My Memories by Robert O’Brien: The Early years 1953 – 1956

The Voyage to Johor Bahru, Malaysia via Singapore

It was the middle of December 1952 when we (my mother, myself and younger sister) set sail on the SS Chusan from Tilbury Docks in London bound for Singapore to join my father who had left some weeks earlier on a troop ship. He was in the British Army and had been posted to Johor Bahru in Malaysia, across the causeway from Singapore.

I was born on 17^th February 1950 in Sunderland, then in Co Durham, now Tyne & Wear, and my sister Lucille was born a little over two years later on 30^th April, 1952.

My father had carried out his National Service and, after demob, decided to enlist as a regular soldier in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps believing there would be a better future for himself and the family, opposed to going down the pits or in the shipyards which were the two main forms of employment in the early 1950s. He was first posted to Longtown, near Carlisle in Cumbria where we lived in married quarters, and then in November 1952, he was posted to the RAOC Depot at Majeedii Barracks, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. He departed on a Troop Ship sometime in November 1952 and arrived in Singapore some six weeks later. The Troop Ship took the long route around the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa instead of the shorter route through the Suez Canal.

My mother, myself and sister remained in Longtown until my mother received ‘papers’ to say we would be departing for Singapore on the SS Chusan in the middle of December.

When my mother told the Commanding Officer of the camp the details of our sailing to Singapore he had said to my mother that he was most surprised that a young Private’s wife and family had been given passage on such a ship as the SS Chusan.

The SS Chusan was part of the P&O Line fleet of ships which had made her maiden voyage in 1950 and was considered to have brought new standards of shipboard luxury for journeys to India and the Far East.

My mother had been worried about making the long train journey from Carlisle to London and then on to the Docks with two small children, so the Commanding Officer arranged for a soldier who was going on leave to accompany us to London and then via the underground to the King George V docks where my mother had been told the SS Chusan would sail from. However, on arrival at the King George V docks she was told the ship would, in fact, sail from Tilbury docks. By this time the soldier who had taken us this far had gone on his way and my mother had to make her way with us and the suitcases to Tilbury, which was not too far away, but still of concern to my mother.

The voyage from Tilbury to Singapore was to take three weeks, with Christmas 1952 and the New Year on board,  calling on the way at Gibraltar, Naples, Port Said, through the Suez Canal and on to Aden, Bombay, Colombo, Penang and finally to Singapore. Not yet being three years old I do not recall any of the journey but my mother has told me of some of the memories she has of the voyage. She recalls getting off the ship in Gibraltar, Port Said and Aden, where she ‘bartered’ for some small gifts; but returned quickly to the ship in Bombay as she did not like to see the poverty immediately in the dock area. In Penang she recalls taking my sister and I to one of the restaurants below deck for some food and feeling a large thump against the side of the ship. On looking out of one of the portholes she saw one of the local vessels had got too close and had collided with the SS Chusan.  Apparently there was no serious damage and we continued on our way to Singapore.

However, word had got through to Singapore that the SS Chusan had been involved in some minor skirmish in Penang; and my father who was waiting for us at the dockside, was most relieved and happy to see us safe and sound and just wanted to get our suitcases off the ship and back over the causeway from Singapore to Johor Bahru where he had found a house for us.

This was No 7 Jalan Wadi Hani and was to be our home for the next three years.

As I have already mentioned, my father was just a Private soldier when posted to Malaysia but he was determined to make the most of his life. He had no real education as a boy but studied very hard in Malaysia to get his Army Certificate of Education First Class and was very quickly promoted through the ranks first to Lance Corporal, Corporal and then Sergeant. I can remember the many hours he spent doing arithmetic and English language homework, and at the same time teaching me arithmetic. Becoming a Sergeant made a lot of difference both in his job and for the social life in the Sergeant’s Mess which went with this promotion. He also studied very hard to learn Malay and it was not too long before he became fluent, which was one of the reasons we were fortunate enough to return to Johor Bahru from 1959 to 1963.

Our house was on a minor road close to the main town of Johor Bahru and our neighbours were Malays. We soon became very friendly with the family next door to us. They had a son called Dolla who I used to play with, and a daughter called Dolly who became my sister’s friend. Being so young we both picked up some of the Malay language, and at the time my mother says my sister could speak Malay as well as she could speak English.  I can recall several memories of these early days in Jalan Wadi Hana, but for now just take a look at just a few of the photographs taken at the time.

More will follow in due course.

With my Mother and sister (on Dad’s motorbike) with house in Background – No 7 Jalan Wadi Hana

Me all dressed up with my sister and her friend Dolly from next door

Me in my cowboy suit Christmas 1954 A story to be told about this

Me and my sister all dressed up 

Related post: John Harper’s trip to Singapore in 1957

From my inbox – Rob O’brien remembers Singapore

There was a programme on TV over the last 2 weekends about “The fall of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942” and this started me thinking of the days I spent as a child in Johor Bahru and Singapore. I have since read several of your blogs and find them fascinating and remind me of many of my own experiences during that time. Thanks for bringing back so many memories.

My name is Robert O'Brien, born in February 1950 and was very fortunate to have grown up in Malaysia and Singapore from 1953 until 1956 and again from 1959 until January 1963. My father was in the British Army based in Johor Bahru where we lived in 2 houses that I can remember very well, in Jalan Wadi Hana (53-56) and Jalan Tarom (59-63). My father just loved being there and was fortunate to get posted back for a second time. He could speak fluent Malay during the first visit, and on the second visit we even traced our old Amah, Nonah, but she was not free to join us and we were fortunate to have her sister Elijah as our Amah.

Me with my sister and Father, c 1954

My sister with Nonah, our Amah/maid who was like a second mother to us

From the very early days of the first visit, and all during our time based in Johor Bahru, every Sunday was our day out in Singapore. My father would drive us across the causeway (no customs / restrictions in those days) down the Bukit Timah Road and on to the Britannia club where we spent the morning by the pool, had lunch there, and went on to either the Cathay Pacific or Odeon cinemas in the afternoon before returning back to JB. I can even remember several of the films we saw.

From 1961 until we left in 1963, I went to school in Singapore, attending the then Alexandra Grammar School. This was a daily trip for me and several others; but the majority of students were boarders from all over Malaysia. I have many many fond memories of those days and since 1995 have been fortunate to visit Singapore and Malaysia (all over South East Asia) on many occasions as part of the business I was in (selling equipment to the oil companies) and have seen many changes over the years. I retired last year and went back to Kuala Lumpur just this April as a farewell visit to my friends over there.

 PS - My intention is to do some research/investigation and talk to my mother (although she lives almost 300 miles from me in Sunderland where I was born, and I now live in Newbury, Berkshire) and post some blogs on Good Morning Yesterday.