The Soldier's Details

‘It saddens us to find Archie McIntosh’s war medals were sold for $900.00’ by J.B. Military Antiques.

Archie enlisted Dec 1940 and later joined Headquarters Company No. 1 Platoon training as a Signaller.  With the 2/4th they went to Woodside and Darwin,NT before sailing via Sydney and Fremantle to Singapore.

It was Saturday January 25, 1942 the 2/4th arrived in Singapore.

Archie left Singapore to work on Burma-Thai Railway with ‘F’ Force.  This Force endured a very high death toll including Archie who died of beri beri and dysentery at Tanbaya Hospital, Burma and the young age of 23 years November 1943.

Also please read about F Force

The list below was prepared by Harold Cowie. There were 48 men from 2/4th.

 

He was evacuated sick from Shimo Sokurai Hospital to Tanbaya Hospital Camp, Burma.

He is buried in Burma.

Funeral service was conducted by Chaplain Duckworth (British Army) on 15.11.1943. Soldier was actually buried on 10.11.1943.

Further reading about Tanbaya Hospital Camp, Burma

Tanbaya was known as a Hospital Camp, but it was without medicines and medical facilities as were all hospital camps on the Burma-Thai Railway – in particular until after 1944 (when rail line was completed) when all the POWs in Burma were brought south to Thailand by the Japanese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Years after the war ended Wally Holding wrote:

‘It turned out that two of the boys we knew at Bassendean, Archie McIntosh and Roy McConachie, were amongst the mob that hopped off the ‘Aquatania’. As they went along Ivanhoe Street past Wyn’s home they were spotted and told Wyn’s family that we were going aboard the ‘Aquatania’ as they were coming off. Neither Roy nor Archie came home. Archie McIntosh was in “F” Force and was sick, he went up to Tanbaya, Burma where he died on 10.11.1943. Roy McConachie went to Sandakan and died there.’

Both McIntosh and McConachie managed to reboard ‘Aquitania’ before departing for Singapore the following day on 16 January 1942.

 

Above:  Passenger list for ‘Barradine’ which departed London 17 March, 1929. Archie was eldest of their 3 children at 6 years of age!

The McIntosh family settled to live at Bassendean.

 

Archie’s mother is Treasurer at their local church.

 

The following three newspaper items include Archie’s violin playing!

 

 

 

 

 

Above:  Archie announces his engagement to Flora McLeod Maconachie, sister of his mate Roy David Maconachie WX9801.

Flora married another person before the end of the war.

The Maconachie and McIntosh families moved to Australia from Scotland, settled at Bassendean and were members of the same church.

Roy Maconachie and Archie were good mates, enlisted the same day and both trained to become signallers.  Machonachie was seleced with ‘B’ Force Borneo.  Roy aged 25 years, died on Sandakan-Ranau Track on 5 June 1945.  Although the Japanese recorded his death due to malaria – we know this is only a possibility as they falsified many death records to protect themselves and the war was nearing an end.

Archie’s brother Ian married in 1946.

Sister Agnes, known as Nessie also married in 1945 to Lindsay Browne.

Archie’s parents enjoyed living long lives.  Mary McLeod McIntosh aged 94 years died at Bayswater 21 November 1984 and her husband James Ramsay died just a few weeks later, December 1984 aged 93 years.

Please read about the Bassendean Boys.