The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Clothier
- First Name:
- William Ernest
- Nick Name:
- Bill
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX10739
- Classification:
- Signaller
- Company:
- Headquarters Company, No 1 Platoon.
- Enlisted:
- 15.01.1941
- Discharged:
- 6.02.1946
- DOB:
- 8.06.1909
- Place of Birth:
- Mt Barker, South Australia
- Father's Name:
- Joseph (Thomas) Clothier
- Mothers's Name:
- Mary Anne Esther Clothier (nee Loveridge)
- Religion:
- Methodist
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Farmhand
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp Changi
- Force:
- ‘A’ Force Burma, Green Force No. 3 Battalion
- Camps Thailand:
- Tamarkan, Linson Wood Camp, Banderra (Chao Puraya River on bridge repair)
- Camps Burma:
- Victoria Point, Thetkaw, Kendau, Meiloe, Aunggnaung
- POW#:
- 3089 and 12132 (Linson)
- Return Details 1945:
- Marched into Bangkok ex-Banderra, Thailand-Singapore by aircraft, Singapore-Fremantle, HMT Moreton Bay.
General Description
Bill’s parents were both born in South Australia. They married there in Sep 1891. The family moved from South Australia to WA with their three children and settled in the Albany/Plantagenet region where they had another 6 or 7 children including William (Bill).
Bill’s older sister Ann born in 1893 South Australia, married in 1911 to Sidney Ernest Hambley. Ann and Sidney are the parents of Ernst Edgar Hambley WX4991 and Albert James Hambley WX10745 of the 2/4th. In fact Bill Clothier and Albert James Hambley enlisted on the same date 15 January 1941, joining Headquarters Coy. as Signallers.
Bill married in 1932, however the couple divorced. His former wife later married in 1941 to Gilbert Hambley, his nephew (son of his older sister Ann) and brother of Albert and Ernst Hambley. It is not known whether Bill remarried.
He died 5 August 1989 having returned to live in the region of Mt Barker where he lived prior to enlistment.
Bill Clothier was selected with ‘A’ Force Burma Green Force No. 3 Battalion to work on the Burma end of the railway.
Please read further about Green Force No. 3 Battalion
When the railway was completed and the POWs were brought from Burma to Thailand, Bill Clothier and most of this Battation arrived at Tamarkan. From here he was sent to Linson Wood Camp woodchopping then to Banderra to repair bridge at Chao Puraya River damaged by Allied bombing.
On 4 Sept 1945 Bill marched into Bangkok from Banderra.
Camp Locations:
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Banderra, Chao Puraya River - Thailand
- Linson Wood Camp, 202k - Thailand
- Tamarkan, Tha Makham 56k - Thailand
- Aungganaung,105Kilo - Burma
- Kendau, Kandaw, 4 Kilo - Burma
- Khonkan, 55Kilo Hospital 360k - Burma
- Victoria Point, Kawthoung - Burma. \'A\' Force, Green Force No. 3 Btn
- Thetkaw 14 Kilo - Burma
