Having been away for the weekend at a 30 Squadron reunion (at its new home in Brize Norton), I find that we have been on a sea cruise! As always with PPRuNe one never knows what to expect next, for thanks to Petet I am fairly sure that my father must have sailed in WS14, eventually leaving Durban in DM2 for Singapore. As noted here:
WS (Winston Specials) Convoys in WW2 - 1941 Sailings
they arrived immediately prior to it falling to the Japanese. My understanding is, in the case of my Dad's ship at least, they therefore did not disembark but sailed instead to Java. It made little difference, for they were soon overrun anyway. What an utter shambles it must have all been.
An added irony, his job was shooting down aircraft as against his son's one of flying them!
I can imagine the splendour of your KD ceremonial in Bahia, Danny. Even with the passage of time some things change very little. Station parades at Changi in the 60s resembled a Boy Scouts Jamboree more than anything, with every shade from light to dark khaki to delight the eye!