Major events of this
period
At noon today, air-raid sirens around the island will go off as a reminder of Singapore's fall to the Japanese 56 years ago. The sirens are part of the Public Warning System which alerts the public to dangers and the actions they have to take in an emergency. One man who survived the Japanese Occupation recalls the dark days.
By DAVID MILLER
MR CHARLIE Tan was 11 when the first bombs started falling on Singapore at about 4 am on Dec 8, 1941.
"At first we thought it was just another drill. Some watched from their gardens thinking it was an exercise. Then the bombs started exploding," recalled the retired teacher.
The Japanese bombers delivered their payloads with deadly accuracy, hitting their primary targets - the airbases of Seletar, Tengah and Kallang. Civilian buildings, including those in Boat Quay, Havelock Road, Outram Road and Chinatown, were also struck.
Singapore was an easy target. Even though the incoming planes were picked up by Allied radar, procedures to counter them were wanting. Streets, lighted by gas torches, remained lit, making it easy for the pilots to zero in on their targets.
Mr Charlie Tan holding a katana, a WWII Japanese officer's sword, as he reminisced about his war experiences. His other mementoes include a British Army jack-knife, helmet and medals, a pictograph (a listening device), military field telephones , a ration stamp and two compasses."We had all practised air-raid procedures before but it was nothing like the real thing.
"There were not enough shelters. People just took cover in drains," said Mr Tan, 67.
His family built a shelter in the garden of their house in Haig Road. "It was six feet deep and was reinforced with sandbags. But every time it rained, the shelter would be flooded."
As Japanese forces advanced rapidly down Peninsula Malaysia, Singaporeans began losing confidence that the British army could defend Singapore.
Over the next two months, Japanese aerial bombing raids became a daily affair, killing an estimated 9,000 civilians and damaging buildings extensively.
"We all knew the Japanese were coming. Everyone was filled with anxiety. We didn't know what to expect," he said.
Panic was already setting in as British troops began destroying their naval docks, fuel dumps and other shore facilities so that nothing of value would fall into Japanese hands.
A few days before the surrender, he constantly heard explosions and saw the skies glow. But on Feb 15, when British forces here surrendered, it was unusually calm.
"It was very quiet that day. Like everyone else, we locked ourselves in our house. No one dared to go out." A few days later, Mr Tan encountered a Japanese soldier for the first time. "He came on a little scooter with a sidecart. Through his interpreter, he told my family we must leave our house as the Japanese were taking it over. He gave us just two hours to pack - just like that."
He and his family went to live with relatives.
With food always in short supply, Mr Tan said he got a job working in a factory producing wooden barrels, to earn some extra food rations. He witnessed many atrocities committed by the Japanese soldiers.
"One man found an old pair of shorts in the factory and kept it. The Japanese accused him of stealing. They pumped him full of water and hung him upside down. Luckily, he survived."
He described an incident which highlighted the total breakdown of even the most basic of services. "There were some beggars about who suffered from beriberi. When they died, their bloated bodies were left for several days on the mats where they lay. They were covered with flies. Much later, some people came with rubbish carts and tossed them in."
Many people suffered frequent bouts of malaria. Mr Tan's brother came down with dysentery and died in 1943.
After the war years, Mr Tan completed his education and married. "Looking back, things could have been worse. If the war taught me anything, it was that I should be more tolerant.
"If you haven't lived through such an ordeal, you will never know what suffering is really like."
First published in The Straits Times, Feb 15, 1998
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