Battle for Singapore: Adam Park

As early as 12th Feb 2016, there has been WW2 tours going around in Singapore. Many of the tours conducted are places whereby battles were fought. Otherwise, they are places of historic significance relating closely to the war. Talks and exhibitions are also conducted during this time to commemorate the 74th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore. 

Many of these tours had to be pre-registered. They usually run on the weekends starting somewhere mid of February lasting till the end of the month. This year was the second year I signed up for such tours. Many times, through the guided tours, I get to learn new stories and look at things from a different light.

Some of the fiercest battles that took place were in Adam Park and Pasir Panjang Ridge (Bukit Chandu or Opium Hill). Both places I am interested to know more of their history. 

Sharing below what I have learnt in the Adam Park tour.

Our tour guide was Jon Cooper, an Englishman Battlefield Archaeologist for The Adam Park Project and Changi Museum. He is the founder of Adam Park Project. The team he led has uncovered a treasure trove of objects such as regimental cap badges, gas masks, boots and bullets. It is from these unearthed materials, we learnt more about the battle at Adam Park.

Heritage marker board at junction of Adam Road and Adam Park Road.

Adam Park

The 19 black and white houses (numbered 2-20) were built for municipal purposes in the 1920s. On that morning of 12 February 1945, the British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, the Cambridgeshire Regiment, took up positions in the Adam Park housing estate. The Battalion's headquarters was at house number 7. This is stated in the heritage marker board. However, Adam Park was involved in heavy fighting but this was not mentioned in the heritage marker board. In fact, this place was almost untouched since it was built. This is ideal for archaeology purposes. A lot of artifacts had been found especially in this area. It is believed that similar artifacts could be found around Sime Road (Hellfire Corner) all the way to Bukit Brown and MacRitchie which are nearby. This was the only battle line that was left standing on the 15th February 1942 before they were ordered to cease fire at 4pm. It became a POW camp for 3000 POWs. when the Japanese needed the manpower to build the Shinto shrine in MacRitchie Reservoir. Many of these POWs were later sent to work on the Thai Burma Railway that claimed many life.

"The area covered by the 19 colonial black-and-white houses that make up the Adam Park estate is the site of an intense three days of fighting in the battle for Singapore. It was here that, in February 1942, the men of the 1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment held off a series of attacks by the troops of the Japanese 41st (Fukuyama) Regiment."

 -quoted from Expatliving.sg. These words were retold again by Jon Cooper during our tour.

This was not my first tour with Jon. I had been to his Hellfire Corner Tour last year which inspired me to write about a short children story regarding Sime Road.

7 Adam Park
The house, 7 Adam Park, was selected as it sits on a reverse slope and was therefore hidden from a downhill view from Bukit Timah Hill which the Japanese had occupied then.

7 Adam Park

Post war, the house was a private residence. It used to be NUSS Guild House. Now it is left vacant after the last restaurant operator left 2 years ago. Could it be used as a museum for Jon's trove of treasure found in Adam Park itself? These were some food for thoughts.

17 Adam Park

17 Adam Park, a private pool can be seen

17 Adam Park used to be the British Regimental Aid Post. It was burnt to the ground. It was set alight on the 15th February as the ceasefire broke down and tank shells tore into the house. The current building is reconstructed.

The house next to number 17 has swings

Sights at Adam Park

This hill, according to Jon, was difficult to take down. The Battalion soldiers were hiding in the interlocking trenches or drains. I wonder whether they are the same drains when we walked past.

16 Adam Park and the "Valley of Death"

16 Adam Park

This house , number 16, was mentioned in a Japanese soldier's account of the war. He mentioned they fired from a very big black and white house. The garden was so extensive that it even has its own golf course. Actually, all the black and white houses looked alike on this hill but this house has its own golf course. Hence, it is believed this was the house the Japanese occupied and was used to attack the British soldiers. This is located near the "Valley of Death". Jon shared how he deduced where the Japanese were fighting from and where the British were defending from by the artifacts that were dug out from various places around the park. I think it is pretty amazing!

