What a question! Mr Samuel was 16 when he sat for his Cambridge exams (equivalent to today's O level exams) on Dec 8, 1941. He recalls a question taken from the paper, History of the British Empire. In it, he was asked to comment on "Singapore, the invincible fortress of the East". The first bombs fell on Singapore later that day.

SLICE OF TIME Radio OF Death Lecturer D S Samuel tells YONG SHU HOONG how the radio became an instrument of death in Singapore 55 years ago. His brother-in-law was tortured and killed for listening to it 'WHEN Japanese soldiers invaded Singapore, they ordered all households to turn in their radio sets to the police stations. After getting our radio back, we found we could only listen to Japanese propaganda programmes. The Japanese had adjusted the set to block out Allied short-wave stations like Voice of America or BBC, and then placed a seal to discourage anyone from tampering with our radio. In late 1943, my brother-in-law, A E George, who was an electrician, broke off the seal and started tuning in to the forbidden foreign stations. When he heard news from the BBC that Japan was losing the war, he passed on the information to his friends. Unfortunately, someone reported him to the Kempeitai (the Japanese military police). Two weeks later, the Kempeitai tracked him down. They confiscated the radio and took my brother-in-law to the old YMCA building on Stamford Road, which was then a Kempeitai headquarters. We heard that he was tortured. A month later, news came that he had died in prison.' WHO WAS THE SPY? MR Samuel's family never found out who betrayed Mr A E George. He left behind a young widow with four children to raise. They survived the war and the children (except for one, who died) are in their 50s. Mr Samuel's sister has since died. After the war, many informers and Japanese spies fled the country. Some were rounded up and beaten to death. "I once saw four informers tied up to the posts of the Canberra Gate, at the entrance of a naval base along Sembawang Road," Mr Samuel said. "A mob of about 30 to 40 angry people stoned them to death. "I couldn't do it. "I just couldn't bring myself to take another person's life, even though I knew the informers had committed terrible crimes." Radio Ga-Ga Mr D S Samuel: Retired from the Ministry of Education, Mr Samuel, 73, is now a part-time National Education lecturer with the Ministry of Defence. YONG SHU HOONG traces the look and sound of radio over the years Complete home entertainment system : Radio gramophone of the '40s and '50s. Rediffusion : Talk of the town in the '70s. Hot talk : Radio of the '60s which carried the latest election news. Rediffu sion : Talk of the town in the '70s. PAINFUL memories come flooding back whenever Mr D S Samuel, 73, catches sight of his antique radio set in his sitting room. An avid collector of antiques, Mr Samuel bought his Philips radio from a shop in the Newton area for $60. That was in the 1950s. "Its body is made of polished mahogany, and it looks just like the radio set that was in my sister's home during the war," he said. Mr Samuel was then staying in Nee Soon with his sister, Mary, and her husband, Mr A E George. His father was working as a Christian minister in Malaysia at the time. Through the years, the radio continued to play a big part in Mr Samuel's life, delivering news updates of important historical events. Events like the return of the British to Singapore after Japan's surrender, the first election to the Singapore Legislative Council in 1948 and the Hock Lee bus riots of 1955. Prudential Time Line Between Dec 8, 1941, when Singapore was invaded by Japan, until Sept 5, 1945, Prudential paid out insurance claims totalling more than $800,000 to war victims -- worth at least 12 times more in today's dollar. -- The New Paper, July 14, 1998 Previous Next Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.