Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Warrant Officer II Cliveden Edward Sandilands (Service Nos:6592/VX39801/17642) initially enlisted in the RAAF at No 4 Recruiting Centre Perth on 20 September 1940 as an Aircraftman I - mustered as Trainee Wireless Operator. Posted to No 1 STT Melbourne, he was Discharged on 15 February 1941 and enlisted in the Army on 19 February 1941. Sergeant Sandilands served with 2/1 Fortress Signals and was a PoW held by the Japanese in Timor, Java, Singapore and Sumatra. "Burnt Rice and Bamboo' (AWM) is a memoir of PoW life written by Sandy from notes he made as a PoW - he was a member of 2/40 Battalion (part of Sparrow Force) when he was captured. Discharged on 6 March 1946, he re-enlisted in the Army in the late 1950s, retiring in the mid 1970s as a Warrant Officer attached to Army Educational Corps in Townsville, QLD. WO Sandilands was awarded the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Military) in 1975 and in 1985 the Defence Force Service Medal. 

Sandy was born in Boulder, WA in 1920, fifth of seven children of Christopher Sandilands (b1874 in Bulleen, Victoria) and Phoebe (Tottie) Louisa Topping Cooke (b1889 in Melbourne, Victoria). Christoper and Tottie met in Boulder, WA in 1906 - Christopher was working as a Teamster. They married in 1908 in Boulder, where  settled and Christopher worked as a Surface Press Hand at the Great Boulder Mine and served with the Militia. By 1917 the family was living in Cottesloe, Fremantle when Christopher enlisted in WWI (Sergeant; Service No:7027). Following his Discharge, the family returned to Boulder, where Christopher was Secretary to the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA), and in the 1920s moved to Kendenup via Albany where Christopher was a Farmer.

Sandy was living in Perth - an unemployed Freelance Radio Script Writer according to his RAAF Attestation Papers - when he enlisted in the RAAF in 1940. Following his Recovery from the Japanese, Sandy was in Launceston Tasmania in 1945 when he married Betty Robilliard Long (b1919 in Currie, King Island, Tasmania) - Betty was a Nursing Sister in Launceston prior to serving in WWII (Lieutenant; Service No:TX6435). Sandy and Betty lived in Launceston, Tasmania and Kendenup, WA before Sandy enlisted in the Army in the late 1950s. Initially posted to Holdsworthy, NSW, Sandy and Betty were stationed in Brisbane and Sydney before a posting to Townsville, QLD. Sandy was President of the QLD Ex Prisoners of War Association (North QLD), and the James Cook University Library holds numerous records relating to Sandy's service. Following his retirement from the Army in the mid 1970s, Sandy and Betty lived on Magnetic Island and in Townsville where Sandy was a Teacher. Betty died in 2007 and Sandy in 2010.