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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2016 11:48:02 GMT
My folks from Stoke are over visiting at the moment, and as part of their trip we visited the Bridge over The River Kwai museum and War cemetery. I know we have a lot of ex services on here, and a lot of historians, and I have got to say it has been one of the most memorable couple of days of my life. The museum is very thought provoking, and to many, very upsetting, my Mother was actually moved to tears. We took the train over parts of the original route to Hell Fire Pass, Jesus H Christ, what those poor guys must have been put through to build that is almost beyond comprehension. The British legion in Biddulph gave us a load of wooden crosses and a poppy arrangement to lay, in memory of those fallen soldiers from Staffordshire, and although there were no Staffs Regiment headstones, there were never the less a lot of Artillery and Logistics troops, and indeed Sailors from the Prince of Wales that was sunk that were from our fine County that were caught in Singapore and Malaysia and shipped up through Thailand to build this railway. One thing of interest that caught my eye was the name of a Private from Australia...His Name was Private Stokes F.C.. I am sending some pics over to the Sentinel and they will run an article about this, and as an Ex Serviceman myself I felt incredibly proud and honoured to have paid tribute to our heroes. If any of you ever visit this great country, try to find a couple of days to do it...It is incredible.
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Post by cooper67 on Feb 9, 2016 13:21:18 GMT
Would love to do that visit.
Done most of WW1 battlesites in Europe.
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Post by Northy on Feb 9, 2016 17:54:28 GMT
Nice one Shanghai, that would have been a moving tribute to do
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Post by Linx on Feb 9, 2016 22:23:07 GMT
Singapore was a complete disaster, the worst defeat in British military history. Over 100,000 fit and well-equipped troops handed over to 20,000 Japanese, who themselves were at the end of their resources. Several thousands, like the Lincolnshire regiment, were surrendered without firing a shot, having arrived to reinforce the garrison only a week or two before. At the war memorial at our church, there's a plaque to our only WW2 casualty in the village, who was one of those Lincolns, who died on the railroad some six months later. General Percival, who surrendered his force, lived out a comfortable war in a glorifed house arrest, while thousands of his men died in appalling circumstances.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2016 0:05:48 GMT
Singapore was a complete disaster, the worst defeat in British military history. Over 100,000 fit and well-equipped troops handed over to 20,000 Japanese, who themselves were at the end of their resources. Several thousands, like the Lincolnshire regiment, were surrendered without firing a shot, having arrived to reinforce the garrison only a week or two before. At the war memorial at our church, there's a plaque to our only WW2 casualty in the village, who was one of those Lincolns, who died on the railroad some six months later. General Percival, who surrendered his force, lived out a comfortable war in a glorifed house arrest, while thousands of his men died in appalling circumstances. Very true Linx, and amongst the many actual war diaries and accounts written, a lot of the prisoners alluded to the fact that had they known what fate awaited them on the building of the railway, they would have rather died fighting on the battle field as opposed to surrendering. Truly awful.
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Post by tuum on Feb 12, 2016 1:14:46 GMT
My folks from Stoke are over visiting at the moment, and as part of their trip we visited the Bridge over The River Kwai museum and War cemetery. I know we have a lot of ex services on here, and a lot of historians, and I have got to say it has been one of the most memorable couple of days of my life. The museum is very thought provoking, and to many, very upsetting, my Mother was actually moved to tears. We took the train over parts of the original route to Hell Fire Pass, Jesus H Christ, what those poor guys must have been put through to build that is almost beyond comprehension. The British legion in Biddulph gave us a load of wooden crosses and a poppy arrangement to lay, in memory of those fallen soldiers from Staffordshire, and although there were no Staffs Regiment headstones, there were never the less a lot of Artillery and Logistics troops, and indeed Sailors from the Prince of Wales that was sunk that were from our fine County that were caught in Singapore and Malaysia and shipped up through Thailand to build this railway. One thing of interest that caught my eye was the name of a Private from Australia...His Name was Private Stokes F.C.. I am sending some pics over to the Sentinel and they will run an article about this, and as an Ex Serviceman myself I felt incredibly proud and honoured to have paid tribute to our heroes. If any of you ever visit this great country, try to find a couple of days to do it...It is incredible. Did you walk through Hellfire Pass or just go through on the train? I took my Mum to Hellfire in 2007 but she was not mobile enough to walk too much. I have a load of family out here at the end of March. Kanchanaburi is on the agenda. We will be in Pattaya for the home game v Swansea so hopefully catch up with you to watch the match.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 1:54:15 GMT
My folks from Stoke are over visiting at the moment, and as part of their trip we visited the Bridge over The River Kwai museum and War cemetery. I know we have a lot of ex services on here, and a lot of historians, and I have got to say it has been one of the most memorable couple of days of my life. The museum is very thought provoking, and to many, very upsetting, my Mother was actually moved to tears. We took the train over parts of the original route to Hell Fire Pass, Jesus H Christ, what those poor guys must have been put through to build that is almost beyond comprehension. The British legion in Biddulph gave us a load of wooden crosses and a poppy arrangement to lay, in memory of those fallen soldiers from Staffordshire, and although there were no Staffs Regiment headstones, there were never the less a lot of Artillery and Logistics troops, and indeed Sailors from the Prince of Wales that was sunk that were from our fine County that were caught in Singapore and Malaysia and shipped up through Thailand to build this railway. One thing of interest that caught my eye was the name of a Private from Australia...His Name was Private Stokes F.C.. I am sending some pics over to the Sentinel and they will run an article about this, and as an Ex Serviceman myself I felt incredibly proud and honoured to have paid tribute to our heroes. If any of you ever visit this great country, try to find a couple of days to do it...It is incredible. Did you walk through Hellfire Pass or just go through on the train? I took my Mum to Hellfire in 2007 but she was not mobile enough to walk too much. I have a load of family out here at the end of March. Kanchanaburi is on the agenda. We will be in Pattaya for the home game v Swansea so hopefully catch up with you to watch the match. We took the train to Nam Tok which is as far as it goes now. We then took a baht bus to Hellfire pass Museum, which is incredible. Then it is quite a trek down to Hell Fire Pass, but really worth it, allow about 40 min from museum to Hellfire and back, if you take the train to Nam Tok take the 10.4 from Kancanaburi, gets to Nam about 1 ish, that then gives u time to do Hellfire, waterfall, grab some lunch, then train returns 3,30... Give me a call when u get here, you fancy some golf while you here...
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Post by Skankmonkey on Feb 12, 2016 12:49:14 GMT
The fall of Singapore and Malaya was indeed, as Linx says above, a disaster for the British Empire. Britain completely underestimated Japanese military capabilities and our forces there were significantly underequipped and, to a large extent, poorly led.
Could I just make further mention of the similarly disastrous sinking of the Battleship HMS Prince Of Wales and Battlecruiser HMS Repulse by Japanese aircraft during the campaign and commemorate the 840 sailors who sadly lost their lives. R.I.P.
Winston Churchill - "In all the war, I never received a more direct shock... As I turned over and twisted in bed the full horror of the news sank in upon me. There were no British or American ships in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific except the American survivors of Pearl Harbor, who were hastening back to California. Over all this vast expanse of waters Japan was supreme, and we everywhere were weak and naked"
This engagement along with the American experience at Pearl Harbour highlighted the weakness of capital ships unsupported by naval airpower. From this point on the offensive role of the Aircraft Carrier largely eclipsed that of the Main Battleship.
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Post by lastoftheldk on Feb 12, 2016 14:40:05 GMT
Yes. .I have been there .
Makes you wonder and think.
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