The Soldier's Details

Surname:
Bennett
First Name:
Henry Patrick
Nick Name:
Bull, Pat
Rank:
Private
Regimental #:
WX934O
Classification:
Driver
Company:
Battalion Headquarters
Enlisted:
30.10.1940
DOB:
10.07.1914
Place of Birth:
Albany, Western Australia
Father's Name:
Albert Ernest Bennett
Mothers's Name:
Margaret Cicely Bennett (nee Jordan)
Religion:
Roman Catholic
Pre-war Occupation:
Tractor Driver
Memorial:
Epitaph, Labuan Memorial, Panel 18, Age 30.
Singapore:
Selarang Camp and Barracks Changi
Force:
'E' Force Borneo
POW#:
4/5916 & 1585
Cause of Death:
Heart Paralysis - Cardiac Beri-Beri
Place of Death:
First March Sandakan to Ranau, east of Tampias
Date of Death:
15.02.1945

General Description

 

WA. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of WX9340 Private Henry Patrick Bennett, 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion, Australian Infantry. He was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of E Force. The 500 Australian and 500 British POW’s who made up E Force, left Changi on 28 March 1943, on board the S.S. DeKlerk arriving at Berhala Island (adjacent to Sandakan Harbour) on 15 April 1943. The POW’s were held there until 5 June, when they were taken by barge to Sandakan. The next day they were transferred to the 8 Mile Camp, which was about half a mile from the B Force compound. Private Bennett, aged 30, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 15 February 1945. He was the son of Albert Ernest and Margaret Cicely Bennett, of Gnowangerup, WA. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 18. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)

 

 

Above:  Newspaper November 1940.

 

 

Below:  Published in local newspaper 15 February 1941

 

Pat Bennett was the second of 5 sons and one daughter born to Albert Bennett and Margaret (Madge) Jordan who married in Katanning in 1912.  The Bennett family resided in Gnowangerup.

 

 

Above:  The death of Pat’s brother ‘Snow’ aged 15 years in 1932.
Below:  In 1934, the Bennett family endured the death of another child, 8 year old son Billy.

 

Pat Bennett was the second eldest of 8 children born to Ernie and Madge Bennett.
He attended Gnowangerup School and later became a motor mechanic.
As a POW at Selarang, Singapore Pat would have worked with several work parties on projects around Singapore Island for the Japanese.  He was selected with ‘E’ Force which sailed to Borneo leaving Changi 28 March 1943. The 500 Australian and 500 British POW’s who made up E Force,  boarded S.S. DeKlerk arriving at Berhala Island (adjacent to Sandakan Harbour) on 15 April 1943.
At Sandakan they worked constructing an airfield.  The conditions became worse and worse, less food, longer working hours and appalling conditions and their Japanese guards were brutal.  Pat Bennett was selected by the Japanese as being fit for the First Sandakan to Ranau March.
Tragically Pat died 15 February 1945 aged 30 years at Maringan (Murikan) east of Tampias (Tampias was about 124 miles from Sandakan and 31 miles to Ranau,) of cardiac beri beri. (his body was located and verified by Track Recoveries after the end of war).
455 POWs set out from Sandakan in groups of about 50 with guards.  The groups departed at intervals so there is no communication.
The Bennett family would have been notified of Pat’s death by Telegram, stating the date of his death and very little else.  Families had no idea why their sons/husbands were in North Borneo let alone any details about this former British Colony.  It was not until the late 1980’s that Australians began to learn the truth about Sandakan.
Please read further about ‘E’ Force.
Also please read about Sandakan 
and the Death Marches, Borneo
Please read further about the men from the area of Gnowangerup
Bennett Henry Patrick
BENNETT, Private, HENRY PATRICK, WX9340, A.I.F. 2/4 M.G. Bn., Australian Infantry. 15 February 1945. Age 30. Son of Albert Ernest and Margaret Cicely Bennett, of Gnowangerup, Western Australia. Panel 18.
Labuan Memorial, Malaysia.
Above:  WA Paybook Photograph which was taken at enlistment.

 

Kings Park Avenue of Honour

Dedicated by his Family on 17 May 2014

Biography presented during plaque dedication:

‘Private Henry Patrick Bennett, or Pat as he was known, was born at Albany in July 1914. He was one of five sons and a daughter of Albert and Margaret Bennett of Gnowangerup.
Pat attended school at Gnowangerup and after leaving worked as a motor mechanic.
He enlisted at Claremont in October 1940 and was posted to 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion.
This battalion was formed with men from across the state and they all came together at Northam Military Camp where they carried out their initial training.
In July 1941, the battalion moved to Adelaide and then to Darwin and left there in late October, bound for Singapore via Port Moresby.
Due to enemy action, the convoy turned around and sailed to Sydney, then Fremantle, and finally reached Singapore at the end of January 1942.
They were soon in action, Malaya had fallen and Singapore was being attacked.
Following the surrender in February, Pat became a prisoner of war and was sent to Sandakan as part of E Force to build an air strip. There, they were starved, beaten and brutally treated. He, with others, were was sent on infamous death marches.
Private Henry Patrick Bennett, service number WX9340 of 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion died on the Sandakan-Ranau track on 1 February 1945. He was 33 years of age.’
Albert Ernst died in 1961 at Albany aged 97 years.  He was buried at Gnowangerup.

Pat was their third son to die.

 

Pat died 15 Feb 1945 aged 30 years on First March of heart paralysis (cardiac beri beri) east of Tampias – his body was found and removed by Track Recoveries Party soon after the war ended.
You can clearly see Tampias on the below map.

Camp Locations:

  • Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore
  • Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
  • Lintang Officers Camp, Kuching - Sarawak
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