It was a leisurely, very pleasant life, and if he’d had Peggy with him, Jim could have stayed on this island for ever – but of course all good things must come to an end, and when it was time to leave for England, he knew he’d be amongst the first to board the ship.

Jumbo had gone off just after dawn that morning to the hospital to get more lotion to slather onto his raw skin – or at least that was the excuse he’d given Jim. However, Jim had noticed how he couldn’t quite meet his eye, and had seen the way he’d looked at the pretty little Welsh nurse with the long black hair and lilting voice, and suspected the enormous Scotsman was smitten. If so, then it would be interesting to see what came of this seemingly mutual attraction, for Jumbo had always sworn he’d never tie himself down, and was content to live alone in the glens of his Scottish island home where he tended the deer and managed the forest of the laird’s estate.

Jim had been about to leave the hut he shared with Jumbo and two other officers to wander down the beach for an early morning swim before breakfast when the Brigade Commander’s adjutant had forestalled him by announcing that their commanding officer had ordered a meeting of all officers in the recreation room within the hour. The young man had refused to answer their questions, but spirits soared, for it could only mean they were on their way home at last.

An hour later, the officers of South East Asia Command streamed out of the recreation hall in numbed silence, trying to make sense of it all before they had to inform the men under their command of the new orders. It had felt as though a huge cloud had suddenly blocked out the sun.

Operation Zipper was now Operation Jurist and would go ahead, but earlier than previously scheduled and on a much smaller scale, having transferred a proportion of its original strength to the new Operation Tiderace. Jim and Jumbo would not take part in Operation Jurist which was under the command of a British Naval Force tasked with liberating Malaya, but were due to join 60,000 infantry on Operation Tiderace’s vast convoy of battleships, cruisers, destroyers, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and escort carriers which would set sail from Trincomalee in Ceylon and Rangoon in Burma in ten days’ time. They would arrive in Singapore in time to witness the signing of Japan’s complete and unconditional surrender on board HMS Sussex.

Operation Tiderace had been swiftly organised immediately following the two atomic attacks on Japan, and would retake Singapore and reinforce the British Military Administration that was already being set up there. It was not known how long the mixed brigades of SEAC were expected to stay in Singapore, but their brigade commander had warned them they would definitely not be going home before Christmas – and could very well remain in Singapore well into March 1946.