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CRUEL YEARS BURIED IN SALVATION

by Malcolm Quekett, The West Australian Newspaper

Saturday 14 August 2010

It was 65 years ago but Alf Worth and Jim Elliott remember it clearly. Hope and Salvation fell from the sky as their days of hell as prisoners of war in work camps in Japan ended.

Then hope came in leaflets US bombers dropped. Some said the Japanese had surrendered and WWII was over. Others told the prisoners to paint red crosses on the camp roof to signal where they were. Then salvation came in 44-gallon drums which burst as they hit the ground, spilling food.

Mr. Worth, 95, remembers a mate telling him: “Alf when the war is over I am going to eat myself sick.” He tried and failed but slept that night with a full belly.

Mr. Elliott, 90, remembers how the US bombers flew over the camp with their bomb doors open. “They were very low,” he says. “We were out watching and then realized they wanted us out of the road.

“They dropped parachutes attached to 44-gallon drums which hit the ground and split open. There were all sorts of chocolates, cigarettes, tins of beef, vitamin pills.”

“The Doctor in our camp said ‘take it easy boys, you can’t eat too quickly’. He was shovelling in food.”

The pair were in the 2/4^th Machine Gun Battalion, formed from men across WA in late 1940 who found themselves in Singapore in January 1942, days before the Japanese attacked the supposedly impregnable Allied Forces.

The battalion had heavy casualties before Singapore was surrendered on February 15 and the survivors fell into Japanese hands. What followed was 3 ½ years of deprivation and cruelty.

Mr. Worth and Mr. Elliot were assigned to the notorious Burma-Thai railway and then had a nightmare voyage to Japan and to separate work camps.

Mr. Worth found himself in a coal mine at Ohama, hauling box cars and remembers hearing the war ad ended as the Japanese guards listened to a radio.

“When we got down the mine they told us to sit down and told us the war was over,” Mr. Worth says. “We refused to go any further.”

After one-hour-stand-off, the captives were allowed back to the camp where they told the rest of the Allied prisoners.

Asked about the mood, he struggles for words: “You just could not describe it.”

Mr. Elliott was taken to Nihama as a carpenter and remembers being bitterly cold in one of Japan’s worst winters.

The prisoners began to realize the war was turning when they saw waves of US bombers on raids in the weeks before the surrender. Then about midday they were returned to camp and told the news which they greeted with elation and relief.

“Some of us would not have lasted much longer,” Mr. Elliott says.

Tomorrow, on the 65^th anniversary of VP Day for Victory in the Pacific though some prefer VJ Day for Victory over Japan, the 2/4^th Machine Gun Battalion will be honoured with a plaque dedicated at the PoW memorial in Kings Park.

LAWYERS ON THE NOTORIOUS BURMA THAILAND RAILWAY

Amongst the West Australians who laboured on the railway, were 3 men who were or became solicitors and one who became a magistrate. They were Captain George Gwynne, Ross Ambrose, James Wilson and Bernie O’Sullivan.

Another who embarked on a law degree was WX1126 Graeme Keats Cameron 

His name is recorded in the UWA Law Faculty, however we are not sure Cameron practiced.  Cameron was send to work on the Burma-Thai Railway with the ill-fated ‘D’ Force Thailand V Battalion which endured the harshest of conditions and endured large numbers of deaths.

On 17 October 2016, it marked 73 years since the completion of the infamous Burma Thailand Railway. This was a single-track railway 421 kms long, constructed by the Imperial Japanese Army, which connected the rail systems of Burma and Thailand. More than 60,00 Prisoners of War (POW) and a huge number of natives were used in the construction. It is assessed that around 13000 POWs died over a period of around 16 months. Around 90000 of the natives are estimated to have died. The deaths were caused by endemic diseases (malaria, dysentery, pellagra, cholera), starvation, exhaustion and beatings.

Captain George Gwynne 

enlisted into the 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion December 1940 having previously been in the 10^th Light Horse or Militia unit. He was 36 years of age. He trained in Northam, Woodside and Darwin, sailed for Singapore from Darwin, via Pt Moresby, Sydney and Perth. Arrived Singapore 25 January 1942 and fought in the defence of Singapore. He became a POW upon capitulation on 15 February 1942.

