The Soldier's Details

Surname:
Holt
First Name:
William John
Nick Name:
Jack
Rank:
Private
Regimental #:
WX7550
Company:
Headquarters Company, Platoon No. 3.
Enlisted:
6.08.1940
DOB:
9.07.1903
Place of Birth:
Cottesloe, Western Australia
Father's Name:
Frederick William Holt
Mothers's Name:
Margaret Ellen Holt
Religion:
Church of England
Pre-war Occupation:
Pastry Cook
Memorial:
Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Plot A8, Row A, Grave 15, Age 40.
Singapore:
Selarang Camp Chaugi
Force:
'A' Force Burma, Ramsay Force, No. 1 Battalion
Camps Burma:
Mergui Aerodrome, Kun Knit Kway 26km, Meiloe 75 Km, Aungganaung 105 km.
POW#:
6286
Cause of Death:
Cerebral Malaria
Place of Death:
Aungganaung 105km Camp
Date of Death:
20.08.1943

General Description

Jack Holt was wounded at Ulu Pandan with HQ Coy and admitted to 2/13th Australian General Hospital, Singapore with a shrapnel wound to his right ear.  Holt was discharged to unit on 26 Feb 1942.

 

Studio portrait of WX7550 Private (Pte) William John (Jack) Holt, 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion. A pastry cook from Palmyra, WA, Pte Holt enlisted on 6 August 1940 and served in Malaya. He was taken prisoner of war (POW) of the Japanese, and whilst working on the Burma-Thailand Railway died of illness on 20 August 1943, aged 40. His wallet, now held at the Australian War Memorial (REL30604), was recovered by a fellow prisoner, Staff Sergeant S E Cameron of 2/19 Battalion, who took it back to Australia after his own release.
Studio portrait of WX7550 Private (Pte) William John (Jack) Holt, 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion. A pastry cook from Palmyra, was employed at Piccadilly Tea Rooms, Perth, WA.   Pte Holt enlisted on 6 August 1940 and served in Malaya. He was taken prisoner of war (POW) of the Japanese, and whilst working on the Burma-Thailand Railway died of illness on 20 August 1943, aged 40. His wallet, now held at the Australian War Memorial (REL30604), was recovered by a fellow prisoner, Staff Sergeant S E Cameron of 2/19 Battalion, who took it back to Australia after his own release.

 

In mid May 1943  Holt was selected to work with ‘A’
Force Burma, Green Force No. 3 Battalion and to sail to south-west Burma in the transportation of 3,000 Australian POWs.
Please read further about ‘A’ Force
And Ramsay Force
From Tavoy, Burma, south west coast of Burma where  POWs worked several months repairing and enlarging aerodrome, Ramsay Force moved to work on the Burma end of Railway to their first Camp, Kun Knit Kway 26 km Camp on 20 Dec 1942 where they remained until 18 March 1943.   Ramsay force moved to Meiloe 75 km Camp until 22 May 1943 then onto Aungganaung 105 km Camp where they amalgamated with Williams and Green Force.
It was here at Aungganaung 105 km Camp Hospital  William Holt was admitted to camp hospital  19/8/1943 with cerebral malaria.  He died at 1618 hours on 20/8/1943.  He was buried in grave No. 23 in the camp cemetery located at 192 degrees from 104.65km point on the rail link at a distance of 170 yards from this point.  The funeral service was conducted by Padre J.K.W. Mathieson of the Royal Australian Navy.
Below:  After the war Australian War Graves removed the bodies of soldiers temporarily buried near the Burma-Thai Railway and were taken  Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Myanmar (formerly Burma).

 

Bill Holt WX7750 (died March 1943), Les Holtzman WX7618, unknown
Bill Holt WX7750 (died March 1943), possibly Bill Dunwoodie, unknown.

 

Jack’s death left his wife Faith widowed with two children, Ken and Pam.

 

___________________

Jack was the son of Frederick William and Margaret Ellen Holt and was one of 6  children.
Jack married about 1928 to Faith Bell.  Faith and Jack had two children and resided at Palmyra until his enlistment in August 1940.

 

Brown folding leather wallet. Faded gold lettering on the bottom right corner reads ‘TO WILLIAM HOLT. FROM HIS COMRADES BERRY SILVER BAND’. The inside of the wallet is lined with brown cotton material. There is a larger compartment that runs across the opened length of the wallet and there are six compartments over this. Each of the smaller compartments is labelled in gold lettering according to what each is designed to hold ‘Cards’ ‘Banknotes’ ‘Cheques’ ‘Letters’ ‘Receipts’ and ‘Stamps’.

History / Summary
Carried by WX7550 Private William John Holt of 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion. Holt was born in Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia on 9 July 1903 and was working as a pastrycook at the time of his enlistment on 6 August 1940. Holt served in Malaya until his capture by the Japanese and internment in a Prisoner of war camp, Thailand. He died of illness on 20 August 1943, at the age of 40. His wallet was recovered by a fellow prisoner, Staff Sergeant S E Cameron of 2/19 Battalion, who took it back to Australia after his own release.

 

 

Sadly Jack’s Mother died December 1930.  His father Frederick William Holt died in 1946 aged 80 years.

 

 

In 1950n Faith Holt’s mother Maggie Bell died.

Camp Locations:

  • Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
  • Aungganaung,105Kilo - Burma
  • Kun Knit Kway, Kunhnitkway, 26Kilo - Burma
  • Meilo, 75 Kilo, 340k - Burma
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