Singapore, WW2 and a Fountain Pen
May 28, 2008
Last Battle of Singapore
What might the subject of a fountain pen have to do with the battle fought at Pasir Panjang Ridge Singapore in 1942! … well nothing really except perhaps for a rather remarkable coincidence which brought me to the allied forces cemetery at Kranji, a short walk from the MRT station near Woodlands district.
As I walked up to the main entrance I became more increasingly aware of the imposing ambient quietness and serene atmosphere, as though telling me that this is a most special place.
The commemorative cemetery at Kranji is immaculately kept, a virtual forest of neatly spaced headstones with lawn pathways between rows, my thoughts were “how did I get myself into this and how am I going to find the resting place of a certain English second lieutenant who was assigned to the Malay Regiment”.
I had never heard of this last ditch battle where a Malay Brigade together with a second loyal British regiment stood firm although undermanned against a fanatical onslaught of 13,000 attacking Japanese in the Last Battle of Singapore.
That is until an elderly member of the New Zealand World War Two Veterans living in Christchurch N.Z. sent me his gold plated Conway Stewart pen.The outcome of this resulted in a series of on-going exchange email correspondence and a telephone conversation with the veteran soldier in New Zealand, which coincided with one of my many visits to Singapore to spend some time with my Singaporean relatives in law.
I had been uniquely privileged by his former soldier friend who survived and made his home in New Zealand to find this headstone and lay a note of remembrance with flowers in his name on his behalf.
Sure enough after some searching I eventually found this English soldiers grave headstone.
Comments
Got something to say?