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Naval aviators remember WW2 forebears murdered in Singapore
2 July 2025
Aviators supporting the navy’s premier deployment of 2025 paid their respects to their forebears executed 80 years ago.
The attacks on Palembang in Sumatra in January 1945 – known as Operation Meridian – delivered a crippling blow to oil refineries supporting the Japanese war effort as the Allies closed in on victory against Tokyo.
The attacks remain one of the finest episodes in the Fleet Air Arm’s history – and an outstanding example of carrier strike operations as we know them today.
The raids cost 41 aircraft, with 30 aircrew killed. Nine more aviators bailed out and were taken to the notorious Changi jail in Singapore.
After the Japanese surrender in August 1945 – but before Singapore was liberated – the fliers were put to the sword by their captors, their corpses dumped in a small boat which was sunk off the coast.
The atrocity was discovered post-war as investigators began digging into the fate of the men, who became known as the ‘Palembang nine’ and the men – a mix of Britons and New Zealanders – were subsequently honoured with a memorial at the Fleet Air Arm Church in Yeovilton, while the Japanese officer who ordered their execution committed suicide.
Air and ground crew from today’s 820 Naval Air Squadron – one of the formations involved in 1945 – paid homage to the Palembang raiders back in January with 80th anniversary commemorations at their home base in Culdrose, Cornwall.
Since then they’ve deployed with flagship HMS Prince of Wales leading the UK Carrier Strike Group deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, acting as the force’s ‘eyes in the sky’ against potential threats above, on and below the waves.
The aircraft carrier’s week-long visit to Singapore afforded 820 personnel to pay their respects, learn more about the raid and also about the Pacific Theatre of World War 2 and the brutal Japanese occupation of Singapore; an estimated 850 British prisoners of war died of maltreatment/were executed in Changi.
These awful stories of individual and collective experiences, our lasting impression of this period of history was that of resolve – the grit, spirit and determination of the prisoners of war was extraordinarily emotional.
All who visited the memorial ground/museum erected to the victims of Japanese militarism, like Merlin helicopter observer Lieutenant James Gillespie were moved by the experience, not least “the awful realities people, both military and civilian, encountered in the weeks, months and years that followed,” he said.
“These awful stories of individual and collective experiences, our lasting impression of this period of history was that of resolve – the grit, spirit and determination of the prisoners of war was extraordinarily emotional.”
Fellow observer Lieutenant Tanika Birkbeck grew up in Singapore, studied the history of Changi at school and visited the memorial site as a youngster.
“This is the first time I have been home since joining the Royal Navy, so to revisit this site – particularly as a member of 820 Naval Air Squadron – was especially moving,” she said.
“It is a reminder that some of the local areas I know and love are steeped in a deep and tragic past and hold new meaning having undertaken this career path.”
820’s Senior Observer Anti-Submarine Warfare Lieutenant Commander Chris Luke said returning to the region after a few years’ absence served as a timely reminder for the squadron – and the wider Navy – of its role in the Pacific in WW2, especially the closing 12 months.
“The British Pacific Fleet was the largest ever fighting force put to sea by the RN but we largely skim over the campaign and its effect,” he said.
“820 NAS was a key component in that campaign and being out here, in the locations that they fought it gives us a chance to remember and celebrate their contribution, keeping the memory alive.
“Changi prison represents a place of oppression, captivity and suffering, but also a place of fortitude, resistance and strength and brings into stark focus what our people went through.”