Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

John Harold Henry Coombes

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(1906–1978) was the first principal of Cadet College Petaro, one of the earliest public schools built in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

in 1957. During his military career, he served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and fought the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

on the Malayan front.

Education and early life

Coombes was born on 28 December 1906. His father was a fisherman in Guernsey, the second largest of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. His mother died in 1918, when he was 12 years old. As a teenager, he secured a scholarship to

Elizabeth College, Guernsey The Royal College of Elizabeth, better known as Elizabeth College, is a co-educational independent school in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. One of the earliest members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), it is a public school ...

as a day scholar. At college, he was captain of athletics and gained colours for football and hockey. He also played cricket and took part in shooting, besides being a school prefect and sergeant in the Officers Training Corps from 1918 to 1924. Coombes then won a scholarship to

Pembroke College, Oxford University Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named afte ...

in Mathematics (1924–28). Excelling in sports once again, he gained college colours for hockey, football, and cricket, and was the Oxfordshire hockey captain from 1926 to 1928. At the same time, he was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1st Battalion of the

Royal Guernsey Light Infantry The Royal Guernsey Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army that was formed from the Royal Guernsey Militia in 1916 to serve in World War I. They fought as part of the British 29th Division. Of the 2,280 men, most of whom came ...

. There was conscription in Guernsey, and he did his two-month annual training during his vacations. He was a member of the

British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility located ...

when Britain occupied Germany after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

until 1931. In 1928, he contracted double pneumonia and was unable to sit for the Degree Examination. Instead of returning for a fifth year at Oxford, he took a job as an inspector of cotton plantations in the Sudan, where he stayed from 1928 to 1932. There he learnt to read and write Arabic and decided to join the Sudan Civil Service. He also became a volunteer officer in the Sudan Defence Force. In 1935, while teaching part-time, he obtained his BA degree from

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and became married to Alice. He gained his MA in 1939 while working as senior geography master, with French as his second subject, at a public school.

World War II

Coombes was called up in August 1939 and went to France with the advance party of the British Expeditionary Force as a captain in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. He was later transferred to the R.A.F. He was captured at Dunkirk but later escaped to England and remained with the 4th Squadron till 1941. In late 1941, Coombes was posted to command 330 Artillery Battery of 137 Field Regiment and sent to join the 11th Indian Division in Malaya. His regiment reached there in time to be in the first Indian battle against the Japanese at Jitra on the Siamese (Thai) border. Capt. Coombes's last battery position was on the beach at Singapore when this "Gibraltar of the East" fell to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. He remained a prisoner of war till August 1945.

Prisoner of war

Coombes recorded his memoirs as a prisoner of war in his book ''Banpong Express'', which provides a vivid narrative of the Malayan Campaign and of life as a prisoner of war under the "death shadow" of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. This book was written in the prisoner of war camp at Nangpladuk (Siam). It was hidden in the lining of a one-gallon thermos container which, being in use in the cook house, was never detected by the Japanese. His regiment fought for nine weeks and suffered in a lost cause. Out of the original 700 who came to Malaya, three Officers, including the C.O., and 28 men were killed in action and 184 died a miserable death as prisoners of war. In December 1946, Coombes was Mentioned in Despatches in recognition of his conduct in this campaign. In the concluding paragraph of ''Banpong Express'', Coombes writes "Those of us who remained have experienced the bitterness of defeat and the humiliation of captivity under conditions as macabre as any in the history of warfare. We were indeed lucky that the end came when it did. Now we can live again and hope that out of our experiences we may fashion a philosophy of life dynamic enough to be effective in a war-weary world. It must not happen again".

Post World War II

Coombes returned to the UK in May 1947 and wanted to join the Royal Artillery in the Regular Army. He was turned down due to his age, so he took down his lieutenant colonel's badge of rank and instead joined the Royal Army Education Corps as a captain on a short service commission. In 1949, he passed the selection tests and at last became a regular soldier, being immediately promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1951 he was promoted to the rank of full colonel and appointed as chief education officer, Anti-Aircraft Command. His approach to education was based on his experience of how a real fighting servicemen lived and so he was welcomed everywhere. In 1954, he went to Singapore as chief education officer, Far East. His province extended over Borneo, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Nepal, and Malaya, and with SEATO from Australia and New Zealand to the Philippines. He was producing daily English newspapers in Korean, Malay, and Gurkhali in Malaya and in Hong Kong. He had also started British, Gurkhali, and Malay children's schools. His contribution in the fields of education, language training and broadcasting was outstanding and he recalled this period as being a "Wonderfully satisfying job". In recognition of this work, he was awarded the

