The letter left Madge with the same feeling of despair she had had on that last night in Chittagong. I feel even more worried than ever that we’ll never meet again, she said to herself as she lay the letter on her bedside table.
The battle for self-determination and ultimate control of Vietnam, however, then burst into flames of such ferocity that in Basil’s next letter to Madge he said, I have seen more violence and killings here in Saigon since the war ended than ever I did when it was on. I suppose it all belongs to the hand of fate.
Basil was grateful when full postal links were finally set up. He hadn’t heard from Madge for some time and was longing to know that she was well and to find out if a date had been set for her return to England. When letters did start to arrive from Chittagong, however, there would be silent spells and then they would arrive in threes or fours. Reading them out of sequence was a bit of a nuisance but Sister Blossom, back at the hospital in Chittagong, was an expert in the vagaries of both military and non-military mail systems and suggested to Madge that she place a number on the envelope so the letters could be read in order. It worked and communication between Nurse Graves and Captain Lambert began to follow a well-worn route.
Although Basil was careful not to worry Madge in his letters, simply walking onto the second-floor balcony of his quarters at the Majestic Hotel was like Russian roulette because Viet Minh snipers would target unwary foreigners. In one letter he wrote, Each morning I am working in my office in the Saigon docks to issue the day’s duties to a Japanese officer who arrives with an escort. Both are always armed as that was one of the stipulations of their surrender. A couple of mornings ago the officer walked in and after saluting started hissing at me! As I was sitting behind my desk I could see my pistol in my drawer, but I was still very apprehensive as I had no idea if he was about to pull out his weapon and shoot me! Anyway, nothing of the sort happened and when I mentioned it afterwards, I was told that the hissing was actually a sign of respect!
In another, he wrote, We have all the necessary troops in now and they have taken over the guard duties so it won’t be long before the Allies start disarming the Japanese. At present we don’t know where we will end up, but it makes my blood boil to think that we have had to fight one war and after winning we may have to fight many more that don’t really interest us.
Good on you, Basil, thought Madge after reading his latest letter. He’s absolutely right because the last thing we need is to get involved in another confrontation.
One evening, Basil was invited to the home of a wealthy and well-connected Chinese businessman, Charlie Choy, in the Cholon district of Saigon. Basil wrote that he had met Charlie and his wife in a restaurant where he was dining with Movements friends and the following week he was invited to join a multi-national group of fifteen who were treated to ‘a veritable feast’ that stretched to twelve courses.
The Chinese food was delicious and the conversation was fascinating because we all ended up discussing Vietnam’s bid for independence. Charlie told us that Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Viet Minh, has declared himself President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. I suppose it’s very similar to the Jai Hind movement in India – Vietnam wants the French out and an end to French-Dutch domination of Indo-China, and that is what the fighting is all about.
Basil went on to explain how one aged but highly articulate Vietnamese guest had said that there were many reasons the Vietnamese wanted the French to go home. There had apparently been a feeling in the country for many years that it was being exploited by the French. They have tried to change the language and education of the Vietnamese, as well as their religion, and I have to say, by the end of the evening I was pretty convinced that the time has come for them to leave Vietnam and hand the country back to the Vietnamese.
Early in 1946, Basil was then posted to Labuan Island off the northwest coast of Borneo to assist with the repatriation of Japanese POWs held on Papan Island to their homeland. He wrote to Madge that he had been appointed to staff captaincy and had been sent there to relieve the Australians who were either returning home or continuing their good work in Tokyo. Labuan Island has been thoroughly destroyed by the fighting and bombing during the last few years and the only parts left of the old town are the foundations. It’s really quite sad. But on the plus side, the island is beautiful and the bathing and the coconuts are excellent! Any inhabitants becoming ill have an excellent hospital to care for them.
Good old Basil, thought Madge, who giggled at the thought of him sitting outside his tent in the sunshine in front of a little wooden table with tender chunks of coconut in a dish, although she knew he would be working hard on his army responsibilities.
The letter ended by saying that on a more serious note, one of the Australians told him that papers had been found at Batu Lintang, a Japanese internment camp on Borneo, ordering the execution of two thousand Allied prisoners of war to be carried out on 15 September 1945. Fortunately the official Japanese surrender had taken place just thirteen days earlier, and had no doubt saved all those many lives.
26
Homeward Bound
After months of rumours, the announcement on 1 April 1946 that a
