Jerome blogs about a visit to The Pier, an abandoned villa in Lim Chu Kang overlooking the Straits of Johore. The Pier was the home of a lawyer, the late Howard Edmund Cashin.
The house, named as “The Pier” by the Cashins, served as Mr Cashin’s home for many years. Based on newspaper articles from the Straits Times, the Cashins, Howard and his wife Gillian, had moved in after the war, building a house over a pier that is significant from the perspective of the landings of the Japanese Imperial Army’s 5th Division along the north-western coastline in the dark days of February 1942 that led to the fall of Singapore. It was apparently at the pier that had stood there that the Japanese had out-fought the Australian 22nd Brigade who had put up a valiant fight inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy and established a foothold. In the battle that was fought over the night of the 7th and the 8th of February, some 360 Australian troops are thought to have lost their lives in the same plot of land based on the article. The Japanese themselves had later erected a war shrine in the plot of land – something that Mr Cashin reportedly had trouble finding workmen who were willing to demolish it after the war.
The Cashins also had a frequent celebrity visitor who would come for tea by boat – can you guess who it is? The answer can be found in Jerome’s post here.
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