DutyBound
By David Miller
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About this ebook
This is a true story of a young police inspector who finds himself out of a job during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore during World War II. He begins to fight back in his own way and is soon lured into joining an Allied spy ring. Working in disguise, 22-year-old Halford Boudewyn is tasked to smuggle classified documents out from a POW camp which could prevent another major invasion planned by the Imperial Japanese Army. This book was written based on the notes Boudewyn left behind shortly before his death. Now for the first time, his complete story can be told.
David Miller
David A. Miller is the vice president of Slingshot Group Coaching where he serves as lead trainer utilizing the IMPROVleadership coaching strategy with ministry leaders around the country. He has served as a pastor, speaker, teacher, and coach in diverse contexts, from thriving, multi-site churches to parachurch ministries.
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DutyBound - David Miller
DutyBound
A Singapore War Hero Remembered
David Miller
www.dmbooks.org
This book is based largely on the notes made by Halford Boudewyn, a retired senior police officer in Singapore shortly before his death in 1998. Some incidents were related by his wife Tess da Silva during a series of interviews conducted in early 2014. Relevant historical information drawn from various official sources has also been included to complete the story.
Published in 2014 by DMBOOKS
First edition eBook – Nov 19 2014
ISBN (paperback): 978-981-09-2389-1
ISBN (ebook): 978-981-09-2390-7
Please visit www.dmbooks.org or email admin@dmbooks.org for publishing or media enquiries.
Copyright © David Miller, 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Cover design by DMBOOKS
Product of Singapore
Halford was not a reckless or careless man, quite the contrary. So some years after the dust of the war had settled and I learnt of his wartime spy activities, I felt I needed to know what compelled this man, my husband, to be involved with such covert and life-threatening actions. He said: I am guessing that people in my situation then, when contacted to become a spy, do not spend much time thinking of heroics. If I did not do it, would they have been able to find someone better placed to carry out the missions? I felt it was my duty.
Tess Boudewyn
February 2015
Halford Boudewyn was a policeman and a war hero. His exploits during WWII are the stuff of legends. Fittingly, Boudewyn’s loyalty and courage, so wonderfully described by David Miller’s prose, continue to inspire his modern-day successors. Courage, loyalty, together with integrity and fairness, remain enduring values that today’s Singapore police officers swear to uphold.
Ng Joo Hee
Commissioner of Police
Singapore Police Force
November 2014
My brother-in-law, Halford Boudewyn, was a soft spoken and humble man. Although I lived with him and my sister for two years between 1946 and 1948, I knew nothing of his exploits during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. It was only when he was awarded the Colonial Police Medal for Meritorious Service that I learnt a little of what he had done during the war. It was typical of Halford to contribute fearlessly as a matter of duty and without fanfare.
Reg da Silva
Assistant Commissioner (Retired)
Singapore Police Force
February 2015
Table of Contents:
Chapter One – The Calling
Chapter Two – The Spectre of War
Chapter Three – A Fortress Torn
Chapter Four – The Agony of Defeat
Chapter Five – Hands of Fate
Chapter Six – Monitoring the Airwaves
Chapter Seven – The Jelly Press
Chapter Eight – Pretences
Chapter Nine – Into the Lion’s Den
Chapter Ten – Life in the Shadows
Chapter Eleven – Under the Wire
Chapter Twelve – Peace as Last
Epilogue
Other books by David Miller
1
The Calling
You want to join the police force? Do you realise what you would be getting yourself into? You would be throwing your life away!
he shouted back at me. Clearly Dad was now losing his patience.
The year was 1939 and I was a rebellious 19-year-old going head-to-head with my enraged father once again. He tried being reasonable, offering his insight learnt painfully from a lifetime of hard work but that did nothing to sway my mind or my heart. From as far back as I can recall, I had set my sights on becoming a police officer. It was a truly noble cause, one in which I could serve and lead with pride and with purpose. Perhaps my father was right in a way – I was young, naive and idealistic but I knew in the very soul of my being that this was the right choice for me – the only one I could make. I had come of age and the time had finally arrived for that decision to be made. Nothing, not even my father was going to stand in my way. I knew I would have to make many painful sacrifices to reach my goal in life and perhaps it would have to begin here with me disappointing my Dad.
He had been very much a central figure in my life ever since my mother passed away many years back and I hated the thought of disappointing him with the very first decision I was about to make as a man.
Look, I can pull some strings and get you promoted to a manager in your company but you have to stick with it, prove your worth and make something of yourself. Look at your brother. He has a good, respectable job in the Veterinary Department. It took years of hard work but look at him now. Look at your sister – she wanted to be a hairdresser. That too took years of struggle but she has established herself and –
And that is exactly what I intend to do. I will work hard and I will make it too,
I fired back with a little more venom in my voice than I had intended.
But Dad wasn’t about to back down so easily. Make it too? At the Straits Settlement Police Force you start at the very bottom as nothing more than a lowly constable,
he said gesticulating to the floor. Yes, they will train you well,
he said with a sneer, "… to wash toilets and to stand on dusty street corners all day long in the blazing sun directing traffic. Is this what you really want? Don’t you realise that you would be dragging the family’s name and reputation down with you?
"The senior