Speaker Evening

The fall of Singapore in 1942 was the subject at the Rotary Club of South Queensferry on Thursday 6th July. Speaker Jon Cooper from the University of Glasgow Centre for Battlefield Studies became fascinated by these events when living in Singapore where his wife was posted by the Royal Bank of Scotland. They lived in an affluent suburb of large colonial houses which had not greatly changed since  before the war. Having served in the merchant navy and then the RAF, Jon's keen interest in military history led him to discover that the district, known as Adam Park, had been the scene of  a remarkable rearguard action by the 1st Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, the only allied unit to take and hold ground till the surrender. With a team of local volunteers and after months of researching old archives and photographs, Jon succeeded in tracing the history of the battle around Adam Park on 14th and 15th February 1942 and the site's subsequent use by the Japanese as a prisoner of war camp. Metal detectors located a large number of artefacts including allied and Japanese ammunition and many Cambridgeshires' cap badges discarded before the surrender to hinder identification. Most dead people had already been recovered and moved to the local war cemetery, though identification was often difficult because the British dog tags were cardboard and soon rotted away. The efforts of Jon and his team resulted in an exhibition in Singapore and a beautifully illustrated book, Tigers in the Park.

Jon continues to research the campaign and is in regular contact with the few survivors, one of whom will be 100 in two years. The importance of  his work is particularly significant because the area is currently threatened by road construction. Adam Park is the best preserved POW site in south east Asia and Jon is keen to emphasise its potential as a heritage location.  There is a virtual museum available online at http://www.adamparkproject.com. Survivors of Japanese imprisonment were ordered not to talk about their experiences. An interesting side effect is that this gave rise to the largest study into post traumatic stress disorder ever undertaken when the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine sought to help them on their return to the UK.  Jon is keen to emphasise its potential as a heritage location.  There is a virtual museum available online at adamparkproject.com. Survivors of Japanese imprisonment were ordered not to talk about their experiences. An interesting side effect is that this gave rise to the largest study into post traumatic stress disorder ever undertaken when the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine sought to help them on their return to the UK. 

Jim McCulloch has been elected Junior vice President and was awarded his medal by President Neil as part of Rotary business after Jon's presentation.