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Hi Mike, I really can't thank you enough for this
information about my father. it's the first thing
I have ever found out about his incarceration
as

Hi Leslie, Information a bit vague, but hopefully some may be useful. Address listed for N of Kin as Grace Haven, Bilaspur Rly. Sta. India. Although Cyril was a member of the Royal Corps of Signals (RCOS) he was permanently attached to the 5th Field Regiment, and is listed in the 1942 Changi files as a member of this regiment. Half of the regiment was sent to Formosa by hellship to slave in the copper mines at Kinkaseki, and the other half were sent by train to the Siam Railway (including Cyril). He embarked on train 8 on 22/03/1943 so he was part of 'D Force'. There was never actually a Camp 4, but were the camp(s) where men in Group 4 ended up. Therefore the letter he wrote home was whilst he was with men of the 5th Field Regiment (not battery) in an unknown camp. Someone who travelled on the same train as Cyril listed his first camp as Kanu 1 (sometimes spelt Kannyu). Although I do not have evidence that Cyril was still with him, the probability must be high. There is a source to apply for his Liberation Questionaire which MAY list his camps if you want to pursue it. Mike.

Hi, my father, 2340122 Signalman Cyril

Hi James & Allen. Private William Hills service number shows that he originally enlisted with the Essex Regiment. However, when taken prisoner at Singapore he was a member of the 4th Btl. Suffolk Regiment, so must have transferred at some point. The only paperwork I have shows he was interned at Changi until 16.05.1943 when he then sailed for Japan, via Formosa, arriving at Moji on 07.06.1943. The hellship was Wales Maru. He was then taken to Hakodate and ended up in Camp 1b Ashibetsu, from where he was repatriated. There is nothing to suggest (in my files) that he ever went anywhere near the Burma Railroad, but if he did it then raises the question of how he was back in Singapore for the sailing in May of 1943. If he completed a liberation questionaire, the answer would be on this, but you will need to post an email address for me to send details of how to obtain this, (only 50% of men completed one).

Mike:


I relied yesterday, but don't see it on the website, so here it is again. Yes, that's the right man. I believe he was a private in the British Army, became a Japanese POW upon the surrender of Singapore. My wife is sure he worked on the death railway, but may have eventually been sent to Japan as he apparently was released from a Japanese POW camp in a large port town / city in Japan at war's end.
Can you tell us what unit he was in & provide any other information?

Thanks

Hi Allen. William John Hills, 6020644, lived at 3, Spring Road, St. Osyth, Clacton, Essex. Does this sound like the right man ?? I believe he also was sent to Japan, NOT the Burma railroad.

Am trying to gather information about my wife's father, William John Hills, who was born In Kent on 12 May 1916. He served in WWII & became a Japanese POW upon the surrender of of Singapore. He worked on, & survived, the Death Railway. He was probably a private in The Army. His service number may have been 6020644 which I got from cursory research on-line (but I couldn't find enough to know if it was him, though it appears that that individual became a a Japanese POW upon the surrender of of Singapore.. Can anyone help me? Thanks.

Hi Gary, There are 8 men just listed as George Wilson, and 2 men listed as George William Wilson who are listed as POWs of the Japanese. Do you have any way of either obtaining a service number or regiment, as without that it makes it very difficult to identify.

Hello,

I'm trying to find out if my grandfather was a POW. His name was George William Frank Wilson. I think he fought in Burma and I'm not sure if he was a POW. He was from Birmingham in the UK.

Any information you may have would be helpful.

Thanks.

Gary Jones.

My dad, Jan van der Tempel, sergeant in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army,was POW on the Birma railroad.He came to know an English soldier , Ronald Sydney Smith. I one time phoned him in 1994, he lived on Guernsey. He had known my father well. He told me he was later sent to Japan. He worked with the Provincial Bank in London, according to letter my dad sent to his parents in Holland in October 1945 from Siam.I wonder if anybody had heard of either my dad or Ronald Sydney Smith?

Hi Barnaby, I can only add a little to the facts you already know. He sailed from Java to Singapore on 09.02.1943 on the Roku Maru. Arrived Changi 13.02.1943. Was sent to the railroad at Banpong on Train 76 on 05.05.1943. 'F Force' men entrained between 18.04.1943 - 30.04.1943, so he was actually 'H Force' and not 'F Force'. Initially this group went to Tonchan Camp 139 Kilometres north of Non Pluduc. Although I cannot trace his movements thereafter, he DOES NOT show up in the Changi roll as being there on 5th September 1945.

