The above photograph was taken just before rain.
WX7851 HARRIS, CHARLES
was selected in Singapore with the ill-fated ‘B’ Force to sail to Sandakan, Sabah. He died on 27 May 1945 aged 31 years, however his Japanese records do not state how/why he died. We do know there were orders to ensure no POWs survived. All except 6 men who escaped managed to escape survive the appalling Sandakan incident.
Please read further about Sandakan, Borneo – Australia’s worst WW2 history – the death of more than 2,000 Australian POWs.
WX7617 SCADDEN, HARRY (Fairbridge Farm schoolboy)
Harry lived several years in Boyanup where he made his mark as a sportsman playing tennis, cricket and hockey.
As a POW was selected Singapore to work on Burma-Thai Railway from the Burma end with ‘A’ Force, Green Force No. 3 Battalion.
At the end of ‘Speedo’ Harry was evacuated to Tamarkan Hospital Camp in Thailand and died on 22 April 1944 of cerebral malaria aged 29 years.
Above: men from Boyanup who enlisted. Of the three men who were with 2/4th, Claude Knott was the only one to survive.