Saigon, Indo China

Captain Frost, my father, was posted to Indochina (Operation Masterdom) in September 1945 and with 200 others flew to Saigon to take the surrender of 70,000 Japanese troops while the rest of the Division went by sea. At this time he was then commanding 604 FS who were attached to HQ 20 (Indian Division).

As the Viet Cong under Ho Chi Min (who had been trained and armed by the Americans) started to cause problems, the Allies had to re-arm some Japanese soldiers to provide protection while the main force was still at sea. My father told me that he ended up driving around Saigon in his jeep with armed Japanese troops providing close protection  – which must have been a strange turn of events as he had been fighting against the Japanese in Burma just a few weeks before. A later mission saw Captain Frost in the Dutch Celebes to help resolve a mutiny of Dutch troops.