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Brigadier E.W. Goodman, D.S.O., M.C. |
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Journey Home |
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Sunday 10th September 1945 Packed up a suitcase in sacking and a kitbag which was sent down to the station. We assembled at 1.30pm and left by lorry at 2.20pm. I had a pack with me. The station was extraordinarily dirty and we had to wait until about 4pm for the train. There was as far as I can remember, one first class coach, the remainder being second or third. The US colonels made the usual fuss that they must have the first class one. They got it but it had no lights in it so we in our second class, which had lights, scored. We left about 7.55pm. There were four of us in our two seats – myself, Arthur Rusher and two Dutch colonels, Cox and Fleischer. At night Arthur slept up aloft on a bunk which let down and I was lucky to have a seat to myself. We were given a very good K ration, which is a complete meal. We passed Insan, a big steel works, about midnight.
Monday 11th September 1945 We had a halt of 1½ hours at 6.30am. I got a wash in a cup but no shave. The country was very pretty, well cultivated and fertile. There was much millet and many grapes and apples. Arrived at Dairen about 8pm, having taken over one hour to go the last ½ mile in the docks. We finally stopped when a coach left the line. So we walked the last 300 yards to the USN Hospital Ship Relief. We got on about 9.30pm after a scramble without much organisation and had a bath and some supper, on the cafeteria system. It was very crowded, there being 750 on board against the usual 450. I had a berth on the deck on the starboard side.
Tuesday 12th September 1945 Sailed about 7am. Two DEs as escort. A fine day. We were given a sponge bag with razor, comb, etc.
Wednesday 13th September 1945 A fair amount of motion. The rumour was that we were on the edge of a typhoon. Paid a visit to the dentist who gave my mouth a look over. It all looked very modern and up-to-date.
Thursday 14th September 1945 Calm. Sighted and sank or blew up four mines. (We heard later that the party following us a few days later, struck a mine in a storm and had two men killed. They had difficulty in strutting up the ship and spent a very anxious 24 hours making port, expecting the ship to break her back at any minute.)
Friday 15th September 1945 Arrived at an anchorage on the east side of Okinawa at 4.30pm. There were 7 battleships or cruisers, 4 aircraft carriers, and 2-300 merchant ships. It was an astonishing sight. A lovely day but the wind freshened a great deal towards evening and a typhoon warning was in force. We were told to move in off deck, but later this was cancelled.
Sunday 16th September 1945 Sailed at 7am round to the west side of the island. It appeared that we should never have come to the east side. A strong squally wind. We arrived at our anchorage at about 10am. A great many ships at anchor but not so many naval craft. Very squally and rainy. Left at 2.30pm on account of a typhoon warning. We were turned off deck and went down to the ‘deck force mess room’ which was well aft and down. Hove too at about 8.30pm. Moderate motion but very hot.
Monday 17th September 1945 The centre of the typhoon passed about 75-100 miles east of Okinawa (we were about 100 miles west) and we started back during the day. Frequently hove to. Some very heavy rolling and many casualties among the crockery, judging by the sounds. Fine and wind moderating.
Tuesday 18th September 1945 Anchored west of the island at 6.30am. Went ashore in a landing craft at 3pm, thence in a lorry to a camp run by a coast artillery battalion. An astonishing amount of traffic on the roads which were made of coral and very good. Much hanging about in the camp before we could report. Other POWs from Japan there who had been in Shirokawa. Told off to a tent and given blankets and a canteen. Then had a very good meal on the cafeteria system all mixed up with ORs. The meal was rissoles, vegetables, ice-cream and fruit salad, biscuit and butter. Red Cross gave us some soap, combs, etc. and free coco cola [sic] for those who wanted it. To bed about 8.30pm. Washing a difficulty as, owing to water shortage, there was no water. It was extraordinary to see the amount of stuff that had been landed since the first American landing. Masses of transport and so many amenities for the troops like cinemas. Unless we have changed a great deal I cannot see our troops getting ice-cream and fruit salad and cinemas so soon after a landing, if ever.
