and cross-cut saws were short. And so it went on, everything apparently just about to give out but something always turning up; people keeping more than their share of things or being suspected of it; a good deal of doubtful honesty; altogether a unpleasant time of low morale, bad discipline and a sort of bewilderment, I don’t know quite what it was, and difficulty in realising what had happened. One doubted too whether all had been done that could be done before the capitulation. I hope I never have to experience such a time again. At the same time one learnt a lot of things – what can and can’t be done in a climate like Malaya, what one can do without, what the essentials really are and how well some people turn out in such difficult circumstances. Odd parties came in at intervals from Java or Kuala Lumpur, among the latter Gordon Painter, who told me that Fitzpatrick was in the gaol there. I used to go to church out of doors up by the RA Mess on Sunday evenings. The chaplain, Brian Lewis, was a first class preacher and had an assistant, a man called Sandys, who had worked in a mission in China and was a first class chap. He took a great interest in the hospital and did a lot for the patients there. I dined out three or four times – with 155 Fd, 5 Fd, the Mountain Battery, Dyson, Southern Area and the Australians – very gay! Looking back on it after two-and-a-half years away from Changi one see that we had much to be thankful for there. The vast majority of us were left completely alone by the Japanese. I had a job to do and was to a great extent my own master. We could get up when we liked and go to bed when we liked and there were none of the irritating, petty restrictions we had to suffer later. But we were in a very false position as regards the men which was to a large extent unavoidable and the mental atmosphere was not good. Taking it all round I don’t think I would change back to Changi conditions and certainly not to its climate. About the middle of July three parties of 2,400 were warned for overseas, to go to Japan. I had been expecting it. The party consisted of all the full colonels and above plus Dyson and his regiment, the Loyals, a fairly large RE contingent, some doctors and ADCs and a batman a head for the colonels and above. Orders gradually filtered in – a minimum of medicines, etc., were to be taken, no typewriters to be taken, food only to be taken in hand packages as other boxes would be put through a hot fumigating plant (actually the reverse happened). We were all medically examined for dysentery – the whole 2,400 being assembled at one place so one had to wait 8 hours altogether for an inspection, which was not without its humorous side, lasting 15 seconds. After that I got my attack of dengue and thought I should miss the party. Eventually the 16th August was named as the day we were to leave. And then our troubles really started. |
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