BritinBritain
Per Ardua Ad Astra
This post might be of interest to Viper
In 1967 I arrived in Singapore for a 30 month tour of duty at RAF Tengah (Now Tengah Air Base of the Singapore Armed Forces). Part of my time was spent at Tengah, up country and RAF Jurong, a small radio transmitting station on the South West are of the Island. During my time at Jurong I heard many tales of executions, hauntings and other strange going's on. I have learned more about the station in recent weeks then I ever learned while I was there.
In 1943 the Australian special forces launched Operation Jaywick a "cockle shell heroes" type raid against Singapore harbour not from a submarine but from a captured Japanese fishing boat renamed the Krait (Google "Krait Fishing Boat" for loads of info on the history of the boat and more detailed information of the raid). The raid was an outstanding success so much so that the Japanese didn't realise that they had been attacked and thought that local saboteurs had been at work.
A year later (1944) a similar raid was carried out (Operation Rimau) using a combination of a submarine (HMS Porpoise) and a captured Malay junk (the Mustika). This raid was a disaster and resulted in 10 of the raiding party being captured. In July 1945 the 10 were put on trial for espionage, found guilty and beheaded on the 7th July 1945 just over a month before the Japanese surrender.
Human remains were found in 1967 when repair work was being carried out on the aerial farm at RAF Jurong. All work was stopped while the War Graves Commission began an investigation, they found they were indeed the 10 men from the Rimau Operation. Their remains were taken from Jurong and reburied at Kranji along with other Allied servicemen buried in various parts of Singapore.
In 1994, after a long search, the bodies of two members of the Rimau Operation killed on Merapas Island were found. They were 21-year old SGT C. Cameron of the Australian Imperial Force and 21-year old Sub-LT G. Riggs of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. These two young men bravely held off a small Japanese force that had landed on Merapas Island on 4 Nov 44. Their bravery allowed the other Rimau members to escape by boat. Almost 50 years after the incident, their remains were brought to Singapore. They were buried with full military honours at the Kranji War Memorial on 27 Aug 94. Present at the ceremony were relatives of the two men. The burials of Cameron and Riggs bring to 17 the number of Rimau commandos laid to rest at Kranji. The other six lie in unmarked graves in Indonesia.
My uncle John has his name on the Kranji war memorial walls as he has no known grave on the Sandekan death March route.
RAF Jurong closed down in 1971, a brilliant posting was lost.
In 1967 I arrived in Singapore for a 30 month tour of duty at RAF Tengah (Now Tengah Air Base of the Singapore Armed Forces). Part of my time was spent at Tengah, up country and RAF Jurong, a small radio transmitting station on the South West are of the Island. During my time at Jurong I heard many tales of executions, hauntings and other strange going's on. I have learned more about the station in recent weeks then I ever learned while I was there.
In 1943 the Australian special forces launched Operation Jaywick a "cockle shell heroes" type raid against Singapore harbour not from a submarine but from a captured Japanese fishing boat renamed the Krait (Google "Krait Fishing Boat" for loads of info on the history of the boat and more detailed information of the raid). The raid was an outstanding success so much so that the Japanese didn't realise that they had been attacked and thought that local saboteurs had been at work.
A year later (1944) a similar raid was carried out (Operation Rimau) using a combination of a submarine (HMS Porpoise) and a captured Malay junk (the Mustika). This raid was a disaster and resulted in 10 of the raiding party being captured. In July 1945 the 10 were put on trial for espionage, found guilty and beheaded on the 7th July 1945 just over a month before the Japanese surrender.
Human remains were found in 1967 when repair work was being carried out on the aerial farm at RAF Jurong. All work was stopped while the War Graves Commission began an investigation, they found they were indeed the 10 men from the Rimau Operation. Their remains were taken from Jurong and reburied at Kranji along with other Allied servicemen buried in various parts of Singapore.
In 1994, after a long search, the bodies of two members of the Rimau Operation killed on Merapas Island were found. They were 21-year old SGT C. Cameron of the Australian Imperial Force and 21-year old Sub-LT G. Riggs of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. These two young men bravely held off a small Japanese force that had landed on Merapas Island on 4 Nov 44. Their bravery allowed the other Rimau members to escape by boat. Almost 50 years after the incident, their remains were brought to Singapore. They were buried with full military honours at the Kranji War Memorial on 27 Aug 94. Present at the ceremony were relatives of the two men. The burials of Cameron and Riggs bring to 17 the number of Rimau commandos laid to rest at Kranji. The other six lie in unmarked graves in Indonesia.
My uncle John has his name on the Kranji war memorial walls as he has no known grave on the Sandekan death March route.
RAF Jurong closed down in 1971, a brilliant posting was lost.
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