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War Memorial
Australia

Minty, 2/29th was one of a large number of Australians who left Singapore with a work party to Sandakan to build airfields. He led an escape party of five men who escaped and remained free for six months in the harsh environment of the Borneo jungle. The were recaptured just as they had secured a boat and supplies.
Taken to Japanese HQ in Kutching to face trial where they were sentenced to Outram Road, Singapore a notorious prison. Minty was sentenced to 6 years.

VX59433 Private Norman Morris, VX39255 Pte Bruce McWilliams, Pte Allan Minty, Lance Corporal Fred New and Corporal William Fairy of the 2/29 Battalion.

Despite severe mistreatment and imprisonment, Minty and his fellow escapees survived to see the end of the war and returned to Australia in September 1945.

The following is from Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Thursday 27 September 1945, page 3

'Interviewed while in bed, too ill to walk, Pte. Minty told of privations which caused him to lose nearly five stone in weight. Captured in Singapore on February 15, 1942, he was taken to Sandakan in July. With four other 2/29th men he escaped 18 days later. They trudged down the coast, hiding from Jap patrols, and eluded capture for six months, living on what food they could get out of the jungle.'
After being sentenced in Borneo they were taken to Outram Road Gaol in a bamboo cage, 10ft. by 8ft., into which eight men were jammed, in the hold of a captured Dutch tramp steamer. Minty endured the first 12 months of his term in solitary confinement, locked in a cell 10ft. by 5½ft.'