It Happened to Us The unique experiences of 20 members of the 4TH ANTI-TANK REGIMENT Gunner Finkemeyer Melbourne 1994 Also available in Kindle format via amazon.com.au and EPUB format via smashwords.com IT HAPPENED TO US Copyright 1994 Colin E Finkemeyer ISBN 978-0-646-18473-9 First printed July 1994 Australian War Memorial Edition 2015 Australian War Memorial Edition, License Notes Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from "The Australian War Memorial" and return to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support. Author and collator of stories – Colin E Finkemeyer . THE AUTHOR Gunner Finkemeyer, alias Colin, Finky, Baron, Sandy or Stinky, was one of the lucky ones to survive and return home. He was an ammunition number and gun loader for 'George' Troop 15th Battery and a proud member of the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment. He is one of the many youths who loved Australia with boyish pride and who were prepared to do what had to be done at the time to help defend their country from invasion by the Japanese. As luck would have it, he happened to be in a number of the same camps as that great man, Weary Dunlop and is one of the many who owe their lives to him. Finky was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to complete his studies in Commerce (in Personnel) at Melbourne University. He was able to spend his working life with men and managers in Australian owned and operated manufacturing companies. And he loved it. ii LIEUTENANT BILL McCURE Bill was just a little over 20 when he made the decision to defy his commanding officer's order by placing his guns in defensive positions along the Muar Road. His decision resulted in the destruction of a convoy of eight Japanese tanks which would otherwise have wreaked havoc on our troops in the Muar battle and the battle for Singapore. The story of his youthful defiance and courage in orchestrating the anti-tank defence is one of the highlights of the Malayan campaign. iii CONTENTS THE BATTLE OF SINGAPORE AND MALAYA MAP ......................................................... vi THE BURMA – THAI RAILWAY BAMPONG TO TANBUSAI MAP ................................ vii FOREWORD GEOFFREY N BLAINEY AO ........................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION WHAT HAPPENED TO GET US STARTED ......................................................................................... 1 BILL McCURE’S STORY THREE AND A HALF YEARS: ‘MISSING PRESUMED DEAD’ ............................................................. 5 CLARRIE THORNTON’S STORY ANTI-TANK ACTION AND PUDU PRISON ....................................................................................... 17 FINKY’S STORY THAILAND, THE BIOKE MARU AND NAGASAKI ........................................................................... 30 FRANK CHRISTIE’S DIARY FROM CHANGI TO JAPAN .............................................................................................................. 44 BILL CUNNEEN’S STORY FOUR DAYS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA ........................................................................................ 60 THE NUMURKAH MOB NUMURKAH’S FOURTEEN LIGHT-HORSEMEN .............................................................................. 70 REG COWAN’S STORY LIFE IN A POW HOSPITAL, OUR DOCTORS AND PADRES .............................................................. 79 ALF MONTFORT’S DIARY SINGAPORE TO THAILAND 1941 – 1945 .......................................................................................... 86 LLOYD WEAVER’S STORY LIFE WITH 36 NEW GUINEA BUSH NATIVES ............................................................................... 101 BOB GRANT’S STORY THE MARCH TO NOWHERE ......................................................................................................... 115 COL DAWSON’S STORY THE BOMBING OF DARWIN ......................................................................................................... 131 DICK MOUNTFORD’S STORY CHANGI AND THE GREAT WORLD CAMPS ................................................................................. 138 OSSIE RUDOLPH’S STORY AN OFFICER ON THE BURMA-THAI RAIL .................................................................................... 148 iv GEORGE LANCASTER’S STORY THE TRIALS OF A BOY AND THE ARMY ...................................................................................... 157 KEN DUMBRELL’S STORY ‘A’ FORCE - A ‘FIGHTING BRIGADE’ ........................................................................................... 167 TOMMY WITTINGSLOW’S STORY SHOW BUSINESS, FUN AND GAMBLING ..................................................................................... 176 CYRIL WATSON’S STORY MALAYA, BORNEO, SANDAKAN AND KUCHING ........................................................................ 188 DON MOORE’S CARTOONS CARTOONS THAT KEPT US SMILING .......................................................................................... 197 THE STORY ABOUT ERIC COOPER WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO HOLD US TOGETHER ........................................................................ 206 EPILOGUE - MARK II OUR FUTURE IN YOUR HANDS .................................................................................................... 214 v vi vii FOREWORD GEOFFREY N BLAINEY AO EMERITUS PROFESSOR UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE AUTHOR AND HISTORIAN Mr Paul Keating has done as much as anybody to revive Australian interest in the tragic events is south east Asia in 1941-42, when the Japanese swept all before them. While Mr Keating makes some astonishing observations, he rightly emphasises that the Fall of Singapore is one of the crucial events in Australia’s history and that perhaps it deserves, for a very different reason, to stand alongside Gallipoli in public memory. The Malaya campaign and the Fall of Singapore were almost Gallipoli turned upside down. The Malaya campaign, like that of Gallipoli, was fought on a narrow peninsula; but this time the Australians were amongst the defenders rather than the attackers. Whereas in 1915 the Australians had begun with severe disadvantages, having to land on dangerous beaches, in contrast in 1941 they and their allies began with some strong advantages. Alas, in the end they were defeated. Moreover they were captured and humiliated by the Japanese. It was a more tragic episode than Gallipoli, and therefore not so eagerly remembered. And yet it offers lessons. Bravery is to be admired, but without the right weapons and without support in the air, bravery is not enough in modern warfare. Sometimes it can be like the carrying of buckets to the beach in the hope of halting the incoming surf. In Malaya and Singapore the Australians and their allies had inappropriate weapons. They were decidedly inferior in the all-important air power. And why were they inadequately armed? Partly because they had been ill-equipped as an indirect result of decisions made by the parliament at home. Mr Keating does not realize that Labor and its strong isolationist strand was, before the war, apathetic to defence preparations. The Australians in the Malay Peninsula were also let down by a big section of Australian opinion which, in the years preceding the outbreak of war, did not wish to spend adequately on armaments. The Anzac soldiers had been safely evacuated from Gallipoli, but there could be no evacuation from Singapore because the Japanese, unlike the Turks, commanded the sea and the air as well. This is a story of some of the men who were victims of the Malaya campaign but who, each in his own way, triumphed. Colin Finkemeyer has skilfully assembled the stories set down by individual members of the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment. We read of the Numurkah Mob enlisting after the wheat crop was sown on their northern Victorian farms. We read of the early experiences in the war and the sights and sounds and smells of captivity, including “the awful smell of the ulcer ward”, the death marches, the hunger, the fun and banter, the gambling and the scrounging. We see Johnny Gray dying of malaria at Hellfire Pass, his eyes bright with defiance: “I’m going home to Numurkah to die of old age.” We hear Dick Mountford recalling how the Japanese distributed pineapple juice so that toasts could be drunk because, according to their boasts, they were about to capture Australia. The “thought of the Japs being so close to taking Australia really worried me” writes Mountford. viii They served their country, under acute difficulties. Their stories are typical of the thousands of other stories that will never be told. Their courage, their ordeal, and why they had to face it, should not be forgotten. Geoffrey Blainey May 1994 ix INTRODUCTION WHAT HAPPENED TO GET US STARTED Many of us who have had unique experiences in life often think we should write about them but never get around to it until some little thing triggers us off. When listening to my army friends talk about their experiences, I have often thought how interesting these could be to others also, but always left it at that. Recently an official history of the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment was published by historian, Lieutenant Colonel Neil Smith AM. It gives a thorough and very interesting historical summary of the origins of the regiment, and covers the general conditions that prevailed