C.B.E. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

End of army career

In 1956, while driving a car in Singapore, Coombes ran into a pedestrian, who was killed. Coombes was found guilty of grossly negligent driving and was sentenced by a Court of Appeal in 1957 to six months imprisonment in Changi jail, the same place where he had been held as a prisoner of war. The incident ended his army career as he immediately resigned his commission following his conviction. He was about to be further promoted, and privately he mused whether, with such high military rank, he might have been in line for the office of lieutenant-governor, the British Monarch's representative, in his home State of Guernsey. Instead, this incident cost him dearly and changed the course of his subsequent life.

Cadet College Petaro

Coombes returned to the UK and saw the Pakistan Government advertisement in the ''Times'' for the position of Principal, Cadet College, Mirpur Khas. He applied and told the Interview Board the truth about why he left the army. He writes, "I was accepted and came to Pakistan to show the world that Coombes was not an ordinary convict. I decided to produce a good Cadet College and set about the task with no preconceived ideas, except to produce young men who were more concerned with the Code of Honour and being sympathetic human beings than to obtain First Divisions. I was not concerned about academic results simply but about 'Real Men'. I could afford to be independent and do as I pleased since if they put me in prison, it would not be the first time." When asked about the raw stuff from which he wanted to produce such "Real Men". He replied, "I like the young Pakistani boys. I was impressed by the charm of most boys, their affection for their families and their desire to please. I hope Pakistan will get some outstanding leaders from Petaro. I believe that the future generation of Pakistan will stand or fall by their belief in the Code of Honour".See the article "Col. Coombes – A Legend", by Cdre. Mirza Ashfaque Beg published in the book "Colonel J.H.H. Coombes – First Principal of Cadet College Petaro", edited by Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui, 2007, page 12 Coombes thus became the first full-time principal of Cadet College, Mirpur Khas, on 20 March 1958. The college was renamed as Cadet College Petaro in 1959 when it moved to its new campus at Petaro. He remained in this position until his retirement in the summer of 1965. Coombes is regarded as the real father of this institution. By his sheer hard work, he created those traditions have been carried on by all subsequent college principals. During his early days at Petaro, Coombes lost his lifelong partner Alice who died in the UK. He remained a widower for the rest of his days at Petaro.

Later life

After his retirement as principal, Coombes returned to the UK and settled at Sellindge in Kent. His love for Cadet College Petaro was such that he gave the name Petaro to his home and took every opportunity to invite Petarians – ex-cadets graduates of the college – to his UK home. He married again in 1974, his second wife being Elsie. Coombes returned along with Elsie to Pakistan in 1971 to visit Cadet College Petaro where he was given a grand reception and spent several days. He left Pakistan for the last time with tears in his eyes. His last post was that of deputy director of education for the Anglican Diocese of Southwark serving south London, where he worked between 1968 and 1974. Secretaries in his office there struggled to interpret his minute handwriting, which he attributed to those years when he had kept a hidden journal as a POW under the Japanese. After suffering a stroke, he was cared for by Elsie at his home in Sellindge, Kent. He died on 18 February 1978. Coombes is eulogised at virtually every major occasion held at Cadet College Petaro. He is considered to be a legend and a great hero for the cause of education in Pakistan.

Footnotes

Publications

*Coombes wrote his memoirs entitled ''Banpong Express – Being an account of the Malayan Campaign, with some subsequent experiences as a guest of the Imperial Japanese Army''. It was published in March 1948 in the UK but is now out of print. * ''Colonel J.H.H. Coombes – First Principal of Cadet College Petaro'', edited by Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui, Islamabad, 2007. This book was published on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Cadet College Petaro in February 2007. It includes the complete text of ''Banpong Express'' in addition to articles about Coombes written by his colleagues and his students.

External links

Cadet College Petaro websitePetarian Foundation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coombes, John Harold 1906 births 1978 deaths Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Heads of schools in Pakistan British expatriate academics in Pakistan Burma Railway prisoners Cadet College Petaro Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Guernsey people Guernsey expatriates in Pakistan People educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey People from Sellindge British Army personnel of World War II Royal Guernsey Light Infantry officers Royal Artillery officers British World War II prisoners of war Royal Air Force personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Japan World War II prisoners of war held by Germany British escapees Royal Army Educational Corps officers