The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- McCann
- First Name:
- Leslie William
- Nick Name:
- Les
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX17837
- Company:
- 'E' Company, Special Reserve Battalion, No. 1 Platoon.
- Enlisted:
- 1.12.1941
- Discharged:
- 4.03.1946
- DOB:
- 31.03.1922
- Place of Birth:
- Subiaco, Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- Thomas McCann
- Mothers's Name:
- Ivy Muriel McCann
- Religion:
- Church of England
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Butcher & Truck Driver
- Java:
- A.G.H. Roberts Barracks Changi (ex-Changi Gaol Civil Internment Camp), Selarang Barracks Changi, Changi Gaol Camp (Hygiene & Garden Parties & storeman)
- POW#:
- 1/8466
- Return Details 1945:
- Singapore-Darwin-Sydney, HMT Arawa, Sydney-Melbourne-Perth by troop train.
General Description
Les McCann enlisted AIF 1 Dec 1941 and joined 2/4th ‘E’ Company as a reinforcement. During the fighting at Singapore McCann was wounded in action South-West Bukit Timah on 11/2/1942.
Les McCann was wounded in the right leg by mortar fire and took refuge in one of the native huts at the opposite side of the clearing. On the 13th February he was joined by Rupert Millhouse who had received 4 machine gun bullets to the right leg. They were both in No. 1 Platoon of ‘E’ Coy.
They moved together before being picked up by Japanese and placed before an execution squad.
Millhouse was shot and died by firing squad however McCann woke up to find himself wounded but alive. He crawled into the nearby undergrowth. He had miraculously survived. Another 2/4th soldier who survived the same execution was Airey.
Please read about E Company
Listen to an oral history interview of Les’ recorded in Singapore in April 2000
Read McCann’s story Escape From Death.
Also read Two Came Home.
Les was third born son of Ivy Muriel Frank and Thomas McCann who married Bridgetown in 1911.
Ivy McCann remarried 1931 to William Henry Campbell. Campbell died in 1973 and Les’s mother Ivy died 1971 in Perth.
In 1946 Les married Doris Jackman in Perth.
In the 1949 Electoral Roll they were residing at 224 Onslow Road, Subiaco. Doris was a florist and Les was a van driver.
Les died 16 Sep 2003 in Como aged 81 years.
Camp Locations:
- Roberts Barracks Changi - Singapore
- Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore