Ross D

Studio portrait of WX9253 Private (Pte) Donald Ross 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion, killed in action on 23 May 1945. He was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of E Force. The 500 Australian and 500 British POWs who made up E Force, left Changi on 28 March 1943, on board the S.S. DeKlerk arriving at Berhala Island (adjacent to Sandakan Harbour) on 15 April 1943. The POWs were held there until 5 June, when they were taken by barge to Sandakan. The next day they were transferred to the 8 Mile Camp, which was about half a mile from the B Force compound. Pte Ross, aged 32, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 23 May 1945. He was the son of Alexander and Lillian May Ross, and the husband of Ada Annie Ross, of Albany, WA. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 19. (Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)