Chapel and Murals
The POW chapel is believed to be house 11. House 5 contains another mural.

Social History
Jon shared too the social history of the place. You may want to read about it here. His new book, Tigers in the Park, will be out soon.

"We are appealing to anyone who has heard stories of their fathers or grandfathers who worked in the area to also help provide a snapshot of how life was like then for civilians working with the POWs," said project initiator Jon Cooper, 48, a military historian and archaeologist.

                             - Straits Times , 4 NOV. Jon made a same request on our tour.

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Thoughts on the tour
This tour is enlightening , entertaining and interesting!  I have learnt much from the trip. So little is known about Adam Park. I have been goggling about Adam Park but not much is being found. Even Infopedia has no information on this last line of battle which left me pretty disappointed. Luckily with this tour, I managed to learn more about the place. I hope I would be able to pick up the book , 'Battalion at War', which he had mentioned. I hope I will not fall asleep.

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The Secrets of Sime Road

Are you into history? Does HIS-STORY (That is what I used to call history) bore you? Below is a short story I wrote. The story is inspired by one of the tours organised by the brownies, named as Battlefield Tour by Jon Cooper. The story incorporated part of the trail I experienced. If you do read it, tell me your thoughts. 

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"Dad, can I not go to SICC?" yawned Ben.

It was one of the mornings, Ben was going with his family to Singapore Island Country Club. His father, Mr Low is a businessman, a member of the Club, often invites his business associates to the Club for a game of golf. Initially, Ben enjoy visiting the place as it is vast and full of greenery. There are so many things to engage in. He used to love playing in the play room but now he had outgrown it. Occasionally, he plays bowling with his father or swims with his mother. But really, both are not his passion. If possible, he would rather not go to the Club. He would rather watch shows on television.

"No, your uncle and his family are meeting us there. Shawn would be there too!" replied Dad.

Ben dashed up to dress himself upon hearing Shawn's name. He is his favorite cousin. Shawn, two years older than him, is regarded as a smart and sensible young lad. He has a young sister, Emily , who is nine years old.

Mr Low drove the family to the Singapore Island Country Club located at Sime Road. Ben recognised the place as soon as he saw Chinese tombs located on the left of Sime Road. A large, flat golf field appeared on the right.

As Mr Low drove into the carpark of the Country Club, they saw Shawn and his family alighting from their car.

" Hey, bro! A game of golf?" Ben's father called out.

The men left for the golf game while the women and the children went to swim. For Ben, swimming with Shawn and Emily is totally a different thing from swimming with mommy. After an hour of fun, the women and children bathed and decided to have breakfast at a nearby cafe.

" How's Ben doing?" asked Shawn's mom. The smell of bacon, sausages and omelettes filled the air.

"Well, still the same. I had enrolled to Berries. I hope that would improve his Chinese proficiency. Oh yeah! Shawn will be having his PSLE this year isn't it?"

Conversations such as these bored Ben. He decided to gobbled down his breakfast and probably excused himself from the scene.

"Shawn, shall we go exploring the place after this? We are too old for Playroom." whispered Ben into the ear of Shawn.

Maybe he was not soft enough for Emily heard him. "I wanna go too!" Startled, Ben glanced at the women but they were deep in their conversations.

"I guess it should be ok. Let's just ask our moms later." replied Shawn.

"Gor, I wanna go too!" insisted Emily.

"OK. We'll include you in." said Shawn, patting his sister's head fondly.

After breakfast, Shawn sought permission and promised to take care of the rest of the children. They wandered around the compound.

"Shall we explore outside? I know there is a pillbox just outside SICC !" exclaimed Shawn.

"Pillbox? What's that?" asked Emily and Ben in unison.

"Remember Labrador Park? Daddy brought us there to take a look at mangroves. We stumbled upon one of the pillboxes at the playground?" replied Shawn.

"Isn't that a machine gun post?" enquired Emily.

"It's the same thing. You'll see what I meant when we explore. " said Shawn excitedly, walking faster towards the entrance.