George was sent to Thailand to work on the Railway April 1943 as part of F Force. This force was of 70000 being 3400 British and 3600 Australians. This group is regarded as having the worst experience of all the POWQs. They marched 300km over 18nughts from their arrival point in Thailand to their work station. This was in temperatures over 40C. The death rate within this group was 44% (59% British , 28% Australians). George worked closely with Major Bruce Hunt (a prominent Perth doctor specializing in diabetes and generally regarded as the outstanding medical Officer of F Force). He was at some stage working as the Ward Master in Hunt’s hospital facility, which was established at 50kilo camp in Burma. In an article written for “The West Australian” on 29 November 1945, Bruce Hunt made mention of the many volunteers, including George, who worked in the wards in Burma. Of approximately 2000 POW patients in this hospital facility, 750 died. Following completion of the Railway in October 1943, the bulk of the POWs were transported back to Singapore like cattle (the same as their move from Singapore to Thailand by rail around 12 months earlier). He spent some time, with Bernie O’Sullivan, employed on the Changi aerodrome. At all times George was prepared to place himself between the Japanese and the POWs and suffered bashings from the Japanese guards.

George served articles in the late 1920’s and became a partner in Parker and Parker in 1930. George and his wife Sheila had interest in the racing industry. The champion horse Raconteur was bred and raced by Sheila. At one stage pre war George was a leading amateur jockey. He was also a keen yachtsman and was Commodore of Royal Perth Yacht Club in mid 19030’s. George was an active member of Legacy for many years. He passed away in 1962.

T.R. (Ross) Ambrose

enlisted in the AIF. Ross was an older man. On enlistment he was aged 35. He was a reinforcement for the 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion. He too became a POW on 15 February 1942 in Singapore. As with Bernie O’Sullivan he was sent to Thailand as Part of H Force. This group labored on the southern end of the Railway. 25% of this force died in Thailand. This force left Thailand for Singapore in May 1943 and, like the others, was transported 30 POW to a steel railway truck 5.5m by 2.15m. They had to take turns to lie down. The journey lasted five days / 4 nights. The following are some anecdotes provided by Ross’ son David.

He usually referred to captivity as the time he spent ‘as the guest of Nippon’;

He spoke almost compassionately of the Japanese guards in the camps at the end of the war who, he said, were forgotten by their superiors and whose situation became as desperate as the prisoners – ‘in the end, it became a race between the prisoners and the guards for who would get the rats’ (as a source of food); and

• He was enormously proud of his old slouch-hat and ‘to have been an Australian’ in captivity. He had little time for many of the British officer class, with the sole exception of a Catholic priest, because they left their soldiers in the jungle if they fell by the wayside before working parties returned to camp at night. He said that the Australians, having brought in their own inform, would then form up arties to go out and bring in any of the Brits they knew they had left behind.

His sister Mrs Deborah Carson was in Sydney when the POWs returned. They were reunited with relatives at the Sydney Show Grounds. She remembers that Ross was very wasted being only around 6 stone and he had dreadful sores (caused by 3 ½ years of malnutrition as a POW). Post war Ross became a Senior Partner in Jackson McDonald. He passed away in 1988.

James (Blue) Graham Wilson. enlisted in the 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion in November 1940 when he was twenty. He arrived in Singapore on 25 January 1942 and just three weeks later he became a POW. Blue was wounded in the defence of Singapore and it is said that he carried a bullet in his body to his death. Whilst incarcerated in the Changi are, Blue, who was a pianist, was required to play for the Japs. This occurred whilst he was in a work party on Johore Bahru.

Blue labored on the Burma end of the line from mid 1942 to around January 1944. He was discharged from the army later than most in March 1946. There is an unconfirmed suggestion that he returned to Australia via England.

