Time to Remember

70 years ago at about this time of the year, POWs in Singapore were released from three and a half years of hell as captives of the Japanese; or at least the survivors were.  Too many did not make it.  Those who did were diseased, emotionally drained, filthy, starving and wretched.  It is hard to imagine what they went through.  We are most fortunate not to have experienced anything like it.  My great aunt lived through it and told me that one of the first things the army did when opening up the camps was to deliver blocks of salt.  The inmates licked them like animals.  They had not seen salt in nearly two years.

That is one reason why I found myself at a ceremony on the 11^th September at The Changi Museum honouring those who had been held there during World War II.  The other was that the old Etonian Association was unveiling a plaque to commemorate OEs who had been in Changi.  There were a surprising number for just one school, 24 OEs in total plus a future head master Anthony Chenevix-Trench.    

                                        

We mustered a good turnout of OEs for the occasion.  It was a moving moment for all of us who had family interned.  There was a beautifully judged speech by Michael MacKenzie, head of the OE Association of Singapore, followed by several readings by descendants, one so poignant it deserves to be reproduced here and should have much under circulation.  Please feel free to pass it on.  Entitled Freedom it was written just after his release on 6^th September 1945 by Lieutenant Robert Fletcher of the Gordon Highlanders.

Freedom

For every little boy and girl it's always been the thing

To honour all those authors who the praise of freedom sing.

But don't you be like them, my son, when you to school are sent; Those smug complacent poets never knew what freedom meant.

Secure in England's land they sang "We must be free or die" —

They who had never even felt the threat of tyranny.

But if you're seeking praises that are not mere fulsome cant,

A victim of the Kempei or Gestapo's what you want.

For when you've had to fawn upon a callous, vicious foe

To get a wretched dole of food, or when you've had to go

And labour in a chain-gang with your friends who once were free —Then, and only then, you'll know the worth of liberty.

So when the theme is freedom and the poet free and fat,

Just take a prisoner's word for it, he's talking through his hat.

And ask yourself this question when you next read Burke and Co. "What can they know of freedom, they who only freedom know?"

Kranji, 6th September 1945
Lieutenant Robert Fletcher

Least we forget it was not only the British army and civilians who suffered.  The Indian army was the largest victim of Japanese aggression and abuse.  67,000 of the 132,000 troops defending Malaya and Singapore were Indians.  They were treated terribly too; and in some cases even worse with many sent to remote Pacific islands to build air strips.  Few returned as we were reminded in a speech by Captain Sachin Sequeira, the Defence Adviser at the High Commission of India in Singapore.  He unveiled plaques to the six regiments that fought as part of the doomed campaign and suffered terrible casualties.  The Sikhs were prominent in that war and a special plaque was also added in their honour along with a deeply touching prayer session led by Mr Gurcharan Singh of the Central Sikh Gurdwara Board.

All of this was more than appropriate.  The role of the Indian soldiers in the Second World War has been shamefully neglected by historians, though two recent books on the subject should help put that right.  More Indians died defending Singapore than any other nationality, some in regiments where OEs were among the officers.

This was a wonderful occasion of remembrance slightly marred by Captain Sequeira’s reference to Subhas Chandra Bose.  Whatever one’s political views this was not the occasion to bring up a man who fought alongside the aggressors when you are remembering the victims. 

It is all too easy to forget that only a generation ago so many people were willing to die for their beliefs.  I wonder whether that is still true.  Watching from Asia at the terrible scenes of migration out of the Middle East and into Europe raises the concern that this invasion, whatever its cause, could easily end up in civil dislocation and violence on a scale not seen since World War II.

The Changi Museum is a special if slightly distressing place.  A visit should be mandatory as part of any history course.  We need to remember what can happen when politicians get it wrong.  And we need to remember what man can do to men, women and even children when nations go to war.  And we need to place a proper value on freedom. 

In the immortal words of Lieutenant Fletcher:

         “What can they know of freedom, they who only freedom know?”

Compared to him we are all free.  Time spent at Changi Museum may not bridge the gap but could bring us closer to a better understanding of and respect for its importance.