John (Jim) Yorath was called up to serve in both WW1 and WW2 having. In 1941 he was stationed at Command HQ in Hong Kong at the time of the surrender to the Japanese.
He is distinguished by finding Admiral Chan Chak [3] and bringing him to safety.
This was on Christmas Day 1941 when the harbour was under heavy artillery fire. On that afternoon the surrender took place so the XDO then told him to get a message to the boats to escape. He then drove along the coast and shortly found a boat, but due to the Japanese guns firing, he rowed by the shoreline to keep mostly under cover.
He made it to an MTB where they welcomed him aboard due to his naval experience but would not leave until it was dark and until the Admiral was on board.
The Admiral’s boat crossed directly across the harbour and soon became under fire. The crew abandoned their boat and swam ashore. This was how the Admiral was lost.
Jim volunteered to find the Admiral when the first boat that looked for him came back unsuccessfully, along with the ADC who knew where he was left. They found him on top of a hill, and he later said “I think he must have gone up there to die – Chinese like having their graves on hillsides”
Lt Cdr Gerard Horace Gandy [2], the Senior Office of the flotilla was later to praise both of them for persevering in this ‘very essential and excellent piece of work’.
After this, Jim was posted to HMS Lanka, the British Navy base in Colombo, then HMS Highfliyer, the British naval base on the other side of the island at Trincomalee. From 1944 to the end of the war he was based in Cardiff as staff officer on HMS Lucifer.
MASB 27 was purchased by Lt Cmdr (retd.) John Humphrey Yorath. Its engines and fuel tanks were removed, and it was converted to a houseboat for static private use on the Sussex coast [8].
Jim then worked for Anning, Chadwick & Kiver, and following this became a Director of the Falkland Island Company [7] where he tried to breed mink.
Early life
Jim was born in 1898 and lived in the Ottershaw Park Mansion. He served as a Lieutenant [1] in WW1 in the Royal Navy, in HMS ‘Vidette’ [6]
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References
edit1. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8125660
2. https://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersG.html
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Chak
4. The book "Escape from Hong Kong" by Tim Luard
5. http://www.hongkongescape.org/Yorath.htm
6. https://www.ancestry.co.uk
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands_Company
8. https://d-dayrevisited.co.uk/projects/masb-27-restoration/