Bergerie1 (your #9),
...But I have a question for Danny42C (I have admired your writing very much; thank you) my question is how do you think he and his crew must have felt? Not only for the reasons you have so eloquently described but because they must have felt terrible for having surrendered, even though they had good reason. After the war, when details emerged about how terribly so many prisoners had suffered, he must have felt so responsible - no satisfaction from having done glorious things, only terrible memories...
They must have felt awful, although they did the right thing. When further resistance is futile, and can only result in more (non-combatant) deaths, surrender is the only option. How do you think General Percival felt, when he had to surrender Singapore to a force half his size, the alternative being to condemn many of the population to die of thirst ? (the Japs had control of the freshwater supply).
After the surrender, your father had no responsibility for the sufferings of the prisoners. That shame lies fairly and squarely at Japan's door.
Now you might be interested in this quotation from my Post p.148 #2946 on "Pilot's Brevet":
...I am pleased you make mention of the Merchant Navy crews, for in many ways they were the forgotten men of WW2. In the RAF, even suffering the dreadful losses of Bomber Command at home, at least they had interludes of a few days of (relative) safety, and a little comfort, between operational sorties.
But to live a life where you are constantly in deadly peril, with the "Sword of Damocles" of a sudden torpedo always over your head, day and night, must have demanded a special kind of courage. Wearing no uniform (apart from IIRC, a little "MN" lapel badge) to earn public respect, often working in the most miserable conditions, they brought in the food, raw materials and the war supplies without which we could not survive - never mind fight a war. They were not richly paid, and deserve a little honour now...
You must be rightly proud of your father.
Danny42C