Wednesday 19th September 1945 Woken at 1.20am and told to embuss by 2am. This was quite unexpected and two officers never woke up and missed the plane that day. After returning blankets, etc., we got into lorries about 2am and left for the aerodrome, which we reached at 3.20am. It must have been over 20 miles. We got out alongside a C47 (Dakota) and stayed there until 7.40am. Nobody seemed to be expecting us and nothing happened until 6.30am when some airforce people put in an appearance. A very scrappy breakfast was produced out of the plane and at 7.40am we took off. I think there were about 14 of us in the plane. We were over the north end of Luzon by 11am and over Nichols Field at Manila by 2pm. Got down after 35 minutes circling the aerodrome waiting for permission to land. A very good trip and no bumps. Had coffee and biscuits at a Red Cross hut. There we left all the Dutch who had arrived at about the same time as we did, and were taken in lorries to No. 3 Australian PW Camp about 14 miles south of Manila. Here there was still more traffic. On arrival we were taken to staff sergeants’ tents, five to a tent. Feeding again on the cafeteria system but here a slight concession was made to senior officers and we were given a table and had not got to queue like the others. It was a great relief to be out of American hands and in the charge of Australians. The Americans had been exceedingly good to us and very generous. But their ways are not ours and it was extraordinarily nice to be back with more or less one’s own kind. The Australians have a very funny complex of inferiority and never seem quite at ease with us.
Thursday 20th September 1945 Medical examination – all clear. Had teeth seen and also second doses of TAB and cholera inoculations. This camp was one of three transit camps. There was electric light in all tents, but some of the other camps had a kind of large Nissen hut instead of tents. The camp was sited high with good views and plenty of breeze. It was a very sticky climate and one wanted all the breeze going. The tents we were in had no sides but only matting walls about 3 feet high, the floors being boarded and raised about 18 inches off the ground. There was a welfare hut with plenty of English books and magazines and we had a free issue of cigarettes, sweets and coco cola each day from the Red Cross. There was a big open air theatre to hold 2-3,000. I saw Gracie Fields there and heard a Filipino Jazz orchestra, which I didn’t appreciate and also some films. One could go to something every night.
Monday 24th September 1945 A party to go to San Francisco in the USS Dickeman, left camp. They returned later as the ship was not ready, tried again in the evening but again returned and finally got away the next day in the morning.
Tuesday 25th September 1945 Went into Manila with Sam Pearson, Arthur Rusher and Ken Crawford. Tried to see George Evelegh, who was in hospital, but failed to find him. Manila had been very badly knocked about. It must have been a fine town.
Wednesday 26th September 1945 Party left for Vancouver in the Implacable. So now there were only about half-a-dozen of the senior officers left, who were going to India. I had been doing a good deal of cabling to England to find out whether my kit was still in Bombay or not and answers took rather a long time to come. Went into Manila again in the afternoon with Trottsky and Ken Crawford and this time saw George. He was quite comfortable but rather anxious about his future movements and afraid he would miss all the ships.
Thursday 27th September 1945 Interrogation by the Intelligence Branch.
Friday 28th September 1945 Admiral Bruce Fraser came on a visit. We put the case of people who wanted to go to India to him. The Americans weren’t taking much interest in anyone who didn’t want to go westwards. There was a plane which went weekly to Calcutta. But, as lend-lease had stopped, seats were only to be had in this plane if payment was made in dollars. So that was ruled out. About this day an Indian Army colonel, Swinburn, arrived from India via Australia, to help us. He did all he could, sent wires to Mountbatten asking for a plane to be sent, etc., etc., but the Americans weren’t playing and I don’t think that the Australian brigadier in charge of the camp was being altogether helpful. I was still in the position of not knowing whether I wanted to go to India or straight home via Vancouver. The next week was rather trying as there seemed no reason why we should ever go to India, as nothing was happening. There was some very wet weather with another typhoon warning. I had two young Naval officers in my tent one night. They were storm-bound and could not get back to their ship, the Formidable. I bought a certain amount of stuff from the shop in camp, but not knowing whether one’s onward journey would be by sea or air, it was no good getting all the things that one would have liked to get. I paid another visit to Manila with Jim Fasson and had a tooth stopped by an American dentist. On the 4th October I finally decided for India, as there was news of a ship.
