Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

You know, I don’t think any of us had ever taken into account that we would ever become a prisoner. I know I hadn’t. I can assure you on that. Anyhow, we sort of had to accept the inevitable. We stayed in the spot where we were for a couple of days I should think, and then we were eventually told oh, we had to surrender what arms we had. Which wasn’t hard to do because all we had was a .303 rifle and a few rounds of ammunition. And then we were told that we were being marched out to some particular camp. None of us seemed to know what it was. But I remember Major Lawrence saying to us, “Now, I want to tell you this. On this march keep together. Don’t retaliate in any way what so ever. That you may be stoned, spat upon, insulted by the local people because there’s Japanese flags flying everywhere. Every house has got a rising sun flag either stuck on it or sticking out of a window. And, you know, the people now may have turned against us.” Now, no matter how well intentioned the Major’s words were because he himself was a fine man, we found things to be just the reverse. And this is why I have never, ever forgotten the Chinese people of whom I have a great admiration for. I’m of course speaking now of the Malayan Chinese or the Singapore Chinese people at that time. As we marched out to this camp which later became famous as Changi. People along the way, I would think at great personal risk to themselves, were gathered there with buckets of water into which we could dip our mugs and get a drink of water. And it was the Chinese people who were doing this. Now, in the eyes of the Japanese this would mean that they were pro-British, or pro-Allied, perhaps I should use this term. And it’s quite on the cards they could have been severely punished by the Japanese even to the point of being executed, but they did this and I have never forgotten it. (TC McLachlan recalls becoming a Prisoner of War at the Fall of Singapore)