Changi Prison

---

It was ANZAC Day 2008. I was on the Australian War Memorial website searching for my grandfathers name. He was in WWII. Under his name there were 3 options:
1) Gordon Moore - missing
2) Gordon Wallace Moore - Dead
3) Gordon Wallace Moore - POW NX51768
I clicked on the third option thinking that that’s the best out of a bad bunch. Information was very limited so I called up the National Achieves of Australia who after 40 years can send out the official documents that my grandfather (Poppy) had.
My grandfather was a Prisoner of War in Changi Prison, Singapore. It seems the right thing to do to start off the next journey. Going to where poppy spent majority of his stint at war.
I was going through the files and it shows where he enlisted (Martin place) 15/6/1940. He was 23 & 11/12 years old - A butcher’s labourer he passed the medical examination in Randwick as “Fit for Class 1.” 13 days later he took the oath of enlistment to “…well & truly serve our Sovereign Lord, the King...” at Paddington.
The records are hard to understand in their 1940’s style handwriting but the thing that stands out the most are 3 lines with a red line atop of the first line and another red line on the bottom line.
1st line - 9/4/42 AIF Malaysia MISSING
One year and 5 days later 14/4/43 still “MISSING bel. (Believed to be) POW
23/9/43 POW
All up he made 2038 days of “Effective Service”
6/2/46 - He was discharged on the account of demobilization.

Nowadays, Changi prison has been demolished for a new modern prison and to the side is a museum, which is now a place for relatives to pay homage to either family members that died or came back home. It’s a 45 minute bus ride from the city centre - On the far east side of the island.

I think if you don’t have a relative that gives you the connection to this place its not worth coming to because really its just another war museum. But for me it’s different. My grandfather never mentioned the war. My grandmother doesn’t mention anything either. The only thing she said was that he was so skinny when he returned she hardly recognised him. Food was a mug of rice porridge in the morning. Lunch was rice with salted fish and dinner a mug of rice with radish.

I could go into it with a bit more detail but this was my personal pilgrimage to somehow get closer to my grandfather again. He passed away when I was 12 and I have always been told that I look and act like him.

There is however on the last page of the National Archieves papers something that I found amusing:
A statutory declaration 7/4/48. It asks why are they making a request.
My grandfather writes: “Because I lost my Army Discharge papers.”
It than asks “the circumstances under which the said loss occurred”
“Burnt by my wife in mistake for old papers… on or about 5 January 1948.” At their home.
I can just picture it now… They would have been only married for about a year.

Hahahaha. Beautifully put poppy.

---

Photos

Changi Prison Museum
The Chapel Replica seen at the beginning and and of the Tour.