After the war he gained his matriculation in 1947 and graduated from University of Western Australia in 1953. Justice Robert Anderson had this to say about Blue, ‘He was a person who showed profound concern for his clients and displayed meticulous attention to detail’. Robert Meadows QC said, ‘ Blue was a marvelous chap who put new articled clerks at ease and made them most welcome’. Around 1963 he moved to Hong Kong where he became a magistrate and subsequently rose to higher judicial office. It is understood that he developed a deep interest in antiques. He was an extremely generous man and sponsored a number of Hong Kong students to study in Australia. He was a wonderful host to Western Australians passing through Hong Kong. Blue died around 1980 having never married.

Bernard (Bernie) O’Sullivan

was a Lieutenant in the 2/4^th Machine Gun Battalion. (Pre-war he had enlisted in 28^th Battalion as a member of the Militia). 2/4^th Machine Gun Battalion landed in Singapore on 25 January 1942. On 8 February the Japanese commenced their attack on Singapore Island, General Percival capitulated on 15 February 1942. The Allied servicemen became Prisoners of War (POW) that day.

In May 1943 Bernie was sent to Thailand as part of H Force (3000 POW’s including 700 Australians). H Force was located at the southern end of the Railway and was involved, amongst other things, in the notorious Hellfire Pass. Bernie was in Malayan Hamlet with Major Bert Saggers (owner of Saggers Shoe Store in Perth) and the medical Officer was Kevin Fagen (who was highly regarded by the POW’s in this location). Work on Hellfire Pass commenced on ANZAC Day 1943. Hellfire Pass was a cutting which was 400m long and 18m in depth and was cut through solid rock by manual labour using a technique known as ‘hammer and tap’. The cutting was completed in twelve weeks at a cost of 400 lives. Bernie suffered from cerebral malaria whilst working on the line. On completion of the Railway Bernie spent some time in hospital and was transported back to Singapore.

Post war Bernie worked for a period as the Associate to Chief Justice Sir John Dwyer. He subsequently studied and passed the examinations for appointment as a magistrate. In 1953 he was appointed Magistrate at Cue. There followed time at Kalgoorlie, Narrogin, Northam and Perth. In 1967 he was appointed Chief Industrial Commissioner, retiring in 1981. For some 30 years he was President of the West Australian Football League Tribunal. Bernie, having been a Legacy Ward himself, was an active member of Legacy for many years. As a younger man he was involved in athletics and continued his association with the sport after the war. Bernie was awarded the Order of Australia in 1985. He passed away in 1997 aged 75.

Notes prepared by Lt Col Peter Winstanley RFD JP (Retired) E-mail pgwinstanley@cambraivillage.com.au Web Page: www.pows-of-japan.net

CHANGI VETERAN RECALLS POW HELL

By Karen Brown

The West Australian Newspaper, April 1995

After 90 years, Billy Carlyon’s eyes are starting to dim, but the memories of the time he spent as a prisoner of war building the infamous Burma railway remain vivid.

The aboriginal bachelor, a member of the 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion, was captured by the Japanese in 1942, within weeks of landing in Singapore.

“My war was over before it had started. They captured the lot of us,” he said yesterday. For the next 3-½ years Mr Carlyon lived on his wits and his luck.

He survived internment at Changi and watched scores of his mates suffer at the hands of the Japanese army and fall victim to starvation and disease as they worked on the railway, which was to claim 2600 Australian lives.

Mr. Carlyon suffered severe bouts of malaria, dysentery and beri beri and his weight dropped to 44.5 kg during his internment.

Australia’s POEs were honoured at the National War Memorial in Canberra and Government House in Perth yesterday, the 53^rd anniversary of the Fall of Singapore.

Mr Carlyon who lives in Onslow, is recovering from an eye operation in Hollywood Private Hospital.

Prime Minister Paul Keating said Australians Should never let the outrage of Would War II atrocities committed by the Japanese forces fade from memory.

Speaking as Canberra celebrated the opening of the Australia Remembers commemorative year, he said the 50^th anniversary of the end of World War II was a time to pay tribute to the 27,000 soldiers who had died in it.

