Guestbook

Danielle (Brighton) , I am happy to email you the documents I have about your Grandad.

Thanks so much for the information you have provided.
I now have plenty of information to look up due to the time you have taken to look into  my beloved  Uncle.
I am extremely grateful as I knew nothing of where he had been during the war.
Many Thanks
Hazel

Hazel, re Percy Arthur Coates. Unfortunately I have found very little about your Uncle. Listed as living at Grafton, Beckford, Nr Tewkesbury. 28/76 Battery of the 9th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, service number 974712. This regiment was in Madagascar in 1942 (when the Japanese declared war in Asia), and they then moved to Ahmednagar, Hazaribagh and Ranchi in India during 1943. In November 1943 as part of the Chindit forces they were at Tamu in Burma and in the Kabaw Valley. I cannot find any trace to show him as a POW, he does not seem to have been released from Rangoon Jail when other POWs were liberated. He would have earned his Burma Star, to wear with honour.

Hi,
I would be really grateful for any information on my Uncle, Percy Arthur Coates who lived near Tewkesbury dob  03 10 1918.
I know that he was a POW and that he was a member of the Burma Star. I spend hours scouring POW photos in the hope that I can find a picture of him to find out where he may have been stationed.
It would be great if there was any information on where he was located and anything that could help me understand some of what he went through during the war.
Any information at all will be very gratefully received.
Many Thanks

Looking for any relatives of Lt James W Hugo QM RA

Hi Mike,
Thank you so much for all the information you managed to find, I am truly amazed and so grateful to you! You mentioned using paper trails, is this something I am allowed access too or screen shots of as I would love to incorporate them to the scrap book I"m making?
Kind regards
Danielle

Danielle, ref. LAC Edgar Cressey. He sailed from Java on 26.09.1943 as part of Java Party 17A, onboard the hellship Makassar Maru. This arrived in Singapore on 01.10.1943 and he went into Changi Camp. He remained in this camp for 3 weeks and then sailed on 21.10.1943 onboard the Matsue Maru. This docked at Saigon, Vietnam on 21.10.1943 and then Takao, Formosa on 06.11.1943, before finally arriving at Moji, Japan on 15.11.1943. As you already know, he then went to Wakayama and later to Ikuno which was numbered initially as Osaka 19B, and later renumbered as Osaka 4B, where he worked down a copper mine. Upon liberation he was shipped to Okinawa and then onto Manila, Philippines. On 25.09.1945 he became passenger 178 on the aircraft carrier HMS Implacable and sailed for Vancouver, Canada via Hawaii. The paperwork trail stops there, but others from the same ship are known to have journeyed across Canada by train for 5 days to either Halifax or New York. His final ship would have been either Ile de France, Queen Elizabeth or Queen Mary.
The most likely would be Ile de France from Halifax, arriving Southampton on 31.10.1945.

Hi, I was wondering if you have any articles or information relating to my Grandad Edgar Willis Cressey. He was an RAF LAC and was captured on the 9.3.1942 in Java. I believe he was then transfered to Wakayama Camp and then Ikuno Camp. His service number was 975027. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Thank you so much for the information. I have also had someone email me  who obviously reads this site. They have told me the information below 

Victor was a Driver in 2nd Cambridgeshire regiment and was captured when Singapore fell. Throughout his incarceration he was part of the staff of the British POW hospital which was first in Roberts Barracks, then Selerang Barracks and finally moved to Kranji in May 1944. 
There is a page from a warrant officer’s records that shows Victor as working in the gardens at Kranji hospital but he would probably have done all manner of jobs, including burying the dead. 

I can’t thank everyone enough for helpin* me understand what happened to him. 

Hi Sarah. Ref. Private Victor Littlewood, 2nd Battalian Cambridgeshire Regiment. Address shown as Providence House, Augusta Street, Sheringham, Norfolk. He sailed from Gourock on 31st October 1941 on the Polish ship M V Sobieski, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. From here they transferred to the USS Mount Vernon, and travelled via Capetown and Mombasa. Whilst docked at Capetown, the Japanese entered the war by attacking Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, and landing troops in Malaya. The ship was diverted to assist the protection of Singapore, and USS Mount Vernon docked there on January 13th 1942. The men were immediately sent north to Batu Pahat in north Johore, where they encountered fierce fighting. Eventually the regiment became very fragmented and the men were virtually made to make their own retreat in small groups back to Singapore. Although they only had one month of fighting before the surrender on February 15th, they experienced some fierce action.
It would appear that your Granddad spent the rest of the war in Singapore, first at Roberts Hospital and later at Kranji Hospital. I have not been able to establish whether this was as a patient or whether he became a medical orderly. Whichever the scenario, this probably explains why he was never sent to the Burma Railroad or to the mines of Japan or Taiwan etc.

