Ronald George Morris MM BEM SOE
Ronald Morris was not a typical British Army soldier. A Welshman from the Rhondda mining region of South Wales, he chose, after five long years as a miner, to join the army and not to stay in the coal mines, in what would become, once war broke out, a reserved occupation. In 1938, a year before the declaration of war against Germany, the young nineteen-year-old signed up for some adventure. Altruistic by nature, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, swapping the valleys of South Wales for the far reaches of the Orient in Singapore.
When Japan entered the war, he was recruited to join the Special Operations Executive’s Orient Mission, and it was at the headquarters of SOE Orient’s 101 Special Training School in Singapore that he met fellow SOE operative, Ivan Lyon. The pair were part of an unorthodox group undertaking clandestine missions and training local stay-behind teams to carry out acts of sabotage, which were to be undertaken in the event of a British and Allied defeat in the defence of Singapore. They were also integral in establishing an escape route through Sumatra that would assist many in peril to reach freedom.
Ronald Morris was my father and was one of a hand-picked cadre of men who, following the fall of Singapore, exacted revenge by attacking enemy shipping in Singapore Harbour on a mission known as Operation Jaywick, led by Ivan Lyon. He and my father became close colleagues while helping hundreds of people escape from Singapore. This shared experience created a deep trust and camaraderie between the two men.
My father was the only person to survive the war who was with Lyon during the escape from Singapore and the inception of Operation Jaywick. The narrative of The Tiger’s Revenge has been largely reconstructed from wartime documents and the many conversations he and I had over the years.
Major Ronald George Morris MM BEM RAMC. Medals spanning a lifetime career as a professional soldier
Evan Morris MBE
Evan Morris surprisingly never did join the army. His father was a professional soldier his mother had been in the Military Police throughout WW2 and his grandfather was the Regimental Sergeant Major in the Boarder Regiment fighting during the Pashtun uprising on the Khyber Pass in the 1930s who would go on to become a Chelsea Pensioner. Evan who explains himself as having an “eclectic nature” had the benefit of travelling extensively being brought up in an army family and tradition. He attended an army school in Kuala Lumpur in the 1960s and went on to have a career spanning 35 years in the Fire Service serving as an operational firefighter and officer. Later in his career he specialised in strategic communication and community safety. In 2004 he was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11. Following his retirement in 2012 he was appointed as Chairman of the Cheshire Police watchdog. He became widely published writing extensively on the challenges facing policing and improving community safety and resilience.
Evan says “writing the Tiger’s Revenge was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my not uneventful life”. My upbringing undoubtedly saw me destined for a discipline service career. “I can’t help but think my father was disappointed that I never chose to join the army but having attended so many schools I wanted to settle and have stability bringing up a family”. In 2025 he and his wife Jackie were the guests of the Australian National Maritime Museum and were escorted on a tour of the recently renovated Krait. The following day he and his wife departed Sydney setting sail north on the Queen Elizabeth which followed the exact route sailed by Krait to Singapore harbour in 1943. Evan and his wife have been married for almost 50 years and have two sons and four grandsons.