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NX77799 - BUSINE, Sydney Herbert Thomas, Pte.
Thanbyuzayat War
Cemetery – April/May 1986 - by Jim Busine
I left Sydney Airport on Saturday 19th April,
farewelled by family and friends including Ron Maston of 2/30th
and arrived in Thailand 20th April spending one week in Bangkok
and Phataya beach Resort on an organised tour provided by
Citicorp Insurances.
On 26th April, I flew from Bangkok to Rangoon in
Burma. I was met at the airport by the Second Secretary of the
Australian Embassy, David Tough, who helped me through customs.
It took over an hour even with his help. The heat in the non
airconditioned airport was unbearable and it was a relief to get
into his chauffeur driven air conditioned car for the drive to
Rangoon city and the Strand Hotel where I would be staying.
The Strand Hotel in Colonial Days, along with
Rangoon was the Pearl of the orient, but I am sad to say when
the British left in 1948/49 things stagnated. Nothing has been
done to improve the hotel nor the city. Whatever breaks stays
broken or is patched up. My room was called an executive suite
but the only thing that warranted this classing was the air
conditioner. There were no power points, no fridge, frequent
blackouts, the toilet barely worked and had never been cleaned.
The bath was black, no hot water and the cold water was black
(in colour) and they advise you not to sit in it too long. Still
it was a thrill to spend time in the atmosphere of the old
Strand.
The first night in Rangoon, David Tough invited
me to his home for dinner with his wife Carolyn and family. His
house was very comfortable with all the modern cons, and
servants ready to assist at any moment. The next day David took
me around Rangoon sightseeing, however I retired early that
evening as I was being met by David's chauffeur at 4 am the next
morning to be driven to the train depot.
Even though 4. am and still dark, it was
extremely hot at the railway station. We were booked into the
first class carriage of our train, that is, first class in
Burma's sense of the term. The lights didn't work, air
conditioning was an open window, if you could force it open, and
the stains on my white pants gave a fair indication of the state
of the seats.
We were joined by Phillip Henry (the second
secretary) and his wife Margaret on the train.
Well aware of what we were about to come across
they had spent a lot of time organising food and drinks for the
trip, as well as organising for two embassy cars to meet us at
Moulmein. We were not allowed to travel by road because of the
terrorist activity. The cars anyway could only travel during
daylight hours.
The train journey was something I will never
forget. Every 2 hours or so we would stop at a station and all
the locals would come to the open windows selling food and
drink. We arrived at the rail junction at Mataban in the
afternoon and a ferry was waiting for us to cross the Saween
River. This took about 40 minutes and when we crossed, we were
met by the two cars and staff who had crossed the river by car
ferry earlier that day.
We then drove one hour to a Government House on
the beach at Setse about 5 k's from the village of Thanbyuzayat.
On the way we passed the cemetery and was I tempted to ask if we
could stop, but I knew we could not, because of the armed escort
that had joined us in Moulmein.
The cottage we stayed in was comfortable but
again no running water, or electricity. It was very pleasant to
be able to swim and walk along the beach and Philip and Margaret
had prepared well, sending along in one of the cars their cook
(Moo Moo).
At 8.45 am on the 30th April (we arrived at the
cemetery) and were met by a full General, a battalion commander
and other Army personnel including two buglers. Our armed escort
were also close by, as they would be for the three days we were
across the river.
At 9 am we had the Anzac ceremony and I laid one
wreath on behalf of the Australian Government and another on
behalf of the 2/30th battalion. Having studied the layout of the
cemetery I then proceeded directly to my father's grave. It was
a very emotional walk, crying every step of the way.
I cannot describe my feelings as I took that last
step and stood in front of my father’s grave. This was my first
meeting with him since we parted as father and new born son in
1941.
There were about 100 locals at a nearby fence
watching me, but I could not hold back the built up emotion. I
spent about 2 hours on my own before being met by Philip and
Margaret. We then spent over three hours photographing the
graves of 2/12 and 2/30th. The whole time we were accompanied by
the man in charge of the cemetery, the very helpful Mr Whar.
We left the cemetery emotionally drained and
returned to the cottage for the rest of the day. We waited for
the arrival of another Australian, who was one day behind us,
(Ian Ramsey from Kootingal near Tamworth). Ian's uncle, no
relation to Col Ramsey, is also buried at the cemetery.
That afternoon we went for about a 3 km walk
along the beach and came across a fishing village. Intrigued by
our step back in time we ended up staying quite a while. When we
decided to head back it was dark and before long we could see
torches coming toward us in the distance. It was the Army Guard
looking for us, as they were supposed to stay with us all the
time but were swimming when we went for our walk. When we had
not returned by nightfall they panicked because a French couple
had been kidnapped from near the village only months before.
Fortunately they were returned after a couple of days. The guard
stayed very close to us for the remainder of our trip.
The next day we packed and left early for our
trip to a section of the infamous Burma railway not far from the
village of Thanbyuzayat. The section we visited is on a pathway
that passes over it so it is cleared at that point. The rest is
overgrown with jungle. There are no sleepers as they had been
taken up after the war. It was a strange feeling standing on
that mound, knowing my father possibly passed the same spot.
It was Les Hall who a few years ago put me on the
tracks of my father’s footsteps after he had left Australia, and
I thought of Les with a tear in my eye as I scanned the areas he
had described to me so vividly. Standing in this area the
sketches of Dick Cochran also came to mind. I could honestly
feel the presence of those buried in the area, their spirits
reaching out to comfort me. Strangely enough, near the railway
is a memorial to the Japanese who had died on the line, built in
1944.
We went back to the cemetery for about two hours
and I spent over an hour meditating at my father’s grave. We
then visited the market place in the village. Most of the items
for sale were black market, brought in over the hills from
Thailand and as far away as China. We then returned to Moulmein
and said farewell to the guard and recrossed the river to join
the train at Matabar for the return trip.
A most incredible sight was seen when the train
pulled out very slowly from the station. Hundreds of people were
along the track with huge bundles on their shoulders and people
on the train would hook into them and bring them inside. Within
10 minutes the train filled up with these bundles which were
full of contraband of all types, clothes, lipsticks, material,
foods and so on. They were then sorted out into smaller bundles
for the journey and taken off when we returned to Rangoon, at 10
pm that night.
The next day David Tough took us to the airport
and we said farewell to Burma. I then spent the next week
travelling down through Malaysia. I was on a train when I went
through Gemas so could not stop. The last two days I spent at
Raffles Hotel in Singapore and visited Sentosa Island and Changi
jail, then flew out on 10th May to arrive back at Mascot on
Mother’s Day 11th May.
It was a great journey. I cannot wait to go hack
to Burma in the future, hopefully to take my sons to visit their
Grandfathers grave.
While I was at the cemetery I found several names
of 2/30th men that the association did not know about. They were
obviously men who were with my father as reinforcements that
were never taken on strength.
I would like to hear from anyone who would have
been with my father from leaving Australia as a Reinforcement
and who was captured in Java.
My fathers full name was - Sydney Herbert Thomas
BUSINE. Army No: NX77799 and the ship he left Fremantle, Western
Australia on, on the 30.1.42 was the S.S. Marella.
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Last updated
31/08/2021 |
