VJ80 August 2025: Surrender Story #1 - Capt Hugh Pilkington.
- Stu Lloyd
- Aug 15
- 2 min read
Capt Hugh Pilkington survived the rigours of Hellfire Pass (north of the bridge on the River Kwai) and the Alexandra Hospital massacre -- was back in the Officers' Quarters at Changi, Singapore, where there were three illegal wireless sets in operation.
"At about 2:30 am on the morning of August 11 I was asleep on my bed on the little balcony of our coolie quarter when an undue commotion from the Australian officers’ hut over the road woke me up. Intrigued by the noise from the Australians, I walked across and looked in to see them feverishly sorting their belongings, and, when I asked what it was all about, I was told, ‘We cannot tell you but you will hear soon’."
"At 7:45 am when our Colonel Commanding woke up, I suggested to him that the Australians had some news. Colonel Harris went across and came back a few minutes later: 'Gentlemen they have capitulated, but the Japanese themselves have not yet been informed'. No one spoke for several minutes, and then we all made a concerted rush for our little hoards of dried beans, fish, etc. and made fires to cook them on. By now we were really starving and food dominated our thoughts. 'At last' and 'Thank God' were the only expressions heard."
He would eventually sail home, and met the son he'd never met, Paul, who'd been born on the same day his regiment moved up from Singapore to the frontline in Malaya, January 1942 (but he never received a telegram confirming that news so went off to war without knowing he was a father).
80 years since VJ Day — hear the voices of those who lived it.
Download your FREE 15-page PDF of surrender stories from POWs in the Far East and keep their memories alive, lest we forget: https://www.stuartlloyd.net/.../worldwar11asia-pacificbooks
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