The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Moher
- First Name:
- Kenneth
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX17737
- Company:
- ‘E’ Company, Special Reserve Battalion. No. 1 Platoon
- Enlisted:
- 21.11.1941
- DOB:
- 25.09.1914
- Place of Birth:
- Gwalia, Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- William Moher
- Mothers's Name:
- Mary Moher (nee Wedlake)
- Religion:
- Roman Catholic
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Clerk and Baker
- Memorial:
- Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Plot A5, Row E, Grave 8, Age 28.
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp Changi
- Force:
- ‘A’ Force Burma, Green Force, No. 3 Battalion
- Camps Burma:
- Victoria Point, Tavoy, Ye, Kendau 4.8km, Thetkaw, Meiloe 75km, Augganaung 105km, Khonkan
- Cause of Death:
- Amoebic Dysentery
- Place of Death:
- Khonkan 55km Camp
- Date of Death:
- 24.07.1943
- Buried:
- Grave No. 27, Khonkan.
General Description
Ken Moher enlisted 21 November 1941 as a reinforcement with 2/4th and joined ‘E’ Company.
Moher was a fortunate man to survive the Japanese ambush at SW Bukit Timah which ‘E’ Company ran into on 11 February 1942. There was a huge loss of life with 88 of 200 surviving.
Please read further about ‘E’ Company.
At Singapore he was selected with ‘A’ Force Burma Green Force No. 3 Battalion to work on the Burma end of the railway.
Please read about this Force.
Tragically Ken Moher was ill when evacuated from the railway line to Khonkan Hospital Camp July 1943. He was 28 years old.
You can read about 2/4th men at Khonkan
Ken Moher was youngest of six children born to William Moher (born 1862 Ireland) and Mary Wedlake who married in 1898 Perth, WA. Two children died in infancy. The Moher family initially resided Gwalia where all their children were born. William worked as a foreman for Sons of Gwalia Mine. The family later moved to live in Boulder.
William’s brother John (Jack) was a hotelier at Gwalia and Boulder.
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Below: William’s brother John Moher died 1917.
Below: Ken’s father William died 1926.
WILLIAM AWU Notice of funeral
William Moher died at Boulder in 1926 and Mary Moher died Perth 1939 aged 65 years.
William’s father James Moher died in 1896 Goolgardie. Both William and his father James were born in Ireland, although it is not known when they arrived in WA.
When Ken enlisted in November 1941, both of his parents had died. He had been working as a baker for the past previous years with his brother James Gilbert at Wiluna. James who had married Kathleen Grace McKenzie, later enlisted with RAAF.
Sister Margaret ‘Maggie’ married Evan James McKenzie 1918 at Mt Margaret. Evan and Kathleen McKenzie are brother and sister.
Below: A postcard from Ken reaches his family in 1943.
Below: After the war Australian War Graves reinterred all Auystralian POWs who who died on the Railway to one of two cemeteries – Kanachanaburi or Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar (formerly Burma) where Ken Moher was laid to rest.
Below: Ken’s father’s role at Sons of Gwalia mining death, 1917
Below: Ken played snooker as well as Footy at Wiluna.
Below: Ken Moher, Commission agent 1941
Below: from Boulder Evening Star 1900
Camp Locations:
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Kendau, Kandaw, 4 Kilo - Burma
- Khonkan, 55Kilo Hospital 360k - Burma
- Meilo, 75 Kilo, 340k - Burma
- Tavoy (Dawei) - river port - Burma
- Ye - Burma
- Victoria Point, Kawthoung - Burma. \'A\' Force, Green Force No. 3 Btn
- Thetkaw 14 Kilo - Burma
