Plea to trace missing seamen
I am writing to enlist your readers' help in establishing the fate of seven locally-entered Chinese ratings.
They were serving aboard the British destroyer HMS Thanet when she was sunk by a superior Japanese naval force off eastern Malaya on January 27, 1942.
The Japanese Institute of Defence Studies records that 30 ratings from HMS Thanet were taken into captivity on January 28, 1942, at Endau.
But there is no record of the names of those who were captured.
The memorial registers in Britain give details of those ratings from HMS Thanet as missing presumed killed.
However there are no Chinese locally-entered ratings on these lists. Official records do show that one unnamed Chinese stoker escaped to Singapore.
The names of the missing Chinese ratings are - Au Pu (cook), Au Wong-po (steward), Fung Ching-mui (stoker), Tai Cheung-su (steward), Fun Shing (cook), Ah San-wong (steward), Ah Kee (stoker).
If any readers could possibly identify these men or give any information as to their survival or otherwise after the loss of HMS Thanet, would they please contact me at 10 Flambard Avenue, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 2NF, United Kingdom. Tel: 01202-482548.
G. W. DRUMMOND Christchurch, Dorset, United Kingdom
