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

Queen Street, Heart of Singapore War time

Rudy Mosbergen, 1956 Melborne

Rudy would have been 11 yrs or older during 1941. In 1935, he was sent to CHIJ Kindergarten at age 5, and enrolled in St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) through St Joseph Primary. By mid of 1941, the impending war was looming and Rudy’s parents had an air raid shelter erected in their house at Queen Street.


The Singapore Volunteer Corps were also mobilized in 1941. Various units of European, Eurasian and Chinese reported first at the Drill Hall along Beach Road and then were assigned garrison duties across the island. Rudy’s neighbor, Private Joe Grosse, a volunteer was called up but did not survive the war. Corporal Benet Nerva and Corporal Kenny Eber, whom were in the Cathedral choir with Rudy, was also mobilized but survived the war. The Singapore Volunteers did not engage the Japanese in Malaya but only saw action in Singapore.

Even during this period, every Sunday there was the Regimental Military Brass Band or the Singapore Police Force Brass Band playing at the Waterloo Bandstand which was located near the Raffles Museum. The Britannia Club behind Capitol Theatre was for OR in the British Army. Indian Officers and sepoys were not allowed in. British Army officers mess was located in Tanglin Barracks and in Fort Canning. There were also more restaurants serving western style food to cater for the newly arriving military forces. Names such as Mooi Chin along North Bridge Rd, Tiong Wah and Hock Loke Kee ( renamed Rendezvous Restaurant) along Bras Basah Rd were run mainly by Hainanese Chefs; serving steaks, salads, fried rice, sweet sour pork and sago puddings.

Shortly before December 1941, the public had undergone emergency drills for enemy air-raids. The population would have accustomed to the sound of wailing sirens including the “take cover” and “all clear” signals. Rudy was taught simple first aid exercise. Even the cadets at SJI and RI (Raffles Institutions) were taught weapons training without ammunitions. The ARP and MAS which was the air raid precaution units and medical auxiliary services were engaging the people in fire-fighting exercises and red cross activities.

At the time of the surrender of Singapore, Sunday 15th February 1942, Rudy, with his Dad and his Grandfather continued to attend the 8am High Mass at the Catholic Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The Church was practically empty with only two families in attendance with the celebrant, Fr Michael Bonamy. Just as the mass ended, they have to rush home as the air raid sounded. Bombs landed in SJI but missed the chapel and the Brothers’ quarters, one landed in front of the Cathedral and one landed on the town convent, killing Mrs Paulo and Mrs Nora De Souza who have taken refuge there. They must have been the last civilians killed in the Battle of Singapore.

Extracted from “In the grip of a crisis – The experiences of a teenager during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore 1942-45”, by Rudy Mosbergen.

Convent of Holy Infant Jesus, Singapore, Seremban, Penang

Mrs Maisie Duncan ( Mdm Maisie Prout )

August 1941 : Katong Convent Beach, Singapore


Wash of warm wavelets on the gritty sand

Bath-capped nin’s head bobbing up and down on the shallows

Muffled drumbeats rising to a crescendo

As khaki-clad, sinewy ‘drumsticks’ pound their way past the front

Fence and round the corners towards the boarders dormitory.

Its heavy-shuttered windows crash open

As if on cue to reveal a cloud of disembodied balloon faces

Shadowy against the interior gloom, straining towards the exterior

Sunlight and the jetstream of turbulence raised by the wild marching

Feet on the gravelled laneway below.

Hoots and laughter, wolf whistles and snatches of song

Greet the dramatic window-stage appearances of faces.

A current of excitement builds up between

The pale cloistered, curiousity-filled girls above

And the sunburnt, devil-may-care, slouch-hatted warriors below.

“Nice young ladies”, we were informed, “do not wave and call out to strange young men, especially not to soldiers” - Girl Boarders at The order of the Holy Infant Jesus (Les Dames de St Maur), Katong Beach Convent.

Extracted from : “A Cloistered war- behind the convent walls during the Japanese occupation” – by Maisie Duncan

Singapore Volunteer Rifles - Indiscreet Memories 1901-1904

The illustration cover of the book - From the looks of their uniform - Were they Sikhs of the Malay State Guides? or Perak Sikhs ( Local Constabulary )

Edwin A Brown (Indiscreet Memories: Through the eyes of a colonial Englishman)

See below extracted accounts of Edwin’s volunteer stint with the Singapore Volunteer Rifles

1901 Sunday 6 Jan – Singapore Volunteers Corps ( SVC) paraded to the Presbyterian Church for the passing of William Clarke – SGT SVA, who joined Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry in 2^nd Boer War- Died in Ladysmith on May 1900.

