Pearl Harbour, Oahu Island, Hawaii

Pearl Harbour, Oahu Island, Hawaii

Contributed by Moh Teck (9 May 2020)

I was in primary school (Presbyterian Boys’ School at Koon Seng Road) from year 1966 to 1971.

“On the morning of 9 August 1965, the Parliament of Malaysia voted 126 to 0 in favor of a constitutional amendment expelling Singapore from the Malaysia. Hours later, the Parliament of Singapore passed the Republic of Singapore Independence Act, establishing the island as an independent and sovereign republic.” (Source: Wikipedia)

My grandparents and their children (including my father); and my mother’s family just went through a storm and then was on the first foot of another storm. That earlier storm was the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (15 February 1942 to 12 September 1945) and World War Two (1 September 1939 to 2 September 1945).

 I was born in 1959, after the Japanese surrender of Singapore to the British on 12 September 1945. I was literally to British subjects under the British crown. My old birth certificate attested to that. My home did not have Rediffusion, but my next door neighbour did. So when ever the BBC broadcast comes on, I will imitate how they pronounced their words

During my childhood, when I staying at Teng Tong Road in the East of Singapore, I would also hear the testing of the air-raid sirens.

I would flip my grandparents’ cane chair over; hide behind the seat and imagine that I was aiming submachine guns at fighter planes from my battleship. One day, my grand father would come back with a lorry of stuff from his employer’s office. These were things that were for disposal. Among them, were Japanese dollar bills, now worthless.

Front of the “Japanese banana money”

Back of the “Japanese banana money”

Although World War Two began with Nazi Germany’s attack on Poland in September 1939, the United States did not enter the war until after the Japanese’s surprise aerial attack on the American fleet in Pearl Harbour, Oahu Island, Hawaii, on 7 December, 1941.

After my National Service, I saved up some money, and visited Pearl Harbour.

The Pearl Harbour Memorial was built over the USS Arizona. On 7 September, 1941, the ship was hit multiple times in the first few minutes of the attack. One bomb penetrated the armoured deck near the ammunition magazines in the forward section of the ship, causing a massive explosion and killing 1,177 of the marines on board. Irreparably damaged, the USS Arizona still lies at the bottom of the Pearl Harbour.

Photo shows the Memorial site

Photo shows the remains of the gun turret.

This show how the explosion in the ammunition magazine section. (Source: Wikipedia)

Before I end this article, let me show you 2 post cards and the photo of the old City Hall from Hawaii. You might recognise the City Hall from the TV series Hawaii Five-O