The Soldier's Details

Surname:
Worth
First Name:
Walter George
Nick Name:
Wally
Rank:
Private
Regimental #:
WX10012
Classification:
Signaller
Company:
Headquarters Company, No. 1 Platoon Signals
Enlisted:
13.12.1940
DOB:
5.04.1912
Place of Birth:
Guildford, Western Australia
Father's Name:
De Courcey Cleaver Worth
Mothers's Name:
Olive Ernestine Worth (nee Roach)
Religion:
Church of England
Pre-war Occupation:
Flour Mill Employee (Smutterman)
Memorial:
Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Plot A14, Row A, Grave 12, Age 31.
Singapore:
Selarang Camp Changi, Johore Bahru, Adam Park, Selarang Barracks Changi
Force:
‘F’ Force Thailand
POW#:
4/6845
Cause of Death:
Cholera
Place of Death:
Kami Sonkurai
Date of Death:
28.08.1943
Buried:
Grave No. 92, Kami Sonkurai

General Description

Worth enlisted AIF 13 Dec 1940 and later joined 2/4th’s HQ Coy No. 1 Platoon Signals under CO Lt. Curnow.

 

As a POW at Singapore, Wally left by train with ‘F’ Force to work on the Burma-Thai Railway.  Please read further
‘F’ Force reached Sonkurai on 24 May 1943 after an exhausting and arduous march of 315 kms.  By this time POWs were already in a poor state health – malaria, dysentery, diarrhorea – due to fatigue and lack of proper food.  It was the beginning of the wet season, it was cold and the rain was falling in torrents.  The POWs stood watching the fast flowing River Kwai surrounded by thick jungle.  They were to build a wooden bridge across the huge river expanse in addition to 10 km of rail track, 8km east and 8km west of the bridge.  The project was to be completed within five months.
The POWs had to cross the river on a fragile wooden bridge to reach their attap huts without roofs sitting in black mud.  It was an area near the border with Burma and the most isolated of all Thailand.

The men left for work in the dark and came home in the dark.

Wally died 28 Aug 1943 of cholera aged 31 years at Kami Sonkurai Camp, Thailand.
Worth was a member of both Colonel Kappe’s and Pond’s parties. It was initially believed Wally may have been the only 2/4th to be part of both parties.   We know Clive Hellmrich was also in Pond’s Party.  Hellmrich requested to be with his brother Noel Hellmrich.  Clive Hellmrich was Taken on Strength with 2/6th Field Park Company on 5 January 1943.

 

Wally Worth, unknown lady and Harry Pickett

Wally Worth, unknown lady,  and Harry Pickett.

Wally and Millie Worth.

 

The following was published in the Daly News, Perth,  Western Australia on 21 September 1943

Worth Wally final

Worth Walter George West Australian (Perth, WA _ 1879 - 1954), Tuesday 23 October 1945, page 1

 

 

 

 

Above Kings Park Honour Avenue

 

Wally Worth’s name is inscribed on the WW2 War Memorial at Guildford.

 

Also read about the Boys from Midland

 

Wally’s parents Decourcey Worth and Olive Ernastine Roach married 1910 Guildford.   Wally was one of 8 children.  Two brothers also enlisted into the services during WW2.  They fortunately returned home.
Decourcey Worth died in 1971 and Ernastine in 1972. Both are buried at Guildford.
Wally married Millicent Harriet Dedman during 1941.  She remarried in 1954 and died in 1994.

 

Millie tragically faced additional family deaths.  Her brother Noel Dedman died in 1948 and then there were the earlier deaths of her sister’s husbands Manning and Pedratta.

 

 

Below:  earlier and happy years before the war, the Dedman sisters operate a day nursery and tuck shop.

Camp Locations:

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  • Johore Bahru, - Malaysia
  • Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore
  • Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
  • Kami Songkurai, 299k - Thailand
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