Interview part 1

Recorded on May 17, 2005 and May 24, 2005 at Kingswood, South Australia.

Digital master available National Library of Australia;

Geoffrey Bingham talks about his parents, their background, his relatives, siblings and their life at Wahroonga, NSW; the centrality of church in his life, his certainty of God and his call to the ministry; his education; his father's reaction to him going into the Anglican ministry; leaving home and moving to Sydney to complete his education; attending Moore College to study Theology and his memories of his time there; his first meeting with Laurel Chapman (his future wife) in 1939; the war and his enlistment into the army; recruit training, army life; his embarkation for overseas service in January 1941; his Christian faith and army life; how he became known as the 'battling padre'; Malaya and his first impressions of Singapore and the beauty of Malaya; jungle warfare training; editing battalion magazines; how some of his articles came to be played on the ABC; the difference between the Australian and British views of the Japanese invasion of Malaya; recalls the signal technology of the time and the ferocity of Japanese attack; the withdrawal to Singapore; being wounded and captured as a Prisoner of War (POW) from a field hospital; the Changi prison camp, the loss of heart of Allied troops and the attempts at self-survival; the daily functioning of life in camp; the formation of a group for Bible studies. More information to follow.