THORPE Harry Raymond Brodie NX44915 HQ Coy [D Force]
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 10 November 1945, page 2
Armistice Morning on Bukit Timah
BY ACTING-CHAPLAIN H. B. R. THORPE.
An ordained minister of the Church of England, Mr. Thorpe enlisted as a private in the 2/29th Bn., A.I.F., and served in the ranks. After the fall of Singapore he worked as an unofficial padre to P.O.W working on the notorious Burma-Thailand "death railway
EVERY male Chinese, boy or man,
who showed himself on the Bukit Timah (Singapore) road during the Japanese push in February, 1942, was decapitated by the swords of the I.J.A. It was a messy battle around that area, with Australians and Britishers in
action, a prelude to the final show around Singapore city itself.
Shortly after capitulation large numbers of Tommies and Aussies, then P.O.W. were again encamped in that area in order to build an impressive monument for the Japs on the high tin hill of Bukit Tumah, outside the village Native heads stuck on poles were the gruesome sight near the area Like ants on an anthill the prisoners worked month after month digging concreting turfing Long rows of bare-backed lads swinging hand baskets of dirt with a Jap striking back after back as he speeded them with his bamboo rod.
Many were the gaudy celebrations of the Imperial Japanese Army at that monument. Many were the visitors to see us workslaves of a conquering army. But Armis-tice Day November 11 1942 will be re-membered by 100 Aussies It was a deluge of a day. The working party trucks could not leave for the site of work until the storm abated but two truckloads had already left that Caldecott Hill of ours and dropped the 100 of us at the monument
Behind the Jap pillar at the summit was a small wooden cross placed there out of courtesy for the Allied dead and on that Armistice morning we gathered with out Jap guards for the first Christian service on the Bukit Tinah. Tsu-rei-to hill. A prayer a hymn a few words, flowers and a salute. An Australian officer of the 2/29th a soldier priest and 100 fellow prisoners commemorated Armistice Day of 1918-and the rain descended
Shattered Glory
Recently I revisited the scene. Gone was the glory of the Imperial Japanese Army. Old air raid shelters were burrowed under the hill approaches No ferns or flowers now bloom up that high and deadly load to the summit no beribboned Japs with the former pomp of victory grin at the working prisoners as they drive in looted cars to the top. But a sole figure was I mounting step by step lost in a space of desolation and shattered glory No tall pillar Tsu-rei-to (memorial) was on the highest peak. It had been sabotaged — blasted to pieces but in front was a flagpole, and on it fluttered gently the Union Jack. Behind still stood the little wooden cross which 100 Aussies with bowed, rain dripping heads had fronted on November 11, 1942 at 11 am, clad in their soaking working clothes
I looked around from that high hill of Bukit Timah in front of me, In the distance, the Cathay building of Singapore where shells in February, 1942 killed many wounded Australians who had been placed in an emergency hospital here to the right were Kranji and Tanglin scenes of our own fighting
I salute the Cross and slowly walk down, down, down to the road level far below.
Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 1 August 1950, page 3
"Happy Harry" is coming back
HAPPY HARRY" will be at the annual meeting of the Ex-Prisoners of War and Relatives' Association tomorrow night. The former P.O.W's are picking him up tomorrow when the Ormonde berths in Adelaide from England, and will fly him over.
Every man who was on the Burma-Siam railway knew "Happy Harry."
When he joined the 2/29 Battalion as a private in the early days of the war he was Harry Thorpe, then a theological student.
He served well as a fighting soldier, and when he was taken prisoner by the Japanese he volunteered for padre duties to help his fellow sufferers.
Up and down the "death railway," from Kamburi camp to points north, he travelled, earning his nickname of "Happy Harry" by always having a smile and a word of cheer, no matter how grim things were.
After his release he continued his studies and was ordained, and now he is the Rev. H. Thorpe, of the Church of England.
Recently he visited Britain to meet again the hundreds of friends he had made in the prison camps of Burma and Siam.
He took wreaths with him from New South Wales and Victorian ex-P.O.W. organisations, and preached the occasional sermon at a memorial service in London's parish church, St. Martin's in the Fields, Trafalgar Square.
More than 1,000 ex-prisoners attended that service.
He has brought back to Australia a letter of thanks from British ex-P.O.W.'s to Australian comrades for gifts of food.
This letter, inscribed on parchment, will be presented in Kelvin Hall tomorrow night to Mr. E. E. ("Weary") Dunlop, president of the Victorian Association.
"Happy Harry" is coming back (1950, August 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 3. Retrieved June 19, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22901195
Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Monday 1 October 1945, page 3
