My Father ~ World War II Prisoner of War

Born Ho Cheng Wan on 16th May 1915 at Noordin Street, Penang to Ho Soon Seng and Saw Tuan Teen.  Being the 3rd boy in a family of three boys & four girls, dad grew up very much a typical Penang boy in his younger days... loved basketball & took part in quite a number of school basketball tournaments in his time.

Times were hard then.  As I know, Grandfather, being the sole provider for the family had suffered a stroke when all of them were still very young.  He was working as an accounts clerk at The Chartered Bank then and had to stop work due to his inability to concentrate on figures.  It was Grandmother that did her best to keep the family together on the small allowance that the bank gave them monthly, for grandfather was a hard and responsible worker.  Coupled with that, grandmother’s three brothers contributed whatever they could spare for the family.  It was a struggle but my grandparents knew the importance of education & saved as much as they could, just to send my two uncles & father to school.  Textbooks and writing materials were expensive and same goes for school shoes.  Grandmother used to patch the canvas with needle & thread, using gums to close the opening between rubber & canvas etc , always trying to save as much as she can. Grandfather suffered a second stroke & passed on in 1940.

Father, after finishing Trade School, went to work in Singapore  in August 1940  at the British Airbase at Seletar,  attached to the Special Technical Corps as a Fitter at the Maintenance Unit.  He sent home as much as he could spare to help make ends meet...until the Japanese invasion in February 8th 1942. 

I came to discover more about my father’s P.O.W (Prisoner Of War) days, partly from some of the stories he had told and from various old documents that father had kept through the years.

When the war reached Singapore, he was evacuated to Java together with the RAF personnel. On 8th March 1942 he was taken as Prisoner of War and sent to Japan in November, 1942.  I also remembered father mentioning that they made a stop-over in Philippines before being sent to Japan.  His first P.O.W. Camp was in Mitsushima Nagano-ken

(To know more about this camp ~ http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/tokyo/mitsushima-12D/mitsushima_gibbs.htm

There they met American P.O.W.  from the cruiser U.S. Houston which sank when attempting to take them off Java.  In this camp, they were contracted out to work on a twin-tunnel Hydro-electric project.  He was later transferred to another location, the Hitachi Copper Mining Camp in Tokyo and was there until the Japanese surrender on 2nd Sept. 1945.

I can still remember some of father’s stories during his war days, one of which was that, at one of the camps  they had to walk for miles to work, there were chestnut trees along the road and they would  collect the fallen seeds, hide them in their pockets and secretly build small fires and roast them when they got back to camp to kill their hunger pangs.  He rememberd there was an old Japanese man who works in the camp who pitied father as he said that father very much resembled his son who was away at war.  This was to father’s advantage as he would always sneak food in for father.

For 3 ½ years as P.O.W in Japan, father was considered as one of the lucky ones who was able to return home safely.  Father was awarded the Pacific Star War Ribbon for his service in World War II.

The Pacific Star War Ribbon  - On the Left...(not sure about the other ribbons though)

More about the Pacific Star Medal ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pacific_Star.gif

This photo was taken at the Hitachi Copper Mining Camp after the Japanese surrender in 1945

This picture was taken after his return to Singapore from P.O.W. Camp in Japan

Father’s release letter from the Royal Air Force service after the war

Father’s  “Back Pay & Terminal Benefits” letter from Special Technical Corps that he was attached to before the war.

(Front of the photo)

(Reverse side of the photo)

This photo is one of a kind.  After the Japanese surrendered, father found this photo at the Hitachi P.O.W. Camp.  Supposedly this is the photo (probably taken from another fighter plane) showing the Japanese attack and sinking of one of the British warships, either the Prince of Wales or Repulse.  There seem to be some enhancement done on the photo (so don’t really know if it’s the original thing)

In August 1946, after returning from the war, father found employment at the Singapore Cold Storage, Telok Anson (now known as Telok Intan) as an Engineer’s Clerk.  With his considerable experience in engineering matters, he acted as  Clerk-Of Works for various Cold Storage branches throughout the country.  He was later promoted as a Sub-Manager(Assistant Manager) at the Telok Anson Cold Storage.

In late 1949, father was involved in a motorcycle accident which left him with a serious fractured right leg.  He was hospitalised for a considerable period of time at the Batu Gajah Hospital and later requested to be transferred to the Penang Mission Hospital where he could be cared for better with his family nearby.  It wasn’t until July 1950 that father was able to return to his duties at the Singapore Cold Storage in Telok Anson.

It was there that father met & married mom who was then working as a cashier at the Telok Anson Cold Storage branch. 

After my sister & I was born, father was transferred to serve at the Butterworth Cold Storage branch and in 1963 was posted to the Cold Storage Ice Factory in Sungai Petani, Kedah as a Factory Manager. This is was his final transfer until he retired in 1981 at the age of 66. 

Father had always been a stern man, thus gained respect from many of his employees and made many friends through his lifetime.  He was a very hardworking man, each & every task that he undertake must be done to perfection.  As his work at the ice factory required him to be available at all times, we don’t see him much at home but in his office not far away from the living quarters where we stayed. He held a managerial position but yet works alone at his office, without any assistants...he was manager, clerk, office boy all in one.

I remember one incident vividly.  There was a serious ammonia gas leakage at the factory plant and the main gas valve in the engine room had to be turned off. The situation could become dangerous.(Ammonia gas makes our eyes water & cause breathing difficulties when inhaled & could even cause an explosion). The fire brigade was summoned but the situation could not wait, father’s  Engine Driver & a good friend immediately volunteered even without any available gas mask. The fire brigade arrived...father informed them that there was someone still inside the factory.  When none of the fireman took any immediate action....father sprang into action... He grabbed a gas mask from the fireman & immediately stormed into the factory before anyone could stop him...turned off the gas valve & brought the near breathless man to safety.  He was our hero !

Father is no long with us now, no doubt he is now in a better world...God bless his soul.

“We will always love & miss you dad....stern as you may be, you have shown your love in so many different ways, with the special simple things you do for us....You have made us what we are today...not rich in wealth....but rich in so many other ways.”

(1915 ~ 1994)

This had always been father’s favourite song.  I still remember he used to sing it to us when we were little..really does bring back memories...

~ We Love U Dad ~