"But Sir" is now being republished in paperback and as an ebook.
Merv McRae was brought up as one of 14 children. His father was a farmer, and for most of his life, Merv was a farmer. He volunteered to join the army during World War 2, and was sent to Singapore. When a decision was made that Singapore could not hold against the Japanese, the Allied Forces were ordered to surrender. It could not have been realised at the time just how barbaric the Japanese were to be in the treatment of their prisoners.
His book was originally published in 1986,
with ISBN 1 86252 052 5.
A few individuals mentioned in this book:
Jimmy Burr, teacher, Ch 4.
Curly Kirk from Ballarat, Ch 11, and a mention of his death in Ch. 13.
Sunda Singh, Indian trader, Ch 9.
Major Kidd, Ch 12
Tom Chowns, and Nora Chowns, spoken of in Ch 12.
Lew Lemke and Ted Burrage, a mention in Ch 13.
Major Hunt, Ch 13
Frank Lebas, Allan Scott, two who died, Ch 13. Also Jock, a Scotsman.
Horace Roberts, a mention in Chapters 13 & 16.
Jimmy Andrews, Ch 16
Lance Basset, a mention in Ch 16 in relation to sheep breeding.
Rob Jamieson, Stony Point station, a mention in Ch 16
The depression years, ch 7.
The Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Ch 14.
The beginnings of the breed of sheep known as the Zenith. Ch 16.
See the crosses beside the names? Those are the ones who died - not in battle, but from starvation, ill-treatment and disease. That was while they were prisoners of the Japanese. Less than half of the unit survived the war.
Over half their numbers died. Curly died, Merv survived.
A letter home.
There were very few letters that managed to arrive home. Naturally, they could not say the truth - that they were dying like flies. Not only would it have served no purpose, but they would not have been sent.
An excerpt from Chapter 13:
After that it was a night of despair for me; I was alone, and if a tiger had got me I
wouldn’t have cared. I did a lot of
thinking that night, as I continued to
shuffle along. I decided that the mind
and body are separate, and the mind has
to do the right thing by the body if it is to survive. I saw many cases later on where I felt the
mind had given up caring, and allowed
the body to die. That night I decided I
would make sure the mind would give the body every chance of survival.
That was on the long march to Burma to start on the infamous Burma/Thailand Railway.
The Greatest March of
All.
You
may have seen this title
About
some other march so grand
But
they were just a picnic
To
the one across Thailand.
It
started dawn at Changi
In
rice trucks by rail
For
six days thro’ Malaya
Then
at Banpong starts the tale.
The
first three nights were not too bad
Along
a main road grand
Then
into swamps and jungle
Went
our intrepid band.
There
were three thousand A.I.F.
Three
hundred British too
The
good old British lion
The
old Aussie kangaroo.
In
parties of six hundred
We
set out each night
To
march about eighteen mile
The
prospect wasn’t bright.
Feet
soon were blistered raw and sore
Treatment
hard to get
But
the order ever onward
Ever
onward yet.
The
food we got was none too good
And
what there was not nice
Two
meals of dried radish
With
each a plate of rice.
We
left the swamp behind us
Then
into jungles of bamboo
Poisonous
snakes and scorpions
And
many tigers too.
Then
we hit the mountains
The
road was pretty steep
The
climbing it was bloody hard
Enough
to make you weep.
But
on and on we battled
Getting
thin and gaunt
When
we get relieved from here
This
trek our dreams will haunt.
Men
dropped by the roadside
Exhausted, tired and sick
Unable
to go another step
They
played their final trick.
Hospitals
were crowded
With
weary footsore men
Dysentery
took heavy toll
Cholera
broke out then.
Now
the march is over
After
two hundred weary miles
Men
worked on road and railway
Or
maybe driving piles.
So
when this war is over
And
you hear of marches grand
Just
dip your lid to the legions
Who
tramped across Thailand.
