The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Ferguson
- First Name:
- Reginald Paul
- Nick Name:
- Reg
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX7999
- Company:
- 'D'Company Headquarters
- Enlisted:
- 13.08.1940
- DOB:
- 8.03.1913
- Place of Birth:
- Toodyay, Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- Robert Lewis Ferguson
- Mothers's Name:
- Ada May Ferguson (nee Waters)
- Religion:
- Church of England
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Labourer
- Memorial:
- Epitaph, Labuan Memorial, Panel 18, Age 32.
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp Changi
- Force:
- 'B' Force Borneo
- POW#:
- 692
- Cause of Death:
- Acute Intestinalitis
- Place of Death:
- Ranau No1 Camp
- Date of Death:
- 23.03.1945
- Buried:
- Ranau
General Description
Reg Ferguson married in Northam 1939 to Ivy May Lawler. Ivy died 2009.
Ivy & Reg Ferguson with daughters Daphne & Pauline with ‘Gunner’
Reg enlisted AIF 13 Aug 1940 later joining 2/4th MGB’s ‘D’ Company No. 15 Platoon under Commanding Officer Lt. Meiklejohn. Please read further about this platoon
He was shell shocked at Ulu Pandan and evacuated on 12/2/1942.
Also read about Hill 200, Ulu Pandan.
Reg volunteered to leave with ‘B’ Force Borneo which sailed to Sandakan from Singapore. With him were Toodyay boys Tom and Bert Dorizzi. Please read further about ‘B’ Force and the notorious Sandakan.
The old Toodyay Gaol, at one time home to the Dorrizi family, is today the Toodyay Museum which has dedicated one of the former gaol cells to 3 Dorrizi boys and Reginald Paul Ferguson recording the history of their local ‘sons’.
They did not return to their beloved Australia, their homes and families in Toodyay.
Kings Park Avenue of Honour
Below: Plaque at Toodyay War Memorial
Saint Philip Church in Culham, Western Australia is the second oldest active Anglican church in Western Australia. It is located in the Parish of Toodyay—Goomalling, on the Bindi Bindi-Toodyay Road. The church ground includes a cemetery, which continues to accept burials, though these are restrictions on who can be buried there.
Below: Plaque for Reg at St. Phillip.
Reg’s parents Robert Lewis Ferguson and Ada May Waters (born 1879 Toodyay) married 1902 at Newcastle (Toodyay today). Reg was the fifth born of eight children. Two daughters and four sons. Reg’s younger brother Geoffrey Thomas born 1915, also enlisted however tragically died in a military accident 13 July 1942 at Hollywood Hospital aged 27 years. He was stationed at Melville.
Reg’s father Robert Lewis Ferguson died June 1936 at Northam aged 62 years. His mother Ada May Ferguson died Sept 1952 Perth aged 73 years.
Below: Reg’s Mother Headstone.
Below: Labuan Memorial
Below: notices of brother Geoffrey’s death. Unless Reg was fortunate to receive mail from home – he would not have known of his younger brother’s death.
Below: 1926 A Terrible childhood accident.
Camp Locations:
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Ranau - Borneo
