You might also be surprised to learn that this old building in a side street in Cambridge has a great deal to do with Singapore. As the worn, lopsided, sign hanging over the door tells us, this hut belonged to FEPOW – Far East Prisoners of War.
Those prisoners suffered terrible hardship and 25% of them would die, sent from Changi across S E Asia and to Japan itself. Many died building the infamous Siam-Burma railway. Some who remained at Changi worked building an airfield at Changi. This became RAF Changi, where I lived in the early 1960s, and then part of the new Changi International airport and SAF base.
On repatriation to the UK many of the former prisoners felt that their suffering was not and could not be understood. They formed their own clubs and associations and there were about 60 such associations which were part of FEPOW. Men from the Cambridgeshire regiment, who had fought in Malaya and Singapore where they became prisoners, opened their club house in 1952. Finally, it closed in 2008 – its job, ‘To keep going the spirit that kept us going’, completed.
Now the old hut in which those former prisoners met will shortly disappear and with it a small symbol of the linked histories of the UK and Singapore.
Link: FEPOW Community
10 comments:
Interesting Brian .. is the Japanese name supposed to be some kind of irony?
I have read many stories of these men in the FEPOW website. Truly remarkable for those who made it through those very tough years as a POW. Sadly, as time moves on, many have passed on and the associations are slowly dwindling. But at least the stories remain.
Icemoon asked about whether the name is ironic. It is the question I wondered about although I read that 'yasume' was the word the prisoners most wanted to hear as they worked on the railway and other constructions - as it signalled a much needed and rare rest period. I guess despite its terrible associations for them they still felt it most appropriate but its use is a little surprising given the understandable bitterness that many of the survivors felt.
Yasume is deliciously ironic in a way that only the British could pull off !
I heard this saying in my school days: "In peace prepare for war". Snr Lee knows this very well that is why the first thing when Singapore got independence, he built up an army (NS based) with the help of a foreign country. He doesn't want Singaporeans has the chance to build a Yasume Club.
Did Lee Kuan Yew have a house or stayed in Changi during WWII?
Anonymous _ there will be someone here with more precise information but my memory from past reading is that Lee Kuan Yew was then living on the route from the City to Changi, somewhere like Siglap but not Changi itself. He did have a house in Changi on the coast in the 1960s and I have mentioned on this blog seeing him practising his gold on the gold-course which adjoined our school playing field area. I think one of the blog readers was going to check out that house whichI think is a government bungalow.
LKY stayed in a bungalow facing the sea at a part of Changi coast in the '60s because he was under danger of assassination attempts by Indonesians during the Confrontasi.
The bungalow is now under Aloha chalet resort, the building name is Changi Cottage, beautiful modern English looking house.
Yup found it some time ago. Thanks to Brian and friends. Will blog about it soon.
My grandfather was a friend of Walter L. "Wally" Davis, who was very active with the Cambridge Yasume Club during the 1970s. During the war they were both musicians in the Chungkai POW camp orchestra (Thailand), Davis as a drummer and my grandfather as an accordionist. Excellent photos of the old club building. Thanks for posting these!
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