The pillbox is near the security barrier of the Club with a plague in front of it. Shawn approached the plaque excitedly. He is very interested in history ever since he explored the Labrador battery with his father. Ben went straight into the pillbox while Emily cried in dismay that she did not want to go in. Shawn pacified her and led her inside the pillbox.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! So this is what it is like to be a soldier in the past guarding here. This pillbox is rather spacious." Ben was already pretending to shoot using his invisible machine gun.

"Shall we go back now?" asked Emily.

"I believe there are more World War 2 relics here, just like Labrador. I am interested to seek them out. Are you?" replied Shawn. Ben agreed enthusiastically. Realising she was the odd one out, Emily agreed reluctantly.

The children started exploring down the road. Although there was not much traffic , Shawn had the common sense to remind the children to walk on the side of the road and keeping an eye on the traffic.

" Oh! Look at those Black and White houses! " Emily started to appreciate the beauty of the place. Many are marked "Private Property". Further down the road, the children spied some monkeys. They were wandering on the field but quickly scattered away when the children approached.

"Monkeys! Did you see that?" exclaimed Ben. He enjoys being on an adventure with Shawn.

"I thought they appear only in the zoo!" laughed Emily.

Suddenly, Emily squealed in delight, "Flowers!" and dashed in the direction of a row of garden arches which were overgrown with vines. There were plenty of brightly coloured orange and purple flowers at the side of the arches. Shawn and Ben chased after her. She stopped right in front of the arches and started to admire, her eyes wide with excitement. " This is really my kind of Secret Garden!" and danced a little dance. She took a step and started to walk through the arches wondering what is beyond that.

The garden at Sime Road
When I post on my personal facebook account, I was asked where it was from.

"Wooooahh!!!" a unison of voices broke out behind the children.

Posh Nosh

Well, we celebrated my hubby's birthday a couple of months ago at Nosh Restaurant & Bar a couple of months ago. It was our first time in this restaurant and we were charmed by it. To be frank, this was not the intended restaurant we wanted to go. It was the first time we explored this Rochester Park though I used to stay pretty near. We were having problems locating the intended restaurant.  He used GPS and that GPS led us here instead. Though that GPS is not working too well but we were glad we settled here. 

Nosh (meaning meal or light snack) , located at 9 Rochester Park, serves modern bistro fare in a beautiful historic black-and-white house that is set in lush green surroundings. We hesitated but stepped in nevertheless as hubby says mosquitoes were most active at evening. He feared Little One would be bitten by mozzie since she is very prone to getting mozzie bites. 

Upon entering, Little One saw a 2 seater swing near the black and white house and immediately sat on it. After some short fun, we climbed up the stairs to the reception area. We were greeted by a waiter almost immediately and was led to the air-con area. On the way, I was wowed by the romantic candle lights and lush greenery. Pretty relaxing and romantic if you ask me. Perfect as a wedding venue!

The country decor is extended indoors too. Though there is no candle lights here, the lighting is pretty soft. It is as if we are dining in someone's home at the countryside! 

Enjoying her drink

Our starters came together. After we finished these, our main dishes came together too!

Kurobuta Pork Belly - S$29.  Hubby said this is nice! Like char siew. 

Herb Roasted Chicken- S$28. Rather juicy and tender

With stuffing in it. 

Although the food is expensive (We spent about $$90+), we enjoyed ourselves very much that night with good food and laughter. The waitress who served us was very attentive. She provided kid tableware for Little One. When we were mid way through our dinner, she was kind enough to come over to enquire how the food was. She had certainly made our day too!

Operating Hours:

Dinner:
Tuesday – Thursday & Sundays : 6pm – 10.30pm
Fridays and Saturdays : 6pm-11pm
Last Orders for Dinner: 10pm

Brunch:
Saturday & Sunday: 10.30am – 2.30pm
Last Orders for Brunch: 2.15pm

Closed on Mondays

Address:
9 Rochester Park Singapore 139220 (next to Rochester Mall)

Website

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