Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) : Captain W R Reynolds, Merchant Navy

Places
Accession Number REL/12760
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Award
Physical description Silver
Location Main Bld: World War 2 Gallery: Gallery 3: Special Forces
Maker Unknown
Place made United Kingdom
Date made c 1943
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Description

Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil). Unnamed as issued.

History / Summary

William Roy Reynolds was born at Brighton in Victoria in 1892. He joined the Merchant Navy at a young age, after the death of his father. During the First World War he joined the Royal Naval Reserve, serving as a sub lieutenant, and later lieutenant in the Dover Patrol. He obtained his Master's Ticket in Scotland in 1918. He was given command of the vessel, Firmament, which was used to assist in salvage and harbour reconstruction at Zeebrugge in Belgium at the end of the war. After demobilisation he rejoined the Merchant Navy. Reynolds married Brigid O'Brien in Dover and had a son, William Slevin. Reynolds returned to the merchant navy and carried passengers and cargo through Asia and the Middle East. He later worked as a dredge master for tin mining companies in Borneo. He was in Kuala Lumpur in early 1942, working as a mining engineer, when the Japanese advanced. After blowing up a telegraph station, power station, telephone exchange and his own mining plant with some Royal Engineers, he went to Singapore where he helped blow up a naval base. Reynolds then acquired a small former Japanese fishing vessel, the Kofoku Maru, with which he helped evacuate Dutch civilians from the island of Bintan. He carried some of the evacuees in the Kofoku Maru, and towed the rest in another vessel, taking them to Rengat on the island of Sumatra. He continued rescuing evacuees, including those whose ships had been attacked by the Japanese. On 17 February 1942 Reynold's vessel rescued survivors from HM Ships Kuala, Tien Kwang and Kung Wo which had been attacked near Pompong Island. He then made his way to India, avoiding detection due to his scruffy Japanese fishing vessel. By this time he had renamed his ship 'British Privateer Suey Sin Fah'. The Suey Sin Fah was selected for a mission in 1943 to clandestinely enter Singapore from Australia and plant limpet mines on ships in Singapore Harbour. The mission was called 'Operation Jaywick' and the Suey Sin Fah was renamed the 'Krait'. Reynolds was to take part in Operation Jaywick, but due to engine problems the operation was postponed. Reynolds had earlier rejected an offer of a Royal Navy commission in India as a temporary lieutenant, so found himself work with American Intelligence. He was taken in the submarine, USS Tuna, back to the East Indies and on the night of 13/14 November 1943 was deposited off Laut Island, near Borneo. Reynolds mission was to collect intelligence while posing as a man wanting to acquire a junk loaded with rubber and quinine. He was to make his way south to Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia in the junk. Reynolds was captured by the Japanese and held at Kota Baru Village for eight days from 18 November. He was moved to Balikpapan in Borneo on 26 November and was imprisoned at Sentosa Barracks in a small building that was being used as a jail. On 10 February 1944 he was moved to Surabaya in Java. He was held there for six months in solitary confinement before the Japanese commander ordered the execution of some of the prisoners. Although he had not been tried, Reynolds was among the prisoners to be executed. On the morning of 8 August 1944 Reynolds and several Indonesia prisoners were taken from their cells and driven to the place of execution. Three European prisoners met them there. Some of the prisoners were killed by decapitation, while the rest were executed by firing squad. Reynolds was one of the latter. His body was buried in an unmarked grave, somewhere in Surabaya. He was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire Civil (MBE) for his work in rescuing evacuees from Singapore which was promulgated on 17 August 1943 in the London Gazette and was presented to his widow, Brigid Reynolds at Government House in Melbourne Victoria on 13 November 1946 by the Governor General, His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester.