Thursday, 11 October 2012
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Former POW William Mundy visits the Changi Museum
William Mundy on his visit to Changi Prison last month sharing his amazing story of how he established a bee hive while interned (bee keeping being his hobby in the UK) and every two weeks the 1/2 inch high honey in a jar would be donated to the hospital to be used for dressing wounds. One of the those fascinating stories within a story of Changi Prison.
Java FEPOW Tour with William Mundy by Andrew Glynn
Java FEPOW Club Tour, Java/Ambon/Singapore
In late September, local Singapore
businessman of Mr. Andrew Glynn assisted the Java FEPOW Club with their tour
throughout Java, Ambon and Singapore. They met with David Hope for an
interesting lunch at the Singapore Cricket Club.
One of the UK’s strongest surviving Far
East Prisoner of War (FEPOW) clubs, the Java Club has over 90 veteran members
mainly those who were captured when the Dutch Surrendered to Japan on the 8th
of March 1942; as well as numerous associate and family members. It boasts among its patrons Dame Vera Lynn
and the Countess of Wessex.
The trip was lead by Club Chairman, Lesley
Clark whose father was imprisoned in numerous camps in Java and also Ambon.
Several other children of former prisoners joined the trip.
We were fortunate that POW veteran Mr.
William Mundy, an agile 91 year old, who was accompanied by his son Bryan,
attended every stage of the trip. He may well be the last UK FEPOW to visit the
remote Ambon area.
RAF Aircraftman William Mundy sailed from
Gourock in Scotland on 3rd December 1941, bound for Kuala Lumpur,
but as the Japanese made rapid advances through Malaya he was re-routed to
Batavia.
He was captured at Garut, and later
spending time at Glodok Prison (now demolished) and Tandjong Priok. After surviving Typhoid Fever he was shipped
with 1000 other men to Ambon, to work on a Japanese airfield construction at
Liang in the North East of the Island. More than two thirds of these men were
destined to die in Ambon or on the Hellships, such as the Suez Maru and Maros
Maru, used to transport them back to Java a year later.
William said “I think most people would ask
why on earth I would want to go back to where I had such a traumatic
experience. There are the war graves, where some of the 775 out of the 1,000
who didn’t survive are buried, and I would appreciate the opportunity to
reflect on their sacrifice”.
“Visiting the graves would also provide an
opportunity to thank Almighty God for his grace, mercy, love and preservation
which brought me safely back to the UK”.
Mr Mundy’s friend died on the Maros Maru
and is commemorated at Kranji.
By the time William left Liang in a sick
draft for Batavia he had advanced Beri-Beri, and was blind from Pellagra and
glare from the white coral airstrip. In
mid 1944 he was transported to Changi Prison in Singapore where he set up a bee
colony and lectured on bee keeping to fellow prisoners. A dedicated hobby
apiarist before, during and after the war, Mr Mundy still lectures on bee keeping
at local colleges.
Although the honey wasn’t used for food
(there wasn’t a separator for the Queen), it was excellent as an ointment for
treating skin diseases and especially tropical ulcers. Honey is hygroscopic so
dries out wounds.
At least one of his students from Changi
POW Camp set up an Apiary business when he returned to Australia.
The tragic experiences of the POW’s had a
big impact on their families too. Take for example Mrs. Hazel Wilson, whose
last recollection of her father James Goode, was of him leaving the house in
uniform when she was three. Her father didn’t return, and died when the
overcrowded (6520 POW’s and Javanese labourers) Junyo Maru was torpedoed on route from Java to Sumatra in
September 1944 by the British submarine HMS Tradewind. 5640 souls perished
making it the largest loss of life for any ship sinking in the Pacific.
Mr Glynn of Agspec, said the highlight of
the trip was “being able to locate many of the significant camp sites from the
war period. Many have been demolished, but with the help of the Port Authority
we were able to get to the Tanjung Priok camp site. The main camps in Bandung
are still intact and the Indonesian Army was very helpful in places that are
now controlled by them. In Liang, Ambon the Camp is also gone, but we were able
to locate the site using WW2 reconnaissance photos and current satellite
images. It was still possible to locate the airstrip at Liang which is now
covered with stunted bushes”.
While in Jakarta the group enjoyed
afternoon tea with the Reverend Jon Cox of All Saints Church where the original
painted glass windows from the Tanjung Priok camp Chapel are housed. They were
joined by the British DA, Colonel Phil Thorpe.
Repairing the Padang after the Japanese surrender of Singapore
The Old Ford Factory on Upper Bukit Timah road is the site of the
British surrender on the 15th of February 1942. Now preserved as
a museum it is well worth a visit. One thing that struck me on a
recent visit were some of the images that I had not seen before and
this photo was one such example. It shows the surrendered Japanese
soldier repairing the Padang and the Singapore cricket club can be
in the distance.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Aircraftman 1 William Mundy
It was an honor to host lunch at the Singapore Cricket Club with William Mundy 91, his son Bryan and avid historian Andrew Glynn who was escorting William and Bryan who were out in the region from England. William's story was that with the RAF he sailed from England bound for Kuala Lumpur in 1941 but as the city had been taken his ship was diverted to Java. Some 3 weeks after disembarking he was captured at Garoet and his subsequent camps were Boei Gllodok and Tandjong Priok in Batavia (Jakarta). In April 1943 he was taken to Ambon where, as one of 1000 men , he was marched across Ambon to build the camp and an airfield out of coral at Liang camp.
When returned to Java for 5-6 weeks he should have then been sent to the Thai-Burma railway but being unwell the MO on board arranged for William and another POW to be transferred to Changi hospital where he remained for 6 months. He tells the story how being an avid bee keeper in England he managed to set up a bee hive in Changi prison that produced a small amount of honey every 2 weeks which was used by the hospital as a form of dressing. After Changi William was transferred to Kranji in Singapore to dig tunnels in the granite hillside for the Japanese but the surrender came before they were ever used. William was in the region with a group from the Java Far East Prisoners of War Club 1942 and it was terrific to see him in Singapore spritely and fit!
Monday, 1 October 2012
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