The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Duggin
- First Name:
- John Allan
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX10199
- Classification:
- Driver
- Company:
- Not Known
- Enlisted:
- 18.12.1940
- Discharged:
- 5.12.1945
- DOB:
- 14.02.1912
- Place of Birth:
- Bowden, South Australia
- Father's Name:
- John Duggin
- Mothers's Name:
- Catherine Duggin
- Religion:
- Church of England
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Millhand
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp Changi; Johore Baru, Adam Park; Selarang Barracks Changi
- Force:
- ‘D’ Force Thailand, V Battalion
- Camps Japan:
- Fukuoka sub-Camp No. 17, Omuta
- POW#:
- 622
- Japan:
- Aramis Party
- Return Details 1945:
- Nagasaki-Okinawa USS Haven, Okinawa-Manila by aircraft, Manila-Morotai-Darwin PBY Catalina aircraft A24-201, Darwin-Melbourne-Perth by aircraft.
General Description
Jack as he was known to all, enlisted Dec 1940 and later trained as a driver prior to joining 2/4th MGB.
John Duggin was selected in Singapore to work on Burma-Thai Railway with ‘D’ Force V Battalion, departing by train on 17 March 1943. Read further about this Force.
From Thailand he was selected to sail on ‘Aramis’ to work in Japan.
Read about the journey of Aramis
He arrived at Fukuoka No. 17 Omuta 28 May 1944 and remained working in the Mutsui coal mine until September 1945. John was recovered from Nagasaki at the end of the war.
Read further about Omuta
Below: Constance Duggin receives good news – her husband is safe.
John ‘Jack’ as he was known was fourth born child of six, to parents John Duggin and Catherine Florence Ann McBain who married at Bowden, SA in 1904.
We have no knowledge of when or why he came to the WA Goldfields however Jack enlisted from Kalgoorlie in Dec 1940.
John Duggin had married Constance Irene Stratton at East Coolgardie about 1938.
His mother Catherine in SA died in 1944 following a fall. John would have learnt this sad news following the end of the war.
Below: in 1947 Jack’s mother-in-law Eliza Stratton died at Kalgoorlie.
Returning from war, John and Constance were residing 1963 and 1977 at 201 Piccadilly Street, Kalgoorlie.
John Duggin died at Kalgoorlie 27 April 1981 and was buried at the cemetery Kalgoorlie. Constance Duggin died at Kalgoorlie in 2004.
Below: Jack’s paternal grandmother Rachel Duggin died in 1928 at Bowden, SA. Rachel Duggin was widowed in 1915.
Below: James Duggin, Grandfather of Jack and husband to Rachel above, died at Bowden in 1915.
Below: Rachel Dugin placed the following messages in the newspaper every year until about 1927.
Below: Jack’s sister married in 1928
Below: Jack’s mother died 29 Sept 1944 following a fall. She was 65 years old. Jack was then a POW in Japan and would have learnt this heart-breaking news on his return home.Jack’s father remarried in 1950. He died 1969 in SA.
Below: Catherine Duggin ‘s (nee McBain) sister Ella died the following year in Feb 1945.
Camp Locations:
- Johore Bahru, - Malaysia
- Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Omuta Miike, Fukuoka #17-B - Japan
