Military Cross awarded to a civilian. Singapore Volunteer Corps

Discussion in 'General' started by ktwop, Sep 15, 2010.

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  1. ktwop

    ktwop Junior Member

    After the fall of Singapore in 1942, my father Lt. Mark Pillai escaped and made his way back to India . He was accompanied by a medical officer and a civilian friend, V Radhakrishnan. The medical officer fell ill and decided to settle in Prome in Burma along the way. To be able to get a civilian through Allied front lines they invented the story of the "Singapore Volunteer Corps" as having been created after the fall of Singapore and they passed Radhakrishnan off as a Lieutenant in this fictitious regiment. It served its purpose when they reached the front lines and the situation was only "regularised" a few months later when Radhakrishnan was formally commissioned into my father's regiment (Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners).
    However they were both awarded the Military Cross on the personal recommendation of Gen. Wavell as Commander-in-Chief. The awards were notified in the London Gazette of 29th September 1942 -issue 35720 (attached).
    It was always my father's contention that since the Gazette refers to Radhakrishnan as a Lt. in the Singapore Volunteer Corps and since this was firstly a fiction and secondly before he had been properly commissioned, this was the only ever case of the Military Cross having been awarded to a civilian!!
    Have there been any other cases of civilians being awarded a military medal?
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Attached Files:

    von Poop likes this.
  3. ktwop

    ktwop Junior Member

    Many thanks Owen. I am truly impressed at the speed with which you found these documents. My mother will be astonished and I think very moved when I send her a copy of these.
    I found the Australian copy of the debriefing escape narrative ( Ref: DMI/3756/70/G.S. 1,(e), 8th September 1942) in the Singapore War Archives which must have been declassified in 1992.
    However this refers to another document Armindia No. 21123/I of 30/8/42 which I think deals with the fictional Singapore Volunteer Corps. But I have not yet found anybody to whom this reference makes any sense. Does it say anything to you?
    With the help of some friends in Kuala Lumpur we are planning to try and retrace the escape route as far as we can in 2011 or 2012 but do not expect to be able to get into Myanmar (Burma).
     
  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Glad that was of interest, it was fun finding it.
    Here's some search results for Singapore Volunteer Corps

    >>> Detecting your browser settings
    Here's one from 1949.
    CO 537/5018
    Far East Defence: reconstitution of Singapore Volunteer Corps

    One from 1937.
    CO 448/50/11
    1938 New Year Honours; Recomendations for Military awards; includes forms of recommendation, approval list and list by award.
    Major Colin Campbell Blair Gilmour, Singapore Volunteer Corps.


    Singapore Volunteer Corps - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Ktwop,

    Hello and welcome to the forum.

    An excellent story and great work by Owen.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  6. MyOldDad

    MyOldDad Senior Member

    Ktwop,

    Hello and welcome to the forum.

    An excellent story and great work by Owen.

    Regards
    Tom

    Likewise, a warm welcome from me - and 'good stuff', Owen.
    best regards,
    Tom.
     
  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  8. ktwop

    ktwop Junior Member

    Superb photographs. My thanks again.
    My father's actual text says:" The C-in-C had promptly put up both our names for the MC and and with remarkable speed the decorations were published in the London Gazette. While there was no hitch in checking my antecedents, Radhakrishnan's parent unit could not be traced, for the simple reason that no such unit as Singapore Volunteers existed. I confessed to them that there was no other way I could have brought him with me into Allied Lines. ..It did not matter very much since he was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers and posted, albeit on paper to my parent regiment".
    Radhakrishnan died in 1945 of medical complications arising from the journey.
    Six months later 3 other Indian Army officers escaped from a Singapore prison camp and made it back to India.
    As far as is known only these 5 of the 88,000 Allied POW's in Singapore escaped and and made it back - primarily because they could mingle with the local resident population of Indian origin in Malaya, Siam and Burma at the time.
     
  9. Zaf1

    Zaf1 Junior Member

    Hi,

    May I know if he was at Kota Bharu at the beginning of the war?

    Regards

    Zaf
     
  10. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Zaf, the RBS&M history lists Lt Pillai as 45 Army Troops Company, RE.
    It says they were attached to 11 Div around 13/14 Dec at Gurun, then attached to 9 Div's 22 Bde from 31 Dec to 5 Jan, so it looks like they weren't at KB.
     
  11. Zaf1

    Zaf1 Junior Member

    Thank you Andrew. As for the 11th Indian Division and sappers were there war diaries? I assume there would be in pre-war but it would be helpful to find wartime war diaries of at least their sappers, since I could follow their path and in history books

    Zaf
     
  12. idler

    idler GeneralList

    It looks like 45 A Tps Coy is WO 172/216 - they are actually listed as 45 A Tpt Coy, but that's probably an error.

    You will notice that there aren't many units in the RE section. Divisional troops are listed under their respective divisions: this page is the best starting point.

    I read last night that there were elements of 45 A Tps Coy with KROHCOL, so they were engaged from the start.
     
  13. Zaf1

    Zaf1 Junior Member

    This is a great site for information on Malaya! Thank you very much Andrew! Wish I could start somewhere. I wonder if they got defence diagram of Jitra line

    Regards
    Zaf
     

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