Colin Juttner was born in 1910 at Tanunda in South Australia. He was educated at St Peter’s College, Adelaide and John Taylor was born in Sydney in 1914. He was educated in Knox Grammar School, Wahroonga and in 1934 commenced his medical studies at Sydney University. Following graduation he worked as a resident medical officer at Sydney Hospital. In July 1940 he enlisted in the AIF as a Medical Officer with the rank of Captain. He was allocated to the 2/30 Battalion.

John's unit was deployed into Malaya in 1941 and was involved in the defensive battles as the Allies were driven into Singapore. The Medical Officers distinguished themselves in the many phases of the Malayan Campaign. However only two were awarded the Military Cross for outstanding bravery. One was Captain Victor Brand Medical Officer 2/29 Battalion and the other Captain John Taylor. His citation reads -

“Captain J.L.Taylor, NX 70453, Army, Medical Officer, to the 2/30 Battalion was honoured for the courageous manner in which he moved around the battlefield under all conditions of fire, day and night, and the coolness with which he performed his duties, excited the admiration of all ranks. By his courage and devotion to duty, he inspired all ranks with confidence, and his complete disregard for his personal safety.”

Later he was one of ten Medical Officers sent to support 3,600 Australian POWs who formed part of the 7,000 strong "F" Force. This was a Force which it is generally acknowledged had the hardest time. The death rate amongst the British was 59% and amongst the Australians was 29%. “F” Force was force-marched to northern Thailand a distance of 300 Kms over 18 nights by the Japanese. The Medical and Dental officers, Medical Orderlies & Chaplains were courageous in their support of the POWs during the march and subsequently over the 7-8 months they were in the work camps.

There are many tributes to Captain John Taylor's performance whilst a POW. However, a personal letter from Major Bruce Hunt (de facto Senior Australian Medical Officer "F" Force) to John Taylor's father dated 26 August 1945 (just 11 days after the Japanese capitulation) really encapsulates it all.-

"You will, I am sure, receive many messages of congratulations on the excellent work done by your son John in Malaya and Thailand during the past four years. May I add one more to the number

I first got to know John when he was attached to my medical wards in Roberts Hospital, Changi, early in 1942, not long after our captivity commenced. He came to me with an excellent reputation as one of the outstanding R.M. 0 ' s of the 8th Division, not only quite fearless in action, but also singularly devoted at all times to the interests of his sick. While he was with me he fully lived up to his high reputation; he worked long, conscientiously and efficiently and with that little touch of practical sympathy which is the hall-mark of the man for whom Medicine is a real vocation. I was very sorry when he left me for a working party camp in Singapore, not only because I missed his valuable assistance, but also because I had developed a warm regard for his attractive personality.

The next time we came together was on "F" Force, that ill-fated expedition of which you have heard, and will hear many gruesome descriptions. During the course of twenty years of professional life and of eight years in two A.I.F's, I have never known. circumstances in which the real qualities of a man became more transparently obvious than those pertaining in Thailand from April 1943 to April 1944. There was first the long and exhausting march of 200 miles along rough tracks through monsoon-smitten jungle, with little rest, no shelter, incessant rain and the constant burden of helping and succouring the steadily increasing number of the sick. John earned golden opinions from the members of his party, and confirmed the already very high place he held in the esteem of his Battalion.

Then there was the long dreary business of the working camps - trying to keep men alive under circumstances of very great difficulty, with cholera, dysentery, malaria and beri-beri raging simultaneously, very few drugs and very little skilled nursing assistance. As S.M.O. of Shimo Songkurai camp, my job of endeavouring to cope with sometimes as many as 1450 hospital patients with only three M. O's to help me, would have been quite impossible had these three ~ Lloyd Cahill, Frank Cahill and John - not been men of high personal fortitude. The A.I.F. owes these three a very great debt for the work they did and the lives they saved - a debt which is frankly and openly acknowledged.

John kept up his excellent work throughout the Thailand affair, and has done an excellent job ever since, first as R.M.O. and latterly as S.M.O. of a working camp in Johore. Throughout his service he has worked quite irrespective of personal ill health, the only thing that mattered was the well-being of his patients. He is a grand fellow and a really good doctor. He will be very successful in his profession and he will fully deserve this success. I count myself lucky to have known him and to have had his invaluable assistance in my most difficult jobs."

Post War John went to London where he was successful in the July 1949 examinations for membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologistss. Whilst in London John married Barbara, who he had known in pre war days. Co-incidentally, Lloyd Cahill was present at the wedding. Subsequently, it was actually Bruce Hunt (his fellow POW Medical Officer) who enticed John to come to Western Australia where he achieved high recognition in obstetrics and gynaecology. John had an untimely death in 1966 at the age of 52.

Presented by Lt. Col. Peter Winstanley OAM RFD (Retired) JP with the assistance of Mrs. Elizabeth Black (step daughter of John) and Dr Don Gutteridge.