The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Bell
- First Name:
- Albert James
- Nick Name:
- Bill or Billy
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX9063
- Company:
- ‘D’ Company, No. 15 Platoon
- DOB:
- 19.08.1918
- Place of Birth:
- Boulder, Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- James Robert Patterson Bell
- Mothers's Name:
- Mabel Bell (Nee Rule)
- Religion:
- Methodist
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Labourer
- Memorial:
- Epitaph, Singapore Memorial, Column 135, Age 22.
- Cause of Death:
- Kllled by mortar fire during escape bid
- Place of Death:
- Johore Straits
- Date of Death:
- 14.02.1942
General Description
Bill enlisted AIF 25 Oct 1940 and later joined 2/4th and ‘D’ Company No. 15 Platoon.
Bell with D Company, No. 15 Platoon was reported missing from 9/2/1942. He was thought to have been killed 14/2/1942 aged 22 years during an attempted escape from Singapore with several others who had all been trapped behind the fast advancing Japanese frontlines. Blue Semple managed to escape to Sumatra.
Please read about Bill Bell in B Company, 15 Platoon.
Above: remembrance from Blue Semple and Cliff Webb.
___________
Albert James (known as Bill) was born to James Robert Patterson and Mabel Rule who married Boulder about 1919. Bill was eldest of at least four children, Betty, Nancy and Donald.
In 1954 James and Mabel were residing at Redcliffe. James born Ireland, died 1961 and Mabel who was born Kalgoorlie in 1899, died in 1982 at Victoria Park.