Hi I had an e-mail to say that something had be posted about my granddad. Victor William Littlewood but I can’t find anything  here. 

I am looking for information on my Grand-father Victor William Littlewood - 5823841. I know he was a prisoner of war in Singapore in 1942 and made it home after the war but that is all I know. He died without us meeting and I ould like to understand what he went through.

Hi Lesley. I dont actually have Ancestry but can see all the files you relate to. Numbers 1 and 2 are confirming the death. No. 3 is causing the confusion. The survivors of the Rakuyo Maru are being interrogated and in the same file is a complete list of all the men who are still recorded as Missing. They are obviously hoping a survivor may be able to identify the whereabouts of a Missing man. I can also see the entry for P Rocan. If you enlarge the page you can see this should be P Regan, so it refers to the same person and has merely been transcribed wrongly. Have you also seen the death detail on the Commonwealth War Graves website for Patrick Regan dated 05.02.1942. . .https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2142621/PATRICK%20REGAN/ r

P Regan service number 1630745 appears 3 times
in the military section of Ancestry. Each time the description is different
1 Appears in the Far East death index
2 Appears as a POW 2181 Pilot roll 5.2 42
3 Appears as on the list from Malay and Netherlands East Indies as
" from interrogation of survivors f rom
Rakuyo Maru" sank 12/09/44
There is also an entry for a P Rocan same service number
number believed killed in the attack on the Empress of Asia. I can understand the confusion over the PRegan name but not the service number

Hi Lesley. This seems confusing. 1630745 seems to belong to Patrick Regan, and he was Missing/ Presumed killed on the Empress of Asia as it was bombed approaching Singapore on 05.02.1942. I cannot see any Peter Regan in files, or where it could be connected to the Rakuyo Maru sinking in 1944. Always glad to be corrected if you have more information though.

I am looking for any information on Peter Regan
born 1920 in Newcastle
service number 1630745 RAOC 18th division
possibly on board Rakuyo Maru when it sank

I am looking for information about my uncle Thomas Stamp
A Chindit and prisoner of war. He was born in Southwick Sunderland.
Hi wife was Irene born Holcroft.

SHIRLEY BARNES
I"m sorry for the late response but it was only today I have seen your reply, if you still want me to get in touch please let me know? My apologies once again David

thank you very much, had been struggling to find a papertrail for that period myself.

I’m trying to locate any information on William scott gray he’s the man who brought the duck back home it’s him , I’ve room to believe he is my mums father  we would live for someone to help us in our search 

Hi Michael, re Signalman Morris Crossfield. A difficult one to track as there is virtually no paperwork trail as I dont think he was never classified as a Prisoner of War. He appears to have escaped capture (or been left for dead) on the day of surrender, so he has no Japanese Index Card and is not listed in the POW Master File.
However, I can see 2 entries for him. In the Royal Corps of Signals Pilot Roll he is listed as Missing.
In the Regimental File created at Changi he is once again marked as Missing but there are additional remarks of Last seen 15.02.42 at junction of Serangoon Road… 17.02.42 still missing… Later message (could be post war) ….. Reported safe in UK by Cpl. Mitchell, 11th Division…..

Michael I will post again as I forgot this page does not like Quotation Marks or Apostrophe.

Hi Michael, re Signalman Morris Crossfield. A difficult one to track as there is virtually no paperwork trail as I don’t think he was never classified as a Prisoner of War. He appears to have ‘escaped’ capture (or been left for dead) on the day of surrender, so he has no Japanese Index Card and is not listed in the POW Master File.
However, I can see 2 entries for him. In the Royal Corps of Signals Pilot Roll he is listed as ‘Missing’.
In the Regimental File created at Changi he is once again marked as ‘Missing’ but there are additional remarks. “last seen 15.02.42 at junction of Serangoon Road” “17.02.42 still missing” Later message (could be post war) “Reported safe in UK by Cpl. Mitchell, 11th Division”

Thank you for your reply. It gives me a little more to go with for further research.
Thanks again.
John

Hi John, re Westwoods. I believe the 2 probable candidates, being the only 2 who seem to be buried in Thailand are John James Westwood who was Cambridge Rgt. and came from Felixstowe. Second one was Samuel Westwood, Royal Corps of Signals, who came from Wishaw in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Both are buried in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Whether they are on a memorial at the bridge I do not know.