ANGELA GAZEY and the death of Eric Joseph HOLST WX8678 Private, ‘A’ Company, Born 1913 died 1945

Angela, former student of Kalamunda Senior High School and a selected member of the Premier’s Student Anzac Tour 2012 which focused on:

• the fall of Malaysia and Singapore.
• the tragic story of Sandakan.
• honouring the 2/4th Machine 
Gun Btn.

With the main focus of the education program on the prisoner of war experience and Sandakan, the tour group visited States of Sarawak, Labuan and Sabah, attending ANZAC Day commemorations at Sandakan where a prisoner of war camp was first established in 1942. Angela’s great uncle, Private Eric Joseph Holst, 2/4th MG Btn, aged 31 years perished in 1945 on the wretched Sandakan march. His death records confirm he died of malaria on 20^th March 1945

In 2012, Angela Gazey was a guest speaker at our annual luncheon. With the assistance of Student Tour Leader & Organiser Robyn Cleaver Angela spoke about the group’s experience and shared with us some of the tour photographs.

ANGELA who at the age of 18 years was the RSLWA’s 2013 Youth Ambassador and following the march, gave an address at the Anzac Day Service at the Perth Esplanade . 
 She spoke with confidence, and delivered a moving speech to the very large audience gathered. In particular, Angela urged her generation to study the experiences of their forebears.

“Our freedom came at a cost, and it is important we learn about this”

Joe Pearce

By Daniel Pearce

The author Daniel Pearce is the grandson of Joe Pearce. He wrote this story for an English assignment while in year 7 at Dumbleyung District High School 1997.

Joe Pearce was born in Wagin in 1917. Joe’s mother was Emma Warren and his father, Thomas Pearce. They had a total of ten children, their names were Winifred, Dorothy, Tom, May, Joe Jack (who sadly died of a brain tumour at age 14), Jean, George, Caroline and Morna.

At the age of six in the year 1923, Joe went to school at Moulyinning, than at the age of twelve he went to North Moulyinning in 1929. He stayed there for years. A special memory is travelling to school each day in the horse and sulky travelling 6 miles in one hour.

Joe immediately started work on the farm, never considering being anything else other than a farmer.

Joe started playing football at Moulyinning at the age of 14 in 1932. There was no Moulyinnning team in 1933 so he played for Kukerin. The following year he played for Harrismith. Moulyinning Football Club reformed and their team won the first premiership ever. This was the year of 1935, following with four premierships in a row. Then he was selected into a carnival team and from here he was selected to play for Swan Districts. Joe played football for Swan Districts for a year, then Second World War broke out.

Joe Pearce joined the army in 1941 and stayed on the farm until he was called up for service. He entered the 2/4^th Machine Gun Battalion and trained in Northam for about six months, he then transferred to the cold Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia. They were then moved to Darwin to build gunposts and roads in Darwin and while there, the Japanese officially declared war.

Then the battalion was moved to Papua New Guinea by ship. When they got to Port Moresby their orders were changed, hence, they were transferred to another larger ship the ‘Aquatania’. Joe and his battalion sailed right around Australia past Sydney and around to Perth where they picked up reinforcements. The they sailed to Singapore and came into the Sundra and Sumatra Straights. There they were transferred into small Dutch boats.

They landed on the coastline of Singapore in heavy rain, this was the 1^st of February, the only day the Japanese didn’t raid Singapore so they had no trouble landing. The battalion took up their positions on the beach facing Malaya. They dug gun pits and readied their guns. On the 7^th the Japanese started shelling the battalion, continuing for ten hours. The Australians lay low and waited for the major attack, which came on the 8^th February. The Australians took a heavy toll on the Japanese numbers but the Japanese had cut them off from the other Australian forces so they had to fight their way out. Their battalion reformed and after heavy fighting for the rest of the week with consistent bombing and strafing from the Japanese Air Force, the Allied commanders decided to surrender to save the population of Singapore. They were told to lay down their weapons on the 15^th February 1942 and they were taken prisoners of war.

Altogether the battalion lost 160 men and 340 were injured (there were 960 in the whole battalion). They were imprisoned in Changi Barracks and from there were sent out on working parties all around Singapore. After 10 months, they were sent to build a long railway line in Thailand. The party Joe was in was sent to a place called Banpong in Thailand. The men started the Thailand end of the railway and built it towards Burma. Joe worked on it for three and a half years. Finally, the allied forces over ran Japan and the Japanese were forced to surrender in August 1945. The war was finally over and the allies were free.

