British Army in Malaya

The British Army in Malaya with a history of British Military Hospital Kluang and photos of the BMH and surrounding areas like Terendak Camp


The British Military Hospital Kluang was part of the Panang Hospitals in the Cameron Highlands which supported the Far Eastern Land Forces (FARELF) British Army in Malaya.

BMH Kluang

The diary entry of Colonel PG Bennett recalls Christmas Day 1957 at BMH Kluang:

After morning church service the Garrison Commander's wife, Mrs Richardson, visited all the wards and wished each patient Happy Christmas. She also helped to choose the best decorated ward and presented the cup to the winner.



These photos, from the collection of Colonel Bennett, shows Christmas Dinner at the QARANC Officers Mess:








Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.






My PTSD assistance dog, Lynne, and I have written a book about how she helps me with my military Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and depression. I talk about my time in the QAs and the coping strategies I now use to be in my best health.

Along the way, I have had help from various military charities, such as Help for Heroes and The Not Forgotten Association and royalties from this book will go to them and other charities like Bravehound, who paired me with my four-legged best friend.

I talk openly about the death of my son by suicide and the help I got from psychotherapy and counselling and grief charities like The Compassionate Friends.

The author, Damien Lewis, said of Lynne:

"A powerful account of what one dog means to one man on his road to recovery. Both heart-warming and life-affirming. Bravo Chris and Lynne. Bravo Bravehound."

Download.

Buy the Paperback.



This beautiful QARANC Poppy Pin Badge is available from the Royal British Legion Poppy Shop.




For those searching military records, for information on a former nurse of the QAIMNS, QARANC, Royal Red Cross, VAD and other nursing organisations or other military Corps and Regiments, please try Genes Reunited where you can search for ancestors from military records, census, birth, marriages and death certificates as well as over 673 million family trees. At GenesReunited it is free to build your family tree online and is one of the quickest and easiest ways to discover your family history and accessing army service records.

More Information.




Another genealogy website which gives you access to military records and allows you to build a family tree is Find My Past which has a free trial.






QARANC member Mary Elizabeth Allen was posted there and has kindly shared her photographs and memories.




I was a TA QA from 1966 to 1967 in Manchester. I met my husband, John, in May 1967, the day the Israeli Six Day War started (this has been a joke in our family ever since!), at the DKMH Catterick where he was serving with the RAMC on my first 'camp'. We married in September 1967.





John was posted to BMH Kluang in Johore, Malaysia four days later with me following after six weeks. We lived in an army 'hiring' at 89 Jalan Batu Pahat, KIuang before moving into an army quarter across the road at 56 Jalan Batu Pahat. Our oldest son, Paul, was born in BMH Kluang.







Former Royal Air Force Regiment Gunner Jason Harper witnesses a foreign jet fly over his Aberdeenshire home. It is spilling a strange yellow smoke. Minutes later, his wife, Pippa, telephones him, shouting that she needs him. They then get cut off. He sets straight out, unprepared for the nightmare that unfolds during his journey. Everyone seems to want to kill him.

Along the way, he pairs up with fellow survivor Imogen. But she enjoys killing the living dead far too much. Will she kill Jason in her blood thirst? Or will she hinder his journey through this zombie filled dystopian landscape to find his pregnant wife?

The Fence is the first in this series of post-apocalyptic military survival thrillers from the torturous mind of former British army nurse, now horror and science fiction novel writer, C.G. Buswell.

Download Now.

Buy the Paperback.


If you would like to contribute to this page, suggest changes or inclusions to this website or would like to send me a photograph then please e-mail me.




Below is QARANC Nursing Sister Captain Cathy Tan QARANC who is from Malaysia. She joined the QAs in February 1964, after midwife and theatre sister training in the UK. She also served in Catterick and BMH Hannover. She returned home to Malaysia after 2 years and then re-joined the QA's on a second 2-year short service commission engagement, first in Singapore and then Kluang. She wed Terry O'Connor who was with 75 Aircraft Workshop REME in Kluang on 24 August 1968. In those days, women had to leave the Army on getting married. She subsequently did midwifery 3, 4, 5 and 6.





The QA midwife below is Major Anne Meaden.

Terendak Camp

The road we lived in housed many nationalities - Malay, Chinese, Tamil, British, Gurkhas - and it was a fantastic, exotic time in my life (I was only 18). We were posted to the Commonwealth Military Hospital at Terendak Camp, near Malacca in 1968 where we were based with Australian and New Zealand army personnel. Terendak was a base where the Aussies and Kiwis were sent out to Vietnam from I believe. We were living in Terendak when there were riots in Kuala Lumpur after the General Election in 1968 and 1969. Families were confined to the garrison - we actually lived on Hang Tuah Estate which was just outside the garrison gates so were freer to move around although armed soldiers in land rovers patrolled the area for our protection.









Here is the entrance to 16 Field Ambulance Terendak Camp, Malacca.





The Beach Club Terendak Malacca:




We loved the tropics but there were lots of dangers - poisonous snakes, scorpions, disease and ailments of various kinds, such as monsoon blisters and prickly heat. My husband caught dengue fever and was very ill and, even though one lady died of the illness and several were admitted to hospital, he was sent home for me to nurse him - can you imagine! I was only 19 with a young baby and no experience of tropical diseases. It was very frightening, especially when John's temperature swung between high fever and cold shakes!

This is John wearing his RAMC whites uniform:





We've got lots of happy memories of our time in Malaysia and would love to go back but, alas, can't afford to do so. Our eldest son has always wanted to visit the place he was born. I looked it up on the Internet and it is unrecognisable! Jalan Batu Pahat appears to be a motorway and Kluang is now a university town with lots of industry. Terendak, which was taken over by the Malay Federal Army when it closed, appears to be a housing estate.

In 1969 Mary's family were posted to BMH Rinteln where her story continues. Or view more of her pictures below:

MT Lambak:





Mosque Kluang Malaysia:





Kluang town centre:













The football pitch at BMH Kluang Malaysia:





New Year's Day football match:





Where the CSM enjoyed being tied down with army webbing and netting!





Jalan Batu Pahat Kluang:





R&R at Cameron Highlands Malaysia:





On the photographs of QARANC army nurses and hospitals page is an Xmas card sent from BMH Kluang.

If you would like to contribute any info, photographs or share your memories then please contact me.








Free Book.
The death of the Brotherhood will be avenged.
RAF gunner Jason Harper and a team of Special Air Service operators are enraged after the death of their brothers by a terrorist drone strike. They fly into south-eastern Yemen on a Black-op mission to gather intelligence and avenge the death of their comrades.
Can they infiltrate the Al-Queda insurgents' camp, stay undetected, and call down their own drone missile strike and get home safely?
Will they all survive to fight another day?
Operation Wrath is a free, fast-paced adventure prequel to the non-stop action The Fence series by military veteran author C.G. Buswell.
Download for free on any device and read today.





This website is not affiliated or endorsed by The Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) or the Ministry of Defence.

Mobile Version   |   Desktop Version