VJ Day 1945

Before the war we were all at it - British, American, French Belgium - we all had our Asian colonies. The Dutch had their East Indies, now Indonesia.  All fell to the Japanese, all had been promised limited autonomy under the Japs after they had won the war.  In July/August 1945 we were part of a vast armada making for Kuala Lumpur for retaking Malaysia, after which we would progress down to take Singapore, but the Nuclear Age intervened.  We carried on to Singapore, then began the liberation of the Dutch East Indies.  When the Japs came, they rounded up all the men and murdered them on the spot or sent them to work on the railways or in the mines; the women and children were rounded up and Sumatra became a vast Prisoner-of-War camp.  No-one was well treated, some suffered more than others.   All wanted to get back to Holland as soon as possible, so we established a repatriation service.  Small planes were used to ferry the survivors, about 24 at a time, to Singapore where they were transferred either to larger planes or troop ships for the journey "home".   The flying conditions at Medan (Sumatra) were primitive, the Japs having destroyed all they could, and I was sent out to install a simple navigation system to help pilots to identify our runway.  One night, the pilot was hesitant about taking off because the weather was bad and getting worse.  He decided to press on but quickly found conditions impossible so he decided to turn back..But to land safely he had to rely on my untested navigation aid.   He made it - all was well.  I was in the canteen when the door burst open and the pilot came in demanding "Where is the Radar King?" (my nickname ever after).   It could only be me so I stood nervously.  He came over, shook me by the hand, and said "I have to thank you for saving my life.  And my crew.  And my passengers."  I could ask for no better reward.