Medical Auxiliary Services MAS Singapore Malaya

Lee Kip Lee, extreme left. Picture probably taken in front of his house at 19 Amber Road where a pillbox was located at the sea front ( manned by SVC "A" Company in Dec 1941, later, by the Manchester Regiment)

Medical Auxiliary Services, Singapore Malaya


Lee Kip Lee probably joined the Medical Auxiliary Services (MAS) during his days in Raffles College when he enrolled in March 1939 at the age of 17.

December 9, Lee was informed to report for duty at the MAS Post at Raffles College. His cousin, Victor has been mobilized for active duty as member of the “E” Chinese Company of the Singapore Volunteer Force. He did not survive the war. Lee’s uncle Chua was also an Auxiliary Driver for the Passive Defence Service.

In fact, Lee’s father, Lee Chim Huk, was with the Singapore Volunteer Corps. At the age of 26, he was involved in the February 1915 Indian Mutiny of the 5th Light Infantry in Singapore. He was mobilized for active service but was only in static guard duty. He has a passion for ships and soldiers, being an ex volunteer, and would take Lee Kip Lee on the first Monday of each month to the Padang to watch the “Beating The Retreat” performed in the late afternoon by the band of the British Regiments garrison in Singapore. The ceremony had the band marching and counter-marching and ended with the lowering of the Union Jack and the bugles sounding the “Last Post”.

Lee Senior was fond of the Malay Regiment band – the members were fitted in songkok, white Malay baju and trousers, over which they wore a short sarong. He admired their precision marching and smart responses to commands.

Back to Lee’s encounter in the MAS, he was to be mobilized in December 1941 and to work 6- hour shifts providing transportation in an ambulance and first aid services. The daily scale of pay was: $1 for stretcher bearers, $1.50 for first-aiders, $1.65 for corporals and $2 for sergeants. The ambulance was a converted Singapore Traction Company (STC) omnibus. Lee’s sister, Alice, was a volunteer for the MAS post at the Kandang Kerbau Hospital.

The MAS post at Raffles College was split into groups – called combines, with a corporal in charge of a combine. The Raffles College was converted into a Military Hospital to take in convalescent cases from the Alexander Military Hospital.

By Feb 9 1942, Lee in his ambulance responding to a call at Bukit Panjang, noticed long lines of British and Australian stragglers making their way to the city, just hours after the Japanese army landed in Singapore from Kranji to Pasir Laba.

Feb 10, 1942, orders were given to nurses stationed at the Raffles College post to be evacuated to Kadang Kerbau Hospital. Raffles College will be taken over by the Indian Army as a casualty station and the MAS post would report for duty at the General Hospital in Sepoy Lines, Outram Road.

Instead of reporting to the MAS post, Lee decided to go home and his family decided to move back to No. 19 Amber Road from Cairnhill.

There, Lee met with men of the Manchester Regiment occupying a pillbox in front of the house, guarding the southern beaches of Singapore. They shared with Lee some tin food and informed him that the Japanese were not far away.

On 15 Feb 1942, Chinese New year’s Day, the British surrendered.

Extracted from "Amber Sands - A boyhood memoir" by Lee Kip Lee