With West Australia plunged into a cold, eerie winter, I've decided to start another diorama safe in the depths of my cosy, warm modelling shed.
I have been researching my family's wartime history lately. At the moment, I am researching my Great-Grandad Robert Young. He was a pilot in the first World War where he survived an air accident, and settled down to rubber planting in Malaya at war's end.
Robert was 52 years old when the Japanese invaded Malaya in 1941, and volunteered to serve with the RAF. He was put in charge of 'coolies' repairing damaged aerodromes because of his ability to speak local languages. After surviving the gruelling retreat to Singapore, he was finally evacuated on the 15th February. Robert was one of the last to evacuate the city, turning up at Keppel Harbour in a very expensive Wolseley car, which he left with a group of servicemen who later pushed it into the sea to avoid its capture!
Great-Grandad's Wolseley
This is what I want to depict in my diorama, a group of servicemen pushing a Wolseley off the damaged wharf, with fleeing civilians and barking MP's adding to the chaos.
Back to the story:
This was not the end of Robert's ordeal. A few hours later when the ship was safely out of harbour, it was dive-bombed by Japanese planes. The ship sunk off the Sumatran port of Palembang. Robert survived the attack and was thrown into the water. Upon seeing another passenger struggling in the water, apparently a non-swimmer, Robert gave his life jacket to the poor man. What happens next shocked me and is further proof to the horrific and evil mindset of many Japanese servicemen during the Second World War. The dive-bomber pilot who had succeeded in sinking the passenger ship was obviously not content with the bloodshed which he had already caused and found it necessary to strafe the surviving and defenceless passengers left floundering in the water. Robert saw the aircraft coming and dived under the water for protection. Luckily, he was not hit but upon surfacing, he found the man to whom he had just given his life jacket had half of his head blown off.
There was nothing he could do but swim to shore, in this he succeeded. By this time, the Japanese had already captured most of Sumatra, however Robert reached the shore undetected and was put into hiding by local villagers. After spending many weeks in hiding, he was betrayed and turned over to the Japanese on the 6th April 1942, and spent the remainder of the war in various POW camps in South-East Asia. Later on, he told the family some terrible stories of his POW experience. After the war, he came to live in Australia with his wife and son (my grandad), and died in 1968, aged 79.
A little while ago, I posted a few threads seeking information on the photograph showing men pushing an unidentified car from the wharf at Keppel Harbour. I have since learnt that this is probably not my Great-Grandad's car, but it is a good reference to have as it's exactly the same thing that happened.
1st Thread
2nd Thread
Jean Bernard has been very helpful so far in helping me plan this diorama and I hope he comes across this thread;) Thanks Jean.
Here are some rough sketches, I won't add as much junk or as many people as shown. I will be mostly scratch-building the Wolseley, but I'll use Airfix's 1:32 Monty's Humber as a guide as I have never built a car before.
If you got to this point, thanks for reading this long post! Updates soon.
Chas
