I remember seeing maggots in dead bodies: WWII survivor

The terrifying whistling sound of bombs falling on Singapore on the night of 8 December 1941 was the watershed moment when World War II arrived without warning for Edwin Thumboo, then a young boy living at Mandai Road.

Speaking at the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II on Thursday (27 Aug), Thumboo, 81, now a professor at NUS Department of English and Literature, said his father was desperate to find out news about his best friend living in the Newton area when the bombing happened.

When day broke, Thumboo accompanied his father who drove to survey the damage and they witnessed scenes of utter devastation - burning oil tanks, a large crater in the road and shophouses being reduced to rubble – before arriving in Newton. Sadly, for Thumboo’s father, his best friend did not survive the bombing.

“Even I knew something terrible had happened given the crowd in front of number 42. We heard loud voices; women weeping. Papa came out an hour later. Silent all the way home, he kept to himself, brooding and talking to himself. I saw what war could do to even the strong,” Thumboo said.

Just two months later, the Japanese army’s tanks, artillery pieces, bicycles and soldiers swept across Singapore from Johor. War survivor Major (retired) Ishwar Lall Singh, 86, who was then living in the Serangoon area, said the population feared the worst when the land battle began.

On 15 February 1942, Singapore fell and thus began the Japanese Occupation, the darkest chapter in the nation’s history when wanton killings, beatings, starvation and disease outbreaks were the harsh daily realities for the people of Singapore.

“Many became sick and died from malnutrition. I remember seeing maggots in dead bodies lying across the pathway crossing the Rochore River Tekka Bridge,” Singh, who later served as an officer with the Singapore Armed Forces after the country became independent in 1965, said.

The Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945 to the Allies brought three and a half years of brutal occupation in Singapore to an end, precipitated by the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The number of people who died during the Japanese Occupation remained disputed, but it was often cited at more than 50,000. Several atrocities committed by the Japanese forces in Singapore have since gone down into the annals of infamy, including the Sook Ching Massacre and the Alexandra Hospital Massacre.

The surrender ceremony for the Japanese forces in Southeast Asia was held on 12 September 1945 at the then-Municipal Building and now National Gallery Singapore. At the commemoration held in the same Chamber where the surrender took place, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong paid tribute to the war survivors and veterans.

“The people of Singapore were forever changed by this crucible of war. That is why, although Singapore’s independence as a sovereign nation would be obtained only 20 years later in 1965, the war will forever be embedded in our national memory,” Wong said.

One interesting footnote of Singapore’s history was about the officer who was supposed to head the Japanese delegation at the surrender ceremony. Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi was the commander-in-chief of the Japanese forces in Southeast Asia but due to illness, General Seishiro Itagaki signed the surrender document on his behalf. Itagaki was hanged in Tokyo for war crimes in 1948. Terauchi never stood trial for war crimes and he died as a prisoner in Malaya in 1946. His grave at the Japanese Cemetery Park in Hougang still stands today.

In some parts of Asia, the wounds of war have never healed, with China and the two Koreas often accusing Japan of whitewashing its wartime history. Two weeks ago, Beijing condemned a visit by several Japanese cabinet ministers to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which honours the fallen Japanese, including ‘Class A’ war criminals.

Wong spoke about the reconciliation process in the region. “We have embraced reconciliation; and we hope to one day see the same healing and reconciliation throughout Asia. As we learn from history, we should look ahead to the future and move forward for the common good.”