Very little had changed in farming while he was gone, but goods such as food, petrol and clothing were rationed and hard to get.

Joe returned very sick and with a weakened body and was determined to get back into football to regain his strength. Halfway through the 1948 season, he resumed his career with Swan Districts. Joe won the Fairest and Best for two years in a row and the club has an Honour Board titled ‘Joe Pearce – Award of Courage’. Joe’s love of football continued when he coached Moulyinning Football Club for twenty years – winning nine premierships in a row and thirteen overall.

Joe met Gwynneth Dow in Perth and married on the 22^nd February 1946, the start of their life together. Joe has three children; their names ar Allison, Tracy and Tom who love him dearly. He also has seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He and Gwynneth have shared fifty one years of marriage together.

At the age of 82 he is still on the farm. Working on the land with his son.

Newspaper Article

‘Joe Borrow shared the fate of so many of his generation.
Born during a war, grew up in a depression and killed in another war.
He did not know what it was like to have a secure job, home and family of his own.
And like so many other victims of war, his remains lie in foreign soil, far from his homeland.’

By Doreen Borrow.

Joe Borrow died of wounds aged 25 years received in action  Singapore, 15 February 1942.

Joe Borrow was born Newcastle-upn-Tyne, England 1916.  One in four of 2/4th soldiers were born England, Wales, Scotland etc.

The Borrow family arrived from London 15 October 1929 on ‘Otranto’ from London.  Joe’s father John Borrow had been a miner.  Joseph junior was about 12 years of age.  The family were living at Gosnells when Joe enlisted.

He enlisted AIF Oct 1940 – and like many others did so to have a secure job and income.

2002 Visit by Joe Pearce and John Morgan to Lim Chu Kang Road (8 February 1942)

On the 60th anniversary of ‘The Fall of Singapore’ Joe Pearce and John Morgan, both original members of No. 13 Platoon travelled to Singapore for the occasion. They made a return visit to the isolated end of Lim Chu Kang Road – to the place they were located 8th February 1942.

The following is the story Joe Pearce related to Murray Ewen, Author, ‘Colour Patch.’

‘My feelings on finding our old gun emplacement site on the Buloh Estate initially was one of excitement. Finally here we were at the same spot after all these years. The jetty, which had been enlarged was still there and is still used by the owners of a large residence which is there now but of course wasn’t in 1942. Back then, there was a two-storied house with an orchard and palm trees. This was where our slit trenches were but now this whole area is with jungle. Part of the wall where our guns were set up has been extended on one end. The middle section of this wall has been lowered to about half of its original height but nevertheless you still roughly work out where our three guns were sited.

I sat down quietly and my mind reflected back to that fateful day when the Japanese artillery barrage started and pounded us continually for seven hours.

First Bob Pratt, Bill Patterson and myself were knocked out. Later when the Japs tried to land, Eric Wankey, Jim Loller and Tom Beard were carted out. Lin MacDonald and Fred Tregenza were ambushed on the way out, never to be seen again. Later as POWs Edgar Hunt, Jack McCarthy in ‘D’ Force, Bill Patterson in ‘F’ Force, Ron Langdon in ‘H’ Force, Johny Browning and ‘Comet’ Shirley in Sandakan Borneo. There was also Harry Carter, Norm Venemore, Jim and Lacy Gibbs drowned going to Japan and Ken Lally killed in a mining accident, all never to see Australia again.

Then the fight to stay alive for three and a half years until war’s end and the joy of seeing Australia again and our family and friends. Our loves, lives and ambitions realized, children to raise, beautiful life. Now just John Morgan and myself from No. 13 Platoon back at the landing after 60 years. All these memories good and bad, of life I feel very lucky and humble for my life’s experience and say a prayer for our fifteen that never saw Australia again.’ Joe Pearce, 25 April 2002.

Below:  Joe Pearce

Above:  John Morgan