Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
A Japanese spy in the Kinta Valley before World War 2
Saturday, July 07, 2012
This 1938 photograph has a very interesting story behind it. It is not about so much about this poor magnificent beast measuring some 9 1/2 feet from head to tail that was mercilessly shot to death. It is more about the characters that line up behind the animal that the story is about. I saw this photo hanging in the office of the manager of an arms dealer in KL. He being a friend of mine and also a place where I shop for ammunition, we soon got talking about this rare photo. After much persuasion he finally relented and loaned me the pix to make a copy.
The story goes that his grand father a penghulu in the district of Kinta was a vivid hunter and often went on hunting trips all over the Kinta district Perak with his friends. That's him 3rd from our right in a bush jacket. On his right is a Mat Salleh looking person, actually he was Eurasian engineer in charge of a number of diesel powered generators that lit up much of the Kinta Disrtict.
On his right are two of the Penghulus fetch and carry men as can be seen by their dress and demeanor. Now let's go to the characters on the Penghulu's left. The Punjabi man apparently was a security man (Jaga) working for one of the Tin Mines. Finally let's talk about the man on the extreme left of the Penghulu. Note he is the only one having a belt with the ammo of buck shots. Note also his shoes and stockings wrapped with putties. At a first glance he looks like a Chinaman. Well who is this character?
Apparently he had been staying in the then Malaya for 2 years and was the owner of a photograph shop in the Kinta Valley. He was the one who would organize and bank roll all the hunting expeditions and supply the ammunition. On such trips he would draw routes and maps of all the areas and also take photographs. Most must have guessed by now the nationality of this man. Yes indeed he was a damned Japanese who was sent as a spy to prepare the ground work for the invasion of Malaya.
The Penghulu recalled that when the Japanese landed and as the Allied troops were pushed back, this man came out one morning in full dress of a Japanese Colonel complete with a pistol to receive the advancing Japanese troops. I wonder what his hunting party mates thought of this turn of events. This was as we all know one of the reasons the Allied forces fell back so fast as the Japanese had all the intelligence to capture vital installations and location of allied troops. Photograph and article by Lieutenant Colonel Idris Hassan.
Here is something Anthony Morris an amateur historian from Ipoh wrote: There were two or three Japanese who were in Ipoh as photographers and had studios. Two definite ones certainly. One was in Belfield Street and whose name was I.Itoh. A cousin of Angie still has a signed group photo of her Grandfather's band hanging on the wall. It was taken in 1939. When the Japs were in firm control of Ipoh, they rounded up all the band members. Another one Jap had his studio in Brewster Road, next to the money changer today. There must be other photos like this around.
I have a few of I.Itoh's photos taken in 1910.
This chap looks about 35 years old and I have a feeling it is the fella from Brewster Road. Looks about military age too."
I read / watched documentaries before about how the Japanese invasion was planned out quite well. Even in Pearl Harbor, there were numerous suspected spies already living and working for years there.
Thanks Anthony old chap, For the added information,the younger generation can learn much from people like you,who have seen it all first hand. Regards Idris
Im a documentary filmmaker from Malaysia and i'm currently on an early research stage on japanese spies. It would be great if you would be able to assist my team and i in our research. It would be great if we could meet up and have a chat regarding japanese spies anytime soon. Please email me at jeaneilyk@gmail.com.
I have known a number of Japanese and have been pleased to call them 'friend'. However, even so, it is clear to me that they should be shamed by their own actions during WWll, yet for the most part refuse to take responsibility for them, this also makes them shameful! They refuse to accept that anything they did was any less honourable than the actions of any other nation. They see these atrocities as good soldiering! Even years on, the yonger generation are oblivious and recalcitrant about it. The sooner they accept their behaviour as dishonourable by international standards, the sooner they will find the world fully forgive and forget and learn to love them. As one Japanese said to me recently while looking to Karma as an explanation as to why so many bad events are happening to Japan; "Why do all these things keep happening to Japan, it is so unfair... We haven't ever done anything to deserve this? I'm afraid that the world may still has a different view on that one having been on the receiving end of the Japanese military. My other friend's grandfather was the elder of a snmall village in Malaysia at the time of Japan's invasion; he was drowned at the edge of a shallow lake/ hollow in front of his wife and children with a boot on his neck and his face in the mud. Taking responsibility for your crimes allows others to be calm, not doing so keeps that anger alive, appologising soothes and heals wounds and hatred. What have the Japanese done since their atrocities to soothe international feelings? Not one dam-- thing! On the contrary, they stubbornly refuse responsibility! They've been sub-human and remain stubbornly foolish and dishonourable and I suspect always will be. They understand us so little, so devoid of any nrmal mentallity are they, that they were; "so suprised that the west came to their aid and assistance" at the time of the last big earthquake & Tsunami. They've every right to be surprised in view of their track record, but should understand better than they do the honourable principals which allowed the west to rise above and send help. They should recognise they could learn a thing or two from this rather than being defiant as to the history of WWll. They were brainwahsed about the war and I suppose and they still are. How ironic and sad that as they hoist that rising sun flag over parts of Malaysia and Singapore, if they played their national anthem, even that was composed to be played on brass orchestral instruments invented in the west! They should never have been able to even get close.
A little bit of forgotten history.
Well done, Sir.