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In the closing days of the battle, a rumour spread through the wards that the Japanese had captured a nearby hospital and bayoneted the patients in their beds. Bill Webb was not about to lie there and wait for it to happen to him. Changing back into his uniform, he left the hospital to find his unit, confident that if he had to die, then he would die fighting. He learned that his unit was somewhere near the docks, but reaching them would not be easy as the area was under constant bombardment, both from the ground and the air.

When he finally reached the harbour, he found ships of every size and shape being loaded to the gunnels with civilians and military personnel alike. As he made his way along the dockside, Webb was grabbed by a military policeman who pushed him towards the gangway of the nearest vessel. ‘Get on the ship mate, or the Japs will have you in the bag’, he ordered.

As the ship pulled away from the dock, Webb asked a soldier nearby, ‘Are we going to Australia?’ ‘No mate, we’re heading for Java.’

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AWM 132937. AIF and British POWs, Selarang Barracks, Changi, Singapore, 9 Feb 1942. Troops arriving in Selarang Barracks Square following fall of Singapore.

Following the fall of Singapore, the Japanese focus switched to the islands of the Dutch East Indies. Facing the onslaught was a mixed bag of British, Dutch, Australian and American troops who mounted a futile and eleventh-hour bid to slow the Japanese juggernaught as it moved closer to what many believed was its next objective -- Australia.

At home, the fall of Singapore was having an unsettling effect on the whole country, particularly on the families of the troops who had gone to Malaya. As she hung the washing on the line, Gladys Webb froze at the sight of the telegram delivery boy peddling down the street. She closed her eyes and prayed, ‘Please don’t stop. Please God, don’t let him stop here.’ A young voice interrupted her reverie. ‘Mrs Webb?’ She opened her eyes, nodded her head in response to the boy’s question and took the envelope he handed to her. As she opened it, one word stood out like a beacon, ‘missing’.

Bill Webb was now a prisoner of war. He was one of the twenty-two thousand Australians who were captured defending Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies. As ‘guests of the Emperor’ the prisoners were confronted by disease, deprivation and appalling brutality at the hands of their captors.

Bill resolved to make the best of a horrendous situation. His prime objective was survival and he became renowned for his forays beyond the wire in search of food. Unfortunately for Bill, there was worse to come. Labour was needed to build a railway to carry supplies between Thailand and Burma -- it would later be referred to as the ‘Railway of Death’.

Working under unbearable conditions, the Allied prisoners not only had to contend with the brutal treatment dished out by the Japanese and Korean guards, but had to battle all manner of tropical diseases, lack of shelter, 16-hour work days and a near starvation diet. Webb’s will to survive never wavered. He would creep out of camp at night and trade with the local natives for food. He was well aware of the consequences if caught, but knowing that extra food gave him a better chance of staying alive made it worth the risk.
Excerpt from The Survivor

The details provided are taken from the book "Just Soldiers" written by WO1 Darryl Kelly, published 2004, refer to pages 233 to 244. He was born in 1896 at Cheddar UK. He enlisted in the 1st AIF on 6th Feb 1915 and allocated to the 11th Light Horse Reg't. Received further training in Egypt until he volunteered for service at Gallipoli. He landed 3rd Oct 1915. He was evacuated later with dysentery, and did not return to duty until after the Army was evacuated back to Egypt in Dec 15. He served with the Light Horse in the Palestine area, and in an attack against Gaza he was wounded in the left thigh and the right hand. Again, he was evacuated to a hospital in Egypt. He was downgraded to class 2 and assigned to duties in AIF HQ Cairo. Later, still class 2, he was transferred to the 4th Training Reg't. May 18, he again sought transfer to the 11th L/H Reg't, he was medically re-classed as fit and transferred. Again, he became ill with dysentery and hospitalised, and while in hospital the Turkish army surrendered. This allowed the Light Horse to be returned to Australia.

WW2 - another call to arms. William enlisted in the 2nd AIF 7th March 1941 from his home in Maryborough. He was allocated to the 3rd Reserve Motor Company which was a part of the 8th Division in Malaya. The Japanese enemy invaded Malaysia and eventually captured the whole peninsula and too Singapore. At that time he was again in hospital suffering from malaria. He self discharged and sought to find his Unit, but was pushed onto a ship which sailed to Java. It was there that he was captured and returned to Singapore. He was one of thousands who were forced to work on the Burma Railway, and he was one of the survivors when it was completed in Oct 1943. He was imprisoned at Tamarkan in Thailand when , in March 44, many of the prisoners including William were detailed for work camps in Japan. They were rail transported to Saigon where they waited for a ship, boarded 4th Sept 44 and sailed for Japan. On the 12th Sept the ship was torpedoed by the USS Sealion. The cargo kept the ship floating for many hours but it eventually dipped beneath the surface. A small number to lifeboats to be had, but eventually he was on one and a couple of days later the group of lifeboats were "rescued" by a Japanese warship, and they completed the journey. In Japan they worked in ship yards, coalmines always doing hard and dangerous work in harsh conditions with little food. At the end of the war, the allied army collected the survivors, and William was duly repatriated to his home in Australia.