Dear Blogger
In the absence of a History Society in the village, some people might perhaps be interested in the following bit of my family history.
6th August - Atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima
9th August - Atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki
15th August - Emperor Hirohito of Japan formally signed on 2 September 1945, ending the Second World War.
My father, WILLIAM FREDERICK WADDINGTON
by Yoland
On 1st February 1945 the Navy List announced WFW of the RFA (Royal Fleet Auxiliary) was now Lieut Commander, Acting, Temporary, on HMS `Montclare` which sailed in convoy, through the Suez Canal, arriving in Sydney, Australia on 20th April.
It would appear that he had been promoted to be a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy and joined the office of the Lord High Admiral Douglas Fisher as Assistant Fuelling Officer of the British Pacific Fleet (BPF), `for the duration`, as they said. This must have been a hugely responsible job for WFW, the whole plan to invade the Japanese Island of Okinawa would depend on ships having fuel.
Although the BPF was based at HMS `Golden Hind` shore base in Sydney, Australia, there must have been much toing and froing between there and Manus Atoll, recently reclaimed from the Japanese and described by British seamen as "Scapa Flow with bloody palm trees"!
The only story my father ever told me about his wartime experiences was when he was in an aeroplane which crashed into the sea and some clown pulled the string to inflate the rubber dinghy while it was still inside the plane.
In March 1945, while supporting the invasion of Okinawa Island, BPF combat division had sole responsibility for supressing Japanese gunfire and kamikaze attacks on British and American shipping. Rear Admiral D. B. Fisher took HMS `Montclare` as his flagship for the Pacific Fleet Train (Task Force 112) with the British Pacific Fleet until the end of hostilities. She sailed to Manus in the Admiralty Islands to support the destroyers of Task Force 57 on Operation Iceberg – the conquest of Okinawa.
The British Pacific Fleet was the most powerful conventional fleet ever assembled by the Royal Navy. It consisted of 17 aircraft carriers with 300 aircraft, 4 battleships, ten cruisers, 40 destroyers, 18 sloops, 13 frigates, 31 submarines, 35 minesweepers plus other fighting ships. We shall never see the like again.
To keep these ships supplied with everything from flour and vegetables to heavy oil and aviation fuel, the Fleet Train included 3 submarine depot ships, two accommodation ships, 9 repair ships, 6 hospital ships, 2 distilling ships, 2 water carriers, 13 oil tankers and several other ships under the auspices of the RFA.
Although Admiral Fisher and his team were on hand, the plan was that whole of Operation Iceberg to conquer Okinawa and Japan was carried out by the US who would be responsible for POWs in Japan & Korea. The British authorities would be responsible for their own nationals in Shanghai, North China, and Formosa, (Taiwan) and for all nations in Hong Kong.
On 30th August 1945 a communication, marked SECRET URGENT, and addressed to Lt. Cmdr. W.F. Waddington, RNR sets the scene in Hong Kong for Admiral Fisher and WFW when they arrived on September 9th on HMS `Montclare` for the re-occupation and the many problems which ensued.
The colony was in dire straights with the inhabitants, Japanese soldiers and released prisoners of war all desperately short of food. The BPF organised for supplies of coal, rice and food convoys from Burma, India, Thailand and Australia, saving the colony from certain starvation.
Perhaps it was at this time, when hungry Hong Kongers were happy to sell anything for food, that WFW `acquired` the spoils of war, presumably either `liberated` or bought very, very cheaply. As a child I remember playing with a large traditional umbrella made of bamboo ribs and oiled fabric and in our house were three carved camphorwood chests, the largest of which adorns our lounge to this day.
There were still approximately 8,000 civilian internees in China, and the Admiralty instructed Admiral Fisher that civilian internees would receive equal treatment as prisoners of war, and arrangements were put in train to return transportation to UK and elsewhere in Asia.
As WFW was serving under Admiral Fisher on his flagship, there is no doubt that he was very involved with evacuation of RAPWI (Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War & Internees), the huge task of rescuing, feeding and repatriating POWs and internees, many of whom were very sick, back to their country of origin.
The fact that my father was serving on the Admiral`s flagship `Montclare` during the attack on Okinawa, the re-occupation of Hong Kong and recovery of POWs and Internees meant my he would have had played a vital part in ending the war in the Far East. After he left the service, WFW received a glowing reference from Admiral Fisher, saying he had served under the Admiral from March to November 1945 as Assistant Fuelling Officer as well as "dealing with general agency and personnel duties in respect of some fifteen RFA tankers". Fisher`s reference enabled my father to get the plumb job of Port Officer in Zanzibar, perhaps the most important port on the East African coast, involving traffic round Africa, across the Indian Ocean to India and the Far East.
HMS `Montclare` finally left Hong Kong on 3 January 1946, her crew having played an important part in getting the colony back on its feet again. She and WFW arrived back in Portsmouth on 21 February 1946.
...............
Tom Jones of Vine Villas, Ruyton XI Towns was a young man in the British Navy when the Japanese in Singpore signed the peace treaty. See the pictures he lent us for the 2005 Village Home Front Exhibition
