SLASC Ex-Co Meeting

The Executive Committee Meeting of the Sri Lanka Army Service Corps Association will be on October 20 at the SLESA Secretariat. Kandy War Heroes Commemoration on November 11 The Kandy District Ex-Servicemen's Association will commemorate War Heroes Day on November 11 at 8am at George E de Silva Park.

The identity of the War Heroes is the poppy flower. The public are requested to wear a poppy flower or display a wreath on their vehicles and participate at this occasion.

Thought for November
No poppies grow in our fields
At this time of the year
Though poppies bloom in every street
Like magic they appear
For we who live are proud to give
A sigh for all who died
And brought us loneliness and grief
Yet filled our hearts with pride
Those gallant ones who fought and fell
Remember well - Remember well
Remembrance by Helen Campbel Dick In silence as the petals fall
The world is still
We who are still here
REMEMBER
We who share their fear
REMEMBER
We who said goodbye
REMEMBER
We show did not die
We shall
ALWAYS
REMEMBER
MY MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE
My most memorable experience in the Naval Service took place in the year 1945. In February that year, the authorities of the Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve were busy drawing up two complements for the manning of MFV 185 and MFV 186 for a special assignment abroad.

At this time, I was born in H M S OVERDALE WYKE (Minesweeper and convoy escort) as a Yeoman of Signals. I sounded my Captain, Lieutenant Commander A H H Boyns, as to my prospects of being included in the crew of one of these vessels. The answer was in the negative, as, I was a pure and simple bunting tosser, and there was no bunting to toss, in either of these vessels.

Having found out that the officers selected for this mission, were those with whom I had been in school together, I was desperately eager to join them by " Hook or by Crook" .

I therefore appealed to my Captain again, to recommend me to function as, even a deck hand in one of the vessels. My eagerness to join in this mission, was given sympathetic consideration by my good Captain, and he went out of his way to have me included in the party that was selected to man the two vessels.

I was ordered to join MFV 185 forthwith, and that was half an hour prior to sailing on 6th February, 1945. I trudged from C.R.N.V.R. Headquarters to the Block Jetty with a grip containing the essential items of uniform, where the vessels were secured alongside each other, and joined MFV 185.

The duties assigned to me were (a) assist Officers in watch keeping duties transferring myself from one vessel to the other, as and when required by the two Commanding Officers (b) function as Master-at-Arms (c) assist the Commanding Officers in general administrative duties.

MFV 185 and MFV 186 sailed ten minutes after my joining the friends, whom I longed to be with, on this mission. The vessels were escorted by ML 1285 and the next Port of call was to be Madras, enroute to AKYAB, which , by this time had been re-occupied by the Allies.

The MFV's were manned by the following well trained seamen with outstanding professional ability :- M F V 185 M FY 186, Lieutenant Victor Hunter Lieutenant Raja Proctor, Sub-Lieutenant Ivan de Livera, Sub-Lieutenant George, Leading/Seaman S A Fernando, Lading/Seaman F Ekanayake, Leading/Seaman A A Fernando, Leading/Seaman G Sabamalai, Able/Seaman Ponnuchamy, Able Seaman A S Fernando, Leading Stoker Attapattu, Able Seaman V Mariam, Stoker N Abeydeera, Stoker Piyasena Weerasingha and Stoker Tony Fernando Stoker Saranelis.

The vessels were going to be our homes for an indefinite period, and we were delighted, as this was going to be a break from the grim monotony of Anti-Submarine roles and minesweeping, and also the awareness of, being close to the enemy, as ever we would get at this stage, was going to be a new experience.

The vessels had no radio communications. Each of them only carried a pair of semaphore hand flags and an aldis lantern. The only armament were, four in number, 9 mm lanchester carbines, with which, we thought, we could 'fix ' the Japs.

The mess deck was small and crowded. We were all lumped together. We had to take our meals in the sleeping spaces, and with the vessel rolling her guts out and everything wet, it was tough going.

We sailed in company through Pamban Pass and was uneventful. The first few days at sea, it was discomfort and adversity, crammed into a space 60 feet long and 10 feet broad. She was only an MFV, not much bigger than a country craft, but we took a pride in our little vessel, and we very soon got accustomed to rough living.

On our way to Madras, MFV 185 developed engine trouble approximately 25 miles off the Port. 'A ' knock ' in the engine was reported by Leading Stoker Mechanic Attapattu. This metaphorically, broke the hearts of the ship's company. We thought that, this was going to be the end of our cherished journey.

Leading Stoker Mechanic Attapattu appeared on the deck in overalls, stained and splashed with oil and grease, and his hands incredibly grimy, after working for long hours in a confined space, he was tired and his face black and lined. Scratching his bald head, leaving a smear of grease on his fore-head, he said to the Captain "1 have done my very best Sir, I cannot affect repairs on the run. Let's stop engines, and get ourselves towed to Madras" .