Think
of the men who paid the price
And
rest in that far off land
We’ve
gone through blood and battle
But
died at disease’s hand.
But
the reaper swung a heavy scythe
Upon
that Thailand trail
With
grisly bone he danced a jig
Told
many a ghastly tale.
So
we who were upon it
And
saw the toll he took
Will
sneer when we read of glory
In
some great History book.
We
stood and saw pals buried
Struck
down in all their prime
Then
staggered on another lap
In
that God forsaken climb.
Although
not killed in action
They
were heroes all
At
Reveille and Retreat
Their
memories recall.
Tho’
you preach to us of glory
And
tell us deeds so grand
Excuse
us if we scorn you
For
we marched across Thailand.
So
when the price you tally
For
God’s sake see it’s high
For
the death of our marching comrades
Was
a horrible one to die.
And
when the talks of marches
And
some hard trek recall
Just
remember the unsung heroes
Of
the greatest march of all.
(by
an unknown author.)
The war draws to a close:
One day two hundred of us were sent out on a last working party, not far from
Singapore city. There was another party of two hundred working not far away. Our
task was to dig large holes, twelve feet deep by twelve feet square, and there
were six men to dig each hole. What were they for? we wondered, and I remember
one man saying that if the Allies landed we would be shot and buried in these
holes. I didn’t like that idea at all, and I well remember telling him not to
be stupid, but he was spot on. It was found after the war that if the Allies
had landed in Malaya we were all to be shot and disposed of. There had also
been a proposed date for a landing on Japan, so it was the Bomb which saved us
and untold thousands of others from extinction. If the bombs hadn’t been
dropped, who knows how long the war might have lasted? There wouldn’t have been
one P.O.W. get home, and thousands of soldiers, and as many civilians again
would have perished.
And the ending
We wondered how the actual change-over from the Japs to the Allies
would take place, as it soon must. Finally, on 27th August 1945 British planes
flew over Changi and dropped leaflets. I still have one of these, dropped that
day from a plane flying low over the jail. The pamphlet contained (1) a warning
to the guards to respect the prisoners and look after them, (2) part of a
re-script issued by the Emperor on unconditional surrender of the Japanese, (3)
a statement that soon an Allied staff officer would be dropped with a radio
transmitter, that he would be in contact with, and under the guidance of the
Occupation Forces, and was not to be interfered with, (4) supplies dropped
(medical etc.) would be gathered and handed to the P.O.W.s and the guards were
then to return to their quarters, after warning civilians not to loot these
supplies. On 30th August four officers and two other ranks were dropped by
parachute, with medical equipment and a transmitter. Other planes brought more
medical gear.
Merv survived. But like every man who endures a great deal, there were scars.
I will never forget the utter despair of the young men of F Force, nor the way they died quietly and without fuss. Neither will I ever forget the cruelty of the Japs, nor will I ever forgive them for their total disregard for the lives of the P.O.W.s and the dark races who also worked on the railway.
But bad things end. He found a lovely young woman to marry, he made his farm and he raised a family.
I was born in rural Victoria at a time when
conditions had not really altered since the late nineteenth century, and now seventy years on we are almost in the
final decade of the twentieth. In my
lifetime I have fought in a major war,
started two farms virtually from scratch, and travelled over much of my own country and
the world. Alison and I have raised four
children and given them all a good start,
so I think I can say with all modesty I have lived a full and varied
life. Now, although hopefully I have not reached the end
of that life, I have reached the end of
this book, a book in which I have tried
to catalogue my life and times as I saw them.
The
author of ‘But Sir’ is Mervyn Alexander McRae,
born 27th November, 1914, died 2nd
July, 1997.
To buy, look for it on Smashwords or on Amazon"
The paperback is not yet available, but will be by the end of July, 2014.
http://www.amazon.com/But-Sir-Autobiography-Twentieth-Australian-ebook/dp/B00KZ6M1MY/
The paperback is not yet available, but will be by the end of July, 2014.
