ROBERT HARDMAN: On VJ Day how can we claim 'we will remember them' when the remains of UK war heroes are still in plastic boxes in Malaysia?

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

As the very last of the 'Forgotten Army' gather today, it will be with the same bitter-sweet emotions which come flooding back every August 15.
Now, as then, the veterans of the Far East can't help the feeling that they are something of an afterthought.
They had felt it all through the war, and especially through the summer of 1945 – as they fought on for three more hellish months long after Victory in Europe and those wild VE Day parties back home.
And can we really blame them?
Today's commemoration of Victory in Japan – VJ Day – at the National Memorial Arboretum, attended by the King and the Prime Minister, will be a poignant occasion, of course.
Yet, at the going down of the sun and in the morning, can we truly say that 'we will remember them' when it transpires that the mortal remains of several British heroes continue to languish in a plastic box in Malaysia – while the British authorities twiddle their thumbs?
For proof that the war in the Far East still sits in the dimmer recesses of our collective national memory, look no further than the tragic tale of two mighty Royal Navy warships, the battle cruiser, HMS Repulse, and the battleship, HMS Prince of Wales.
On December 10, 1941, less than three days after its attack on the US fleet in Pearl Harbour, Japan came after the pride of the Royal Navy's Eastern Pacific fleet off the coast of what was then Malaya.
Both ships were hit by bombs and torpedoes and went down within hours of each other, taking 842 men with them.
'In all the war, I never received a more direct shock,' Winston Churchill said later. 'As I turned over and twisted in bed the full horror of the news sank in upon me... Across this vast expanse of waters, Japan was supreme.'
Even for those who survived, salvation was short-lived. Most were taken ashore to the naval base in Singapore.
Within weeks, the colony had fallen to Japan in one of the greatest humiliations of the war. Thousands of servicemen, along with the civilian population, were marched to a brutal captivity from which many would not emerge.
After the war, passing British ships would conduct memorial services over the wrecks and, for a while, send divers down to ensure that the White Ensign of the Royal Navy was still attached to the hulls.
In due course, they were designated as war graves while the bell of the Prince of Wales was recovered in 2002 and returned to Britain.
However, over the years came grim reports of looting by salvage operators plundering the wreck for scrap metal. When the subject surfaced periodically in Parliament, ministers would pledge to keep an eye on things.
It was only thanks to the British charity, the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust (MAST), that the true extent of this desecration has since come to light.
In 2022, it discovered that a Chinese salvage barge had spent 92 days ransacking the sites – which lie in international waters.
Then, in 2023, it tracked the loot to a Malaysian breakers' yard. Police duly seized a huge quantity of stolen property, including the giant anchors of HMS Prince of Wales, and arrests were made.
Veterans and the next of kin were dismayed, even more so when it emerged that the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur had told the Malaysians they could keep the stuff. No one in the Foreign Office or the Ministry of Defence, it seems, had seen it fit to consult the families.
Further bad news was to follow, however.
Last year, the Malaysian authorities confirmed to the team from MAST their worst suspicions: the loot not only included sailors' possessions but human remains.
These were being carefully preserved by the Malaysians yet the British authorities had made no effort to reclaim them.
It was now beyond doubt that the final resting places of hundreds of British war heroes have been plundered by Chinese grave-robbers and the bodies of the dead have not just been disturbed but dumped ashore while British diplomats failed to act.
'I find it utterly extraordinary. I just don't know how we can simply stand by while this goes on,' says the former First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord West.
Two months ago, in the House of Lords, he asked the Government 'what steps they are taking to ensure that human remains found among the scrap of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are given a fitting burial by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission'.
The defence minister, Lord Coaker, said the Government 'is unable to provide a response regarding the presence of human remains' until 'investigations have concluded'.
The MoD will only say: 'We strongly condemn any desecration of any maritime military grave. We will take appropriate action, including working with regional governments and partners to prevent inappropriate activity.'
At least MAST, led by marine and military luminaries, including former Desert Rats commander Major General Patrick Cordingley, are on the case. 'It's only thanks to them we have had any idea of what's going on.
We've heard nothing from the Government,' says Hannah Rickard, chair of the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse Survivors Association.
This week, MAST's chief operating officer has reported back from Malaysia where he has been shown human bones included in the official catalogue of material seized from the scrapyard.
These, he says, are being treated 'with professionalism and respect' and the Malaysians are more than ready to assist the British in identifying them through DNA tests.
Once that has happened, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is ready to give these brave men a proper burial.
This cannot come soon enough for the last survivor of the sinkings.
This week, former Royal Marine Jim Wren, 105, received a royal visit when the Duchess of Edinburgh came to his Salisbury care home as part of the VJ Day commemorations.
He still recalls the moment a bomb landed behind his mess in HMS Repulse and exploded several decks below.
He rushed to man an anti-aircraft gun until the ship keeled on her side, whereupon 'it was every man for himself' and he was hauled out of the sea two hours later, vomiting oil. Returned to Singapore, he fought the Japanese on land before being taken prisoner.
For the next three years, his family and his sweetheart, Margaret, thought he was dead until word came through that an emaciated Jim was on his way home in October 1945.
Now the oldest Royal Marine alive, Mr Wren has had his portrait painted at the behest of the King and also featured on this week's BBC film, VJ Day: We Were There.
'I can't forget the men in that ship,' he said this week. 'Let them rest in peace.'
He wants all the looted remains buried properly.
For good measure, he would love to see the main anchor of the Prince of Wales returned to Britain and installed at the National Memorial Arboretum as a monument to all 842.
It is, surely, not much to ask – unless the heroes of VJ Day really are the 'forgotten' ones?