Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Eric George Ball was born in London, England on January 25, 1918. He was the only child from his father’s marriage to his second wife and has a half-brother, William Thomas Ball from his father’s first marriage. After spending his early childhood in London, Eric moved to Curramulka, South Australia (182km west of Adelaide) with his father and half-brother where his father had bought land to start a farm. Prior to the war, Eric worked as a farm labourer and tractor driver on the farm for his father. This was until 1939 when he then aged 21 attended a Militia Camp at the Keswick barracks with 80,000 other men to complete a three-month training camp which was a significant step in his pre-war journey.
 
On the 16th of June 1941, 18 months into the war, Eric went to the Australian Military Forces in Wayville, South Australia where he enlisted as a Private to join the 2nd Australian Imperial Force. It was here he was given the service number SX13240. This six-character code would stick with Eric throughout his time in the army. He enlisted in the 8th Division Salvage Unit under the command of Lieutenant Jack Thomas Pool. The unit was comprised of 43 soldiers making it one of the smallest support units attached to the 8th Division during World War 2. The purpose of the unit was to scavenge battlefields for equipment, arms and ammunition after the fighting in the area had moved away. The unit would then repair the equipment and redistribute it to other units in the 8th Division that needed it.
  
The Salvage Unit underwent training at the Woodside camp between the months of February and June. It was here where all 8th Division Salvage Unit servicemen were allocated a grey, white and blue patch that would be stitched into the arm of their uniform. The Salvage Unit’s first post was in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory in mid-1941 where they worked as labouring troops. The move was initially considered temporary to ‘acclimatise’ the soldiers to the tropical weather and an opportunity to build mateship with the other soldiers. It was here that Eric underwent his basic training in navigation and digging air-raid trenches as well as simply becoming familiar with army life. It would only be in late July 1941 that the salvage unit embarked from Melbourne to join the rest of the 8th Division in Malaya and Singapore. However, here too they were originally used as skilled labouring troops before finally in late 1941 they started using their specific skills of salvaging military equipment, arms and ammunition from fields. The working conditions for the Salvage Units were often extremely difficult. Difficult climates, extended time in remote areas, and the threat of tropical diseases all made the jobs of the men much harder.
 
It was when the Japanese attacked Northern Malaya and made their way down the peninsula that the 8th Division Unit’s job became much more dangerous, and Eric’s life was changed. On the 15th of February 1942, Eric George Ball along with most of the 8th Division Salvage Unit surrendered to Japanese Forces and became Prisoners of War. This was suggested by Lieutenant General Arthur Percival’s as the Japanese had broken the defence line and this was the best way to reduce casualties. The Salvage Unit lost nearly half of its soldiers as prisoners of war. Most of the 8th Division soldiers were sent to work on the Thai-Burma Railway where they were brutally put to work in harsh conditions. Others died in the Sandakan Death Marches, two were to die at sea and a small group finished working in coal mines in Japan.

Eric was originally sent to the Changi Prison where he worked as a skilled labourer until the 15th of February 1942 where along with most of the 8th Division Salvage Unit, he left Singapore for Thailand. Eric was moved to Thailand to work on the railway construction between Thailand and Burma. The mortality rate was extremely high as the work itself was gruelling and dangerous along with the lack of food, equipment and medical supplies. Eric would have experienced inhumane treatment during his time building the railway and endured horrific torture from Japanese forces. Eric stayed in Thailand until the very end of the build in October of 1943. It was here that he was then transported back to the Changi Prison in Singapore where he would spend the rest of his time as a Prisoner of War.
 
In the early September of 1945, Eric George Ball was transported to Saigon, Indochina where he would be soon released. On the 22nd of October 1945, Eric would be recovered from the Japanese at Saigon and back into the hands of the British. In late September he was moved again to Singapore and was granted proficiency pay where he was now a working soldier again.
 
 
Eric Ball then embarked on the SS Highland Chieftain on the 29th of October. This ship would take Eric as well as many other Prisoners of War back to Australia and to their homes. Eric disembarked the Highland Chieftain on the 19th of November 1945 in Sydney, Australia. Soon on the 21st of January 1946, Eric was admitted to the 121 Australian General Hospital in the ACT for an unknown reason. Yet just under a month later on the 19th of February he was discharged under Australian Military Regulations and Orders.
 
After Eric arrived back in Australia, it’s assumed that he went back to his farm in Curramulka to his father John and half-brother William. Ever since his arrival back in Australia there has been no information detailing anything about his family, work or personal life. There is evidence that Eric applied for the Prisoners of War Trust Fund in 1955 and was granted this pay.

Eric Ball passed away on January 16th, 1998, aged 79 and is interred at Adelaide’s Enfield