Friday 5th October 1945 Left in lorries at 9am along with about 20 officers and a lot of men belonging to the Hong Kong Volunteers. Arrived at the quayside in Manila about 10.45am and were on board HMS Colossus by 11.45am, going out in a landing craft. Sailed at 12.30pm. The men and a few officers were on camp beds in the hangars, the rest of us being in cabins. I shared a cabin with George Ballentine, Ken and Swinburn. It was right aft and low down below the quarterdeck. The Colossus is an aircraft carrier of about 14,000 tons. We were taken over her. Three lectures on the land, sea and air aspects of the war were laid on for us and were very interesting. There was also a very good concert. They did us very well. The Saturday was quite rough and it was not altogether pleasant down in the cabin.
Sunday 7th October 1945 Arrived Hong Kong at 1.45pm and went ashore (the seniors) in a pinnace to the Naval Dockyard. Nothing was known about us. But Swinburn fixed up accommodation for us at the Peninsula Hotel over at Kowloon. It must have been a very slap-up place in peacetime and even now water came out of the taps. Later Swinburn told us that he had arranged air passages for, I think four of us, the next morning to Kunming. If one had had any money there was quite a lot of silk to be bought at a price. Hong Kong didn’t seem much damaged except down at the docks end. But I believe most of the houses had been stripped of their fittings and furniture. Electric light was on and trams were running. There was a certain amount of shipping in the harbour, all flying the white ensign.
Monday 8th October 1945 A bus came for us about 7am and took us out to the aerodrome. There we were weighed with our luggage. There were four or five civilians as well. We took off at 8.30am. It’s a nasty take-off as one heads straight for a small hill and it was bumpy. However we got up all right and headed for Kunming, which we reached at midday. An uneventful trip over miles and miles of padi fields. Kunming was a big American-run aerodrome. We were taken about 5 miles in a car to the local RAF Mess where we had lunch. It was raining and I thought very cold. It’s about 6,000 feet up and very different to Hong Kong temperatures. We got back to the aerodrome about 2pm and, after a long delay in getting permission to take off, got away about 3.30pm in a Halifax piloted by a Warrant Officer. Arrived at Myitkyina at 5.15pm Hong Kong time, 7.15pm local time. After a long way for petrol we got off again at 6.30pm. After one-and-a-half hour’s flying the weather became too bad to go on and we had to turn back to land again at Myitkyina. The aerodrome was not properly lit but only had lights down each side of the runway. We hit the ground an almighty wallop and must have bounced feet in the air. It certainly seemed a very long time before we hit ground again. We stopped the night in an American rest camp. A very wet and sticky night.
Tuesday 9th October 1945 Left at 11am (local time) in rain. Went up to about 15,000 feet on top of the clouds, which were very beautiful. The Himalayas were all covered in cloud and there was nothing to be seen of them. We came down lower over the delta of the Ganges and could see quite a lot through gaps in the clouds. We came down to Alipore aerodrome, making another pretty bad landing. There everything was laid on for us. Ambulances to meet us, tea, etc., and they knew all about us. We were driven to Belvedere, which had been turned into a camp for RAPWI. I shared a very pleasant hut, furnished by the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, with Freddie Harrison. After a meal there we went round what had been the ballroom, where there were officers of the pay people, RTO, and everybody else one wanted. In the evening there was a very good piano recital.
Wednesday 10th October 1945 Went into Calcutta shopping assisted by a lady who also provided the car. I had lunch at the Bengal Club, of which we had been made honorary members. A very good club. In the evening Freddie took me to see some ballet provided by ENSA.
Thursday 11th October 1945 Left Calcutta in the evening for Bombay. Five in a four-berth compartment. It only had one bulb so that after dark one could not read. Red Cross or St. John’s Ambulance were at every big station, and one could have had free meals all across to Bombay.
Saturday 13th October 1945 Arrived at Bombay about 10am. Went to the Taj, to whom I had wired from Calcutta, and got a very good double room overlooking the harbour. I didn’t realise how lucky I was until later. I had the room to myself the whole ten days I was in Bombay.
Thursday 23rd October 1945 Embarked in the Empress of Scotland (27,000 tons) and had an excellent two-berth cabin on A deck, which I shared with a captain in the RCN.
Thursday 8th November 1945 Arrived at Liverpool and disembarked about 3.30pm. Had had a perfect voyage home except for a go of fever in the middle. Went up to the Reception Camp at Kirkby, where we were doctored, documented, etc., etc., and pushed off home the next morning. |
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The End |
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