1901 – Arrival of 16^th Madras Light Infantry for garrison duties in Singapore

1901- Tue 22 Jan – Queen Victoria died. Perak Lancers; private bodyguard of Sultan of Perak. Edwin joined the SVR ( Singapore Volunteer Rifles ).

Socializing at the “Tingel Tangel” dance hall

1902 -Jan – SVE ( SIngapore Volunteer Engineers ) established to assist RE in the permanent defence of Singapore. The company was divided into Field & Electrical. Was given 100 rounds of ammo for free as incentive to join the SVE, with the next 100 rounds 50% priced.

1902- 3^rd & 13^th Madras Infantry arrived for garrison duties. No regular battalion of white troops because of the South African War.

1902- 5 Feb Wed; SVC went to camp – “The wet Camp”. Parade of SVC for King’s Birthday, only 6 SVR turned up which was held at the Race Course.

1903 – Chinese New Year – Singapore Volunteers Corps Camp held at the Keppel Golf Course

1903 – 30 March; 1^st Battalion Manchester’s arrived from South Africa for Garrison Duty. Presence of HMS Argonaut, HMS Goliath & HMS Glory

“The Bad Old Days” – An account of SVR shortcomings by Edwin to the Singapore Free Press

1904 – 13 March. The SVR had field firing parade at Pasir Panjang. No turn up. The governor directed that SVR to be discontinued and a Maxim gun section formed in lieu of SVR. The section has SVA ( Singapore Volunteer Artillery ) shoulder titles with SVA (M) and wore blue puttees.

This Maxim Company SVC was formed and lasted till the 1930’s as the Machine Gun Company SVC

1904 – 13 Dec: Manchester Regiment marched out to India, 1^st Battalion Nott’s & Derby Regiment (Sherwood Foresters) marched in for garrison duties – Residential Regiment will meet at junction of Grange Road & Irwell Bank Road

Change of Regiments: Arriving regiment will arrive at the docks, marched to Kim Seng Road. Then to the junction of Irwell Bank Road & Grange Road. Resident regiment will meet at junction of Grange Road & Irwell Bank Road. There, the resident regiment will welcome the arriving regiment and turn about, together, and the band will play all the way back to Tangling barracks

1904 June – the Chinese discarded their “Tow chang” or queues

1904 10 Nov – Malay Submarine Diving Section of Royal Engineers formed under Lta Ridout

Notes : 1901-21 Oct Rickshaw strike pg 72 , Volunteers Issues page 175 – 180 of Chapter 9 in 1903, Single seated rickshaw appeared 1^st time in 1904 page 195,

Remaining Rickshaws in Singapore, Penang, Kuala Lumpur

Rickshaw in the Penang State Museum, Penang

Rickshaw in the Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

Rickshaw in the Raffles Hotel Museum, Singapore

Rickshaws in the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, Penang ( google images )

Rickshaws in Singapore, Penang, Kuala lumpur

Colonials on a rickshaw-photograph taken in a studio in Singapore ( Raffles Hotel Museum)

Jinrikisha ( Rickshaw) Station at the junction of Maxwell Road, Singapore

A history board of the existence of Rickshaws

The Rickshaw Depot in Singapore ( 1903)

It was a poor old Chinaman

That dragged a rickshaw means,

He was not great, he was not wise,

Nor very, very clean,

But he was honester by far

Than many men I have seen.

And Oh! It was a soldier bold,

Who cursed the waning light,

And did beseech he might be blowed

Particularly tight

If that poor rickshaw man refused

To take him home that night.

The rickshaw man did do his best,

He limped, he hopped, he ran,

The soldier angrily did cursed

That poor old Chinaman;

“When will I reach Tanglin like this,

You d-----d old Chinaman?”

At last they reached the barracks far,

The Chinaman is glad,

But lo! The soldier gives no fare,

But swears at him like mad.

In fear the rickshaw man retreats,

His heart is very sad.

O! Intellectual Gentleman,

Please tell me if you can,

To drag a rickshaw or to steal

Which is the wisest plan?

- Singapore Jottings by D.I.N. 1885

After reading this poem in a book, I thought a spotlight on the Rickshaw man in Malaya and the Straits Settlements ( SS) would a befitting gesture to the poor migrants. The rickshaws were prevalent as a cheap mode of transport, but was phased out after the war – ironically with the introduction of the tri-shaws during the Japanese occupation of 1942-1945. Posted above is a history board of the rickshaws.