Singapore and Malaysia have been on my bucket list of places I MUST visit before I die for the past 20 years or more. One day I'll get there!!!
I went for work (export sales of agricultural products) on a trip to Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Singapore, KL, Kaohsiung and Taipei. The train between the latter two reached over 280 kph and you could have built a house of cards on the table in front of you, it was that smooth. In Hong Kong I spent a couple of hours at the cemetery visiting the Canadian, British and other CW graves - it's not all grunts either, bu includes many officers, such as Brigadier John Lawson, the highest-ranking Canadian soldier KIA in WW2.
At Singapore there's not a lot left of its WW2 past.
Fort Siloso and the
Battle Box are pretty much it. The
Johore Battery for example is a replica site, mostly hidden by the airport and worth skipping. In Hong Kong I strongly recommend a visit to the
Museum of Coastal Defence. This was the site of one of the last stands against the Japanese and you can see the bullet and shrapnel holes in the walls and tunnels. In Singapore attended a wonderful service at
St Andrew's Cathedral and the priest in his sermon reminded us that in this very spot the Japanese bayoneted wounded soldiers who had taken refuge.
On these business or vacation trips I always make time to visit the former British colonial military sites. I've been to
Fort St. Catherine in Bermuda and
Brimstone Hill Fortress in St. Kitts. Here in
Canada I've visited nearly every fort I can easily reach, including
Citadel Hill in Nova Scotia,
Quebec Citadel,
Fort Henry, ON,
Fort George, ON,
Fort Erie, ON,
Fort Beauséjour, NB,
Fort Rodd Hill, BC and of course here in Toronto where I live,
Fort York. Three on my yet to do bucket list include,
Fort Malden, ON,
Fort Wellington, ON and most of all,
Fort Prince of Wales in Manitoba, located on the same latitude as John o' Groats in Scotland and perhaps the British Empire's most northern fort.
Anyway, I can go on, lol. But to bring us back to the P-40.....
Curtiss Kittyhawk I | Ingenium The P-40 operated nearby (by our Canadian standards) or 1,007 km from Fort Prince of Wales, serving with No. 2 Training Command at Winnipeg in June 1945. Some good pics of the P-40 flying over central and western Canada here
Harold A. Skaarup Web page
Flying over the Rockies in BC and Alberta. Looks like the sixth aircraft forgot something at base and is going back.