A British Engineer for Western Telegraph & Cable & Wireless
for 40 years based in locations around the world, Cecil Harold
Riviere was a first-hand witness to the fall of Singapore to the
Japanese army in World War 2. He survived a dramatic escape on HMS
Grasshopper, which was bombed & sank. He undertook a
challenging journey to Sumatra, across the South China Sea, up the
torrid Inderagiri River, through dense jungle, over mountains and
into Padang, where he was captured by the Japanese. He endured the
most harrowing three and a half years in internment. His
determination to keep busy and his skills at mending and building
things for others in the camp earnt him the nickname "Able &
Tireless" by his fellow prisoners. Weighing little more than seven
stone on his release from captivity he was one of the lucky few to
survive the horrors of a Japanese civilian internment camp. In his
99 years, Cecil was a chorister in Westminster Abbey, took a mayday
call from the Titanic in 1912, and travelled the world in the days
before travel was commonplace. He was based in Porthcurno in
Cornwall, Madeira, Cape Verde Islands, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina,
Malta and Singapore, where he helped to keep global communications
open during World Wars 1 and 2. He had a zest for life, a passion
for building and mending clocks, and a lifelong love of golf. This
is his story.
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