The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Rodda
- First Name:
- Arthur William
- Nick Name:
- Bill
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX7509
- Company:
- ‘D’ Company, No. 14 Platoon
- Enlisted:
- 6.08.1940
- DOB:
- 28.04.1900
- Place of Birth:
- Midland, Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- Henry Rodda
- Mothers's Name:
- Jane Rodda
- Religion:
- Presbyterian
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Railway Employee
- Memorial:
- Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Plot 1, Row G, Grave 52, Age 44.
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp Changi, Selarang Barracks Changi (Forestry Party)
- Force:
- ‘D' Force Thailand, S Battalion
- Camps Thailand:
- Tarsau, Konyu II, Tamuang, Chungkai, Nacompaton
- POW#:
- 4/6554 & 8838
- Cause of Death:
- Cerebral Malaria
- Place of Death:
- Nacompaton
- Date of Death:
- 20.02.1945
- Buried:
- Row E, Grave No. 1, Nacompaton
General Description
Rodda enlisted AIF 6 Aug 1940 and later joined 2/4th MGB’s ‘D’ Company No. 14 Platoon under Commanding Officer Lt. Tompkins. (He recorded his birth year as 1906 to ensure he met the age requirement). He recorded his wife Maisie as his NOK.
Read further about ‘D’ Company
Wounded in action on 13.2.1942. Soldier received a shrapnel wound to his leg but remained on duty. Rodda also had a history of repeated malaria attacks.
He was selected to work on Burma Thai Railway with ‘D’ Force Thailand S Battalion. Please read further about this work Force.
On 8.4.1944 at Chungkai hospital Camp in Thailand, Lieutenant ‘Mick’ Wedge signed an I.O.U. for 12 Pounds and 10 Shillings for a small jar of Vegemite to help Bill recover from beri‐beri, a B group vitamin deficiency disease.
Bill Rodda must have shown some improvement and was moved from Chungkai Hospital to Nacompaton Hospital Thailand. Tragically Bill died of cerebral malaria on 20 Feb 1945 aged 44 years.
Photograph taken January 2018 C. Mellor
Bill Rodda’s parents Henry Rodda and Jane Robertson married 1898 at Helena Valley. Bill was born two years later at Helena Valley.
Henry Rodda unexpectedly died in 1910 at Midland, he was 40 years old. Henry was a storekeeper at Midland Railway Workshop. Bill would have been 10 years old when his father died.
Jane Rodda (nee Robertson) remarried in 1913 to George W. Fleming.
He married Eileen Bridget Humphreys in 1924. The couple had two children, William Henry born in 1925 and Shirley Margaret born in 1926. Eileen and Bill divorced about 1932.
Below: Birth notice of Bill and Eileen Humphreys son William Henry at Midland 1925.
Below: One-line confirmation of Bill and Eileen’s divorce, printed 1935.
Bill Rodda married Maisie ‘Eileen’ Newman in 1936. They had one daughter Wendy.
Below: From Swan Express (Midland Junction) November 1944.
The good news followed by the tragic.
Bill Rodda would have been evacuated to the newly established Nacompaton Hospital Camp where died of cerebral malaria aged 44 years.
Rodda’s name is inscribed on the Midland Railway Workshop Memorial
Camp Locations:
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Nacompaton, Nakom Pathom Hospital - Thailand
- Tamuang, Tha Muang 39k - Thailand
- Tarsau, Tha Sao 125k - Thailand
- Lintang Officers Camp, Kuching - Sarawak
