Interview with Frank Allen Claxton

British marine served aboard HMS Repulse in GB coastal waters, North Atlantic and Far East, 9/1940-12/1941 including sinking off Malaya, 10/12/1941; served on shore duties in Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941-2/1942; prisoner of war in Muntok Jail, Bangka Island, Chung Wa School and Charitas Hospital Camps, Palembang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 2/1942-8/1945

REEL 1 Background in Norwich, GB, 1919-1939: family circumstances; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Marines in GB, 10/1939-9/1940: reasons for volunteering for Royal Marines, 11/1939; nature of training at Stonehouse Barracks; background to drafting to HMS Repulse at Scapa Flow, 9/1940; encounter with Neville Chamberlain in park during German Air Force raid, London; memories of German Air Force attacks on Plymouth. Recollections of operations as marine aboard HMS Repulse in GB coastal waters and North Atlantic, 9/1940-11/1941: initial experiences in shell room; duties on watch; daily routine and rations; convoy work; ship's running out of oil during search for German battleship Bismarck, North Atlantic, 5/1941. REEL 2 Continues: daily life at Scapa Flow, 1940-1941; contrast in ratings and NCO's shore leave. Recollections of operations as marine aboard HMS Repulse, Force Z in Far East, 11/1941-12/1941 including sinking off Malaya, 10/12/1941: voyage from GB to Singapore including impressions of Durban, South Africa; question of how HMS Prince of Wales received more attention; decision to leave sentry duty in midshipmen's chest flat when Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked ship, 10/12/1941; experiences in B turret during Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service torpedo attacks; abandoning ship, 10/12/1941; sight of sinking ship, 10/12/1941; experiences in sea; rescue by destroyer HMS Electra. Recollections of operations as marine with Royal Marines in Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941-2/1942: treatment of survivors of HMS Repulse; duties with HMS Sultan and battle headquarters; attitude of civilians and servicemen to evacuation; amalgamation of 2nd Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) and Royal Marines to form scratch battalion 'Plymouth Argylls', 1/1942; duties at Kranji Creek when Japanese forces landed; chaotic conditions in Singapore, 2/1942. REEL 3 Continues: guard duties assisting police force during evacuation, 2/1942; control of embarkation at Keppel Harbour. Aspects of attempt to escape from Singapore, Malaya and capture by Imperial Japanese Navy in Bangka Strait, 2/1942: leaving Singapore aboard minesweeper; embarking civilians on islands; running into Imperial Japanese Navy convoy in Bangka Strait; capture of ship by Imperial Japanese Navy. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Muntok Jail, Bangka Island, Chung Wa School and Charitas Hospital Camps, Palembang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, 2/1942-8/1945: sight of dead Chinese labourers at Muntok, Bangka Island; work on airfield on Bangka Island; removal to Chung Wa School Camp, Palembang; reasons for high mortality amongst Dutch prisoners of war; treatment by Korean guards; breaking of ankle unloading oil drums; hospitalisation in Dutch run Charitas Hospital Camp, Palembang; prisoner of war rations; reasons for Japanese captors contracting beri-beri; prisoner of war death rate; diseases he survived; Allied air raids on camp area; problems evacuating released prisoners of war after VJ Day; how news of end of Second World War was obtained from secretly from civilians; Japanese style of announcing end of Second World War; arrival of liberators, 1945; failure of air-supply drop on camp. REEL 4 Continues: arrival of Lady Edwina Mountbatten; flight from Palembang to Singapore, Malaya; question of treatment of servicemen in Second World War and present day.