I would be most grateful for any information regarding my
fathers period as a FEPOW.
He was Melville Yeoland Perkins.
Royal Artillery -

Mike,
I cannot thank you enough for this information. My remaining family tell me that he would never talk about it in detail, but thankfully he did bring some

Hi Dale ( re Bertie Langham) . Information a bit vague on your father. Address shown as 54, Stanley Road, Newmarket, Suffolk. Sent to the railroad on 10.10.1942. (possibly from River Valley camp, Singapore). No.4 POW Camp has caused a lot of confusion to folk, as they was NO camp 4. It was the camp(s) that Group 4 men occupied. He is definately listed in the Group 4 file as POW number 2199. Someone who travelled on the same train as your father, listed his camps as Wampo, Wampo North, Tonchan, Kinsioke, Tarso and Mergui Road. mergui Road was where some of the men were sent after the railroad had been completed. This was the rush build of a road from south Burma to south Thailand. I think the probability of him being there is very high as you state he sailed home on the Boissevain which sailed from Rangoon on 20.09.1945, and arrived Liverpool 12.10.1945.

Hi, I am trying to find out more about my late father

HI, Just wondering if there is anyone with information

Hi Yvonne, re Robert Robinson. My father was also at Batu Lintang Camp from 2/11/43. Th camp was divided up into several smaller camps. My father an other rank was removed to Kuching from Sandakan and placed in the British Officers camp at Kuching. He probably would never have met Robert. Most of the men at Kuching were in their late twenties and early thirties. Most of the 600 who died in the last 6 months of the war through total Japanese neglect and brutality.
Thankfully Robert suvived.
Their are some good internet site on the camp.
Thete is also a book 'Survival in Japanese POW Camps with Changkol & Basket' written by airman Ernest G. Darch
who was in the other ranks camp. This may give you some idea of the conditions. I m sorry i cannot help you anymore.

Nicola,
Re your grandfather on the Vyner Brooke there is a book about its final voyage from Singapore. It is called 'Short Cruise on the Vyner Brooke' by Ralph E. H. Armstrong who was on the ship as a young boy. He survived the was but his mother and two sisters who were with him died.

Mike, that's great, far more than I have ever been able to find out. Can you email me on Show email address with details of those suggestions? Thanks!

Andy ( re Walter Jack Benns). Sorry, but very little information about your grandfather. Service number 5776292. Address shown as Decoy Rd, Little Ormesby, Great Yarmouth. The only information I have is that he was sent to the Siam Railroad on 19.03.1943 in train 5. This would make him part of 'D Force'. Many from this force went to Wampo, Tarso , Hintok and Rintin but I do not have any official documents to prove it. If you reply with email, I could suggest where you go to next for more information.

Hi a lady has recently tracked my family down to give us a letter from King George the sixth. It was given to my grandad who was a POW, I believe he was captured by the Japanese in Singapore. Other then this I know little else. He was called Robert J Read. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Jane-Marie, (re Edward George Smith). 1075187. Address shown as 27, Kevelioc Rd, Tottenham, London. Served with the 85th Anti-Tank Regiment. Sent to the Siam Railroad on 11.10.1942 from River Valley Camp. I have no information on his camps in Siam. Returned to River Valley at unknown date, and then on 02.02.1945 he boarded the Haruyasa Maru for sailing to Japan. The ship navigated in convoy with two other freighters and two escort-ships.

On 6-2-1945 the convoy was attacked by the USS Pampanito: one freighter had been sunk; next day the other freighter had been torpedoed. The Haruyasa Maru had shortage of coal for the motor; therefore all the disposable wood had been used as firing.

On 8-2-1945 the ship arrived at Cape St Jacques, entered the mouth of the Mekong-river and navigated to Saigon.

On 9-2-1945 the ship arrived in Saigon, the POWs were transported to the Harbour-camp.

Shortly after arrival these POWs had been transferred to work-camps for building airfields, on 18-2-1945 to Long Than (1500 men) and on 23-2-1945 to Phy My (1000 men). The journey to Japan was abandoned.
I think you will need to get his Liberation Questionnaire to establish his camps.

Hi Tina, ( re Bernard James Jones). Address shown as 8, Church Fields, West Welling, Kent. I cannot give you much information pre-war, except to say the 5th Field Regiment was based at Nowshera in India. On 11th October 1941 they sailed from Bombay for Singapore in the liner

Wondering if there is any information out there on my father Gunner James Connelly of the 9th Coasters Royal Artillery captured in the fall of Singapore and worked on the Railway and Bridge. Never spoke of his time as a POW and only just found some of his records online.

Hi, I'm wondering if Mike or any other contributors here can help with further information about my grandfather, Walter Jack Benns. Captured at Singapore with 5th Royal Norfolks. Never spoke about his time as a POW and wrote 'Nil' on his liberation questionnaire in the camps section. Thanks in advance