The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-02-17

CnlneSe assistant, w. K. Wee, still was carrying on. Not during the heaviest blitzes had he faltered. He didn't falter now. His chief concern was to get me moving quickly. h. side half an hour I was aboard this old tub.
 found this ship crowded with naval and military units. There were mountains of baggage on the decks. Wee stayed behind in Singa- pore with his wife and four small children. I left everything behind me-the second home I've lost to the Japanese. The other one was ir Hong Kong. All I brought with me was change of clothes, some office records and my complete files of the Malayan story.
 Among the civilians aboard were George Seabridge, editor of the Straits Times, and his wife.
 Until pitch darkness we stayed at the dockside loading supplies. Then the shells started screaming over- head from our guns at Pulau Bra his, firing over the city to get at the Japanese.
 The gun flashes lighted the ship briefly, highlighting our strained faces. Men filled the gangWay, curs- ing anyone who showed even a small light.
 Trucks still were piling up to the dockside and loading was going on
 l recall that I reconnoitered a little with Wong Wong, 'M-G-M cameraman, and Clifford Bottomley Australian film man. We found an unoccupied cabin in the inky black ness and piled our belongings there. The ship was just warping away from the dock when we heard a voice at our porthole shout: "Is this the RAF ship?' we said: we guess so' Three wicker baskets Whizzed through the port, followed by a red-faced airman who just managed to Straddle the widening gap between ship and dock.
 Most of the troops aboard ship are air force men. Apparently they are going where, in the words of Gen. A. E. Percival, Singapore s commander, they are likely to serve more effectively Singapores de- fense." There are some naval rat ings, the last to leave the naval base, and some civilians and news papermen.
 Our ship crept along the harbor. Always we were within the sound of artillery fire. Blazing fires sil- houetted Singapore's sky line. We sneaked past blazing oil tanks and approached the narrow entrance to the mined boom. The Japanese ar tillery quickly discovered we were leaving.
 I watched from the deck as shells plashed nearer and nearer. The saarchlight crews pointing our way did not waver Suddenly our ship was clear and the searchlights snap ped out We plunged ahead into the blackness.
 In the morning terrific bangs awakened us. We still were close to shore and batteries were firing away, possibly at us. Nobody seem- ed to know.
 We breakfasted on bread and some sandwich spread. That was our lunch and supper, too Later we stole the dregs from an officers coffee pot, poured in some boiling water and had coffee. It tasted wonderful.
 Japanese scouting planes spotted us when we lay in the lee of a small archipelago waiting for dark ness before proceeding There was some excitement but nothing more
 We still did not know what our destination was to be, although a rumor ran around the ship that it was to be five day voyage. By this time we didn't care where we were going. We were glad to be on this crowded, smelly ship. We were glad to be gone from Singapore.