The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Watt
- First Name:
- Eric George
- Nick Name:
- Lofty
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX9067
- Company:
- ‘C’ Company, No. 12 Platoon
- Enlisted:
- 25.10.1940
- Discharged:
- 14.02.1946
- DOB:
- 17.09.1911
- Place of Birth:
- Southern Cross, Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- William Dunbil Watt
- Mothers's Name:
- Bertha Watt (nee Birch)
- Religion:
- Church of England
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Farmhand
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp Changi, Serangoon Road Camp, River Valley Road Camp, Selarang Barracks Changi. Sime Road Camp, Pasir Panjang, A. G. H. Roberts Barracks Changi, Kranji Hospital Woodlands, Changi Gaol Camp.
- Force:
- ‘ H ’ Force Thailand, 'H' Force Group No. 3.
- Camps Thailand:
- Hintok Road Camp, Kanu I I , Kanchanaburi
- POW#:
- 01/04/6776
- Return Details 1945:
- Singapore-Darwin‐Melboume, lst Netherlands Military Hospital Ship Oranje, Melbourne-Perth by troop train.
General Description
Watt enlisted AIF Oct 1940 and later joined 2/4th’s ‘C’ Company 12 Platoon.
At Singapore are surrender, he was accommodated at Selarang Camp Changi and worked at Serangoon Road Camp, River Valley Road Camp before returning Selarang Barracks.
Read further about ‘H’ Force Group 3
Soldier suffered greatly from beri-beri, dysentery and malaria. He was one of many sick at Kanu II Malayan Hamlet, who was cared for by Alby Miller and Jock Leith.
After his return with ‘H’ Force to Singapore, Watt was at Sime Road Camp, Pasir Panjang, AGH Roberts Barracks Changi and Kranji Hospital Woodlands before going Changi Gaol Camp from where he was recovered at the end of the war.
Eric George Watt was born 1911 to William Watt 48 years and Bertha Birch aged 23 years, who had married 1909.
William Watt arrived Fremantle 17 Sep 1887 ‘Helena Mena’ with his sister Mary Ann Watt.
Sep 1909 • Perth, Western Australia, Australia
WATT–BIRCH.-At St. George’s Cathedral, Perth, by Dean Latham. William Denvell, second son of the late George Smith-Watt. of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Bertha, second daughter of P. Birch, of Guildford, Western Australia.
William and Bertha Watt were residing in the goldfields in WA.
Lofty married in 1937 to Ivy Muriel Rowles.
His father William Dunville Watt died in Sep 1941.
His mother Bertha Watt died in 1979.
Lofty’s wife died in May 1983.
Lofty passed away aged 92 yrs, February 6 2003, at Karrawara, WA.
Height 6′ 1/2″
Camp Locations:
- Changi Gaol Camp - Singapore
- Kranji Camp Woodlands - Singapore
- River Valley Road Camp - Singapore
- Roberts Barracks Changi - Singapore
- Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Serangoon Road Camp - Singapore
- Sime Road Camp - Singapore
- Hintok, 154k - Thailand
- Kanchanaburi, 50k - Thailand
- Kanu II, 152.30k - Thailand
- Malay Hamlet 153.00km - Thailand