The Captain agreed, and the defect was reported to the Senior Officer in ML 1285. MFV 185 was promptly taken in tow, and we arrived Madras the following day. At Madras, the dockyard immediately took over the vessel for repairs, but three days were required to complete the job.

Since the MFV's were urgently required at Akyab, there was no question of delaying MFV 186 until repairs were affected to her sister ship. Therefore, MFV 186 and ML 1285 sailed for Akyab, and arrangements were made for MFV 185 to be escorted to Vizagapatnam by H.M.I.S. CUTTACK on completion of repairs, and from Vizagapatnam, another escort was to be arranged for passage to Akyab. At the time, there was no escort available for us, and we were asked to remain until such a vessel was available to escort us across the Bay of Bengal.

However, we were all anxious to rejoin our friends in MFV 186. The Commanding Officer requested permission from the Queens Harbour Master at Vizagapatnam to proceed independently. This was turned down. He made a further appeal on the following day. He said, to the Queens Harbour Master, "We desire to rejoin MFV 186 at Akyab, please let us go today ". The Queens's Harbour Master in his reply, firmly said, "If you have such a desire, press-on buddy. Here is a copy of the Enemy report of Jap submarines in the Bay. If you like meeting them, go ahead".

The Commanding Officer thought he should take a chance, and, trust to luck, and we all agreed, come what may. We left Vizagapatnam that day, with a feeling that, apart from rejoining our friends, we had a job of work to perform, and that, it was worth reaching our destination to handle the task. We were now beginning to like our little ship more and more, simply for her feel and her performance after the repairs.

She was very easy to handle, and though, she was ludicrously slow in comparison with any other thing afloat, she was highly manoeuvrable. The bare 8 knots was most Leading Stoker Mechanic Attapattu could coax out of her.

Her major snag was her behaviour at sea. In any kind of sea, she rolled abominably and a forty degree roll was a frequent thing, tossing out of place, all the moveable gear aboard.

The first night at sea from Vizagapatnam was a restless affair, and gave us very little sleep. The wind was rising, and the Bay of Bengal sea with it, rolling and thumping and in the noisy turmoil, sleep was barely possible, even to men already dog tired.

The second night at sea was terrific. The wind had veered to the North, and the gale was at its height,It gigantic sea was running at us from the beam. The MFV would rise to it, as if she was going up in a lift, balance herself uneasily at its peak, and fall away into the trough of the wave with a wicked side ways roll.

Sometimes, the next wave towering up in its turn would beat down on us. The storm was indeed incredibly noisy, the water crashed and thudded against the side. The wind howled at us out of the blackness, as if it had an intention of terror and murder.

We were clinging on to what we could grab. We were wet through, and cold to the bone. A hot drink was the answer, but the preparation was impossible under these conditions. This comedy went on for about 36 hours, until we drove into calm weather, with the wind gradually dropped to nothing.

Thereafter, it was a pleasant passage all the way to Akyab. Calm weather prevailed throughout with bright moonlight nights giving us a visibility of several miles.

The MFV 185 with no sea to bother, and, only a long gentle swell to surmount, had an easy motion. The pulse of the engine and occasional vibration, served as reminders, that we were now on passage.

The nights were generally peaceful, except for the fifth night at sea when excitement and fear rose to a high pitch for several hours on sighting a submarine, about five miles ahead of us. She was steering a westerly course and was crossing our bows. " Hard a Port " was the order given and we ran away from it at utmost despatch. We did not know whether this was friend or foe.

According to the Enemy report handed to us prior to leaving Vizagapatnam, there were four Enemy submarines, and one Allied Submarine in the Bay of Bengal at that time. The one we sighted, could have been any one of these.

MFV 185 arrived Akyab and was received by MFV 186 in the approaches, and we were led to our berth alongside, a jetty, which was partially wrecked, consequent to bombing.

This was a very happy reunion no doubt, as we lay alongside each other for the night. The harbour contained a very large assembly of war ships and auxilliaries of every conceivable type.

The scene of the city of Akyab was like a scene from hell, all that we could see were, roofless and battered buildings, and debris. We were a tired bunch, of men, we cannot remember ever having been so tired. However, the tiny vessel, the unbelievable weather experienced during those memorable 36 hours of 'Rock and Roll and the enemy submarines reported in the Bay, could not defeat us.

We were professionals and the professional job at sea, was not without its rewarding pride. It had to be done anyway.

The first night in Akyab we had our (MFV 185) first experience of war in the Arakan Front. It appeared to be a very peaceful night, except for the firing of heavy guns to the eastward approximately 7 miles from where we stood.

The members of the two vessels assembled in MFV 186 for a chat over a drink, and while we were reminiscing each others experiences since leaving Colombo, several waves of enemy aircraft carried out a sudden and determined bombing attack on Akyab.

To be continued