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On the Shoulders of Giants: commemorating the fallen of the Far East campaign

Published Tuesday 5th July 2005

Lady Soames lays a wreath of orchids on the "Singapore" locomotive, 5 July 2005 [Picture: Chris Fletcher]

Lady Soames, John Reid, Secretary of State for Defence, Dennis Griffiths and his wife with a wild orchid, chosen as a symbol to commemorate the allied servicemen who lost their lives fighting or as prisoners of the Japanese as no poppies grow in Thailand [Picture: Cpl Ross Tilly]

Lady Soames with Dennis Griffiths a Japanese POW in Burma between 1942 -45 who wrote a poem "No, Not the Poppy" which commemorates the allied servicemen who lost their lives fighting or as prisoners of the Japanese [Picture: Cpl Ross Tilly]

Veterans Keith Miller (the man in the stone coloured fishing hat), Derek Heap (the man with badge on blazer holding an orchid) and John Copanning (wearing white hat with black band) listen to Dennis Griffiths read his poem "No, Not the Poppy" [Picture: Cpl Ross Tilly]

Defence Secretary, John Reid and Lady Soames, last surviving daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, commemorated the fallen of the Far East Campaign at St James' Park on 5 July 2005.

At the footplate of the steam locomotive 'Singapore' on display at St James's Park for the VE/VJ Day celebrations, Defence Secretary and Lady Soames, daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, laid a spray of Orchids, to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the sacrifices made by allied servicemen in the Far East Campaign. In a short, informal ceremony on 5 July 2005, Mr John Reid said:

"I'm greatly honoured to be here today to recall the sacrifices, the heroism and the hardships of all the men and women who fought in the Second World War and in particular those for whom VE day marked a significant change but not the end of their war."

The "Singapore" was built in Newcastle and sent to the Royal Dockyard at Singapore. The locomotive has a unique wartime history in the Far East having been captured by the Japanese in 1942 at the fall of Singapore, a fate it shared with 80,000 allied servicemen. Like its fellow prisoners, the locomotive was also put to work by its captors in the naval dockyard, servicing Japanese ships.

There were two prisoners of war at the ceremony today, the locomotive and Dennis Griffiths a Japanese POW in Burma between 1942 -45 who wrote a poem "No, Not the Poppy" which commemorates the allied servicemen who lost their lives fighting or as prisoners of the Japanese. In Thailand, no poppies grow, so the wild orchid was chosen as a symbol just as potent and powerful as the poppy is for other service men and women.

Both Lady Soames and Mr Reid met with Mr Griffiths and shaking his hand, Mr Reid said:

"If we have anything in this nation today of character it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants like Dennis and those men and women that fought during the Second World War."

In the spring of 1942, 60,000 allied Prisoners of War were taken to Siam where they were involved in the construction of the infamous Burma-Siam "Railway of Death" through the disease-infested jungle. With little medicine available, poor diet and unrelenting hard labour in all weathers, more than 16,000 prisoners of war died along with more than 100,000 native workers as the Japanese relentlessly pushed the 250 mile railway to completion with little regard to human life.

Only the dropping of the atomic bomb and Japanese surrender saved the surviving prisoners from certain death. The locomotive is now maintained at the Rutland Railway Museum near Cottesmore as a working memorial to the sacrifice, and comradeship of Far Eastern Prisoners of War.

"The efforts and sacrifices of all those who fought in the Far East will never be forgotten," said Dr Reid. "They will not forget and nor will we."

The ceremony ended with Dennis Griffiths in a proud and gentle voice reading his poem "No, not the poppy".

Listening to the ceremony were veterans and their families, rubbing shoulders with other members of the public and school children who had come along to the living museum to help them with their history lessons.

Derek Heaps from the British Nuclear Test veterans Association and a member of the "Grand order of Grapplers" having flown with the RAF on the first three H Bomb tests from the Christmas islands under operation code name "Grapple" said he felt very honoured to be present and to meet Lady Soames:

"What's good Is the youngsters learning all about it, and to make sure it never happens again. One things for sure, if they ever start slinging H bombs about again, I want one to go off about two foot above my head, I wouldn't want to be around afterwards."

Veteran Glider pilots John Copanning and Keith Miller both agreed that the ceremony had been "quite pleasant without any pomp or circumstance, and very appropriate, quite touching". But the mood of the veterans was quite light:

"The whole event is impressive and must have taken a great deal of planning. We are looking forward to meeting up with old acquaintances, and it's good to see the children involved. We were at Middle Wallop Museum about six weeks ago, about four schools attended and a veteran was allocated to each.

"The children ask some tough questions," gleamed John. "They wanted to know if I had a girlfriend during the war. Fortunately on that occasion my wife wasn't standing next to me so I was able to give an honest reply without getting into too much trouble."

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Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War Two

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