The Soldier's Details
- Surname:
- Langdon
- First Name:
- Ronald Guy
- Nick Name:
- Ron
- Rank:
- Private
- Regimental #:
- WX9293
- Classification:
- Driver
- Company:
- 'D' Company
- Enlisted:
- 30.10.1940
- DOB:
- 5.02.1911
- Place of Birth:
- Boulder, Western Australia
- Father's Name:
- Alfred John Langdon
- Mothers's Name:
- Agnes Ellen Bell
- Religion:
- Methodist
- Pre-war Occupation:
- Farmer
- Memorial:
- Kranji War Cemetery, Plot 15, Row C, Grave 10, Age 32.
- Singapore:
- Selarang Camp Changi, Johore Bahru, Adam Park, Selarang Barracks Changi and Sime Road Camp. Following Thailand returned to Sime Road Camp.
- Force:
- 'H' Force Thailand Group No. 3
- Camps Thailand:
- Kanu II , Malayan Hamlet (evacuated to Kanchanaburi with cholera and beri‐beri)
- POW#:
- 1/8329
- Cause of Death:
- Cardiac Beri‐Beri
- Place of Death:
- Sime Road Camp
- Date of Death:
- 2.01.1944
- Buried:
- Diagonally opposite golfhouse, Grave No. 10.
General Description
Ronald was the youngest of three children born to Alfred John Langdon and Agnes Ellen Bell who married 1904 West Perth. Both Bell and Langdon were born in Victoria. Ron had a brother Jack and a sister Jean. The family lived in Boulder for many years before moving to Bruce Rock farming at Erikin, “Creswick Farm”.
Agnes Langdon died at Bruce Rock about 1931, and Ron’s father Alfred John died at Bruce Rock in 1956.
Ronald Langdon married in 1933 at Bruce Rock to Alice Norman Pimlott and continued farming at ‘Creswick’, Erikin, Bruce Rock. The Langdon’s had two children.
Above: the boys from Shackleton are home on leave before they leave WA to train in SA and NT. Ron Langdon would never return to Shackleton.
Ron left Singapore with ‘H’ Force Thailand. He was evacuated from Malayan Hamlet Camp to Kanchanburi Hospital with cholera and beri beri . Returned to Singapore where he died 24 Jan 1944 from cardiac beri beri aged 32 years.
In 1947 Alice Langdon remarried.
In 1954 Ron and Alice’s son Maurice Frank Langdon died in a car accident, Cottesloe. Maurice was 18 years of age. It is believed Alice and family had moved from Bruce Rock to live in Perth. Amongst the death notices was one from Claremont Metro Junior Football Club and the Swanbourne Methodist Sunday School where Maurice was associated.
Also from Shackleton area was Norm Venemore WX9292 of 2/4th who perished in South China Sea September 1945 when the ‘Rakuyo Maru’ was sunk by Allies. Both Venemore and Langdon enlisted on the same day and became drivers with ‘D’ Company. He was 28 years old.
The Venemore and Langdon families lived and farmed in the north Shackleton area known are Erikin. The names of the two young men were honoured during a service April 1947.
Langdon was selected to work on the Burma-Thai Railway with ‘H’ Force Group 3. Please read further.
Above: Ron’s love of tennis and skill has him playing for Shackleton as did Norm Venemore.
Camp Locations:
- Adam Park Camp - Singapore
- Johore Bahru, - Malaysia
- Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore
- Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
- Sime Road Camp - Singapore
- Kanu II, 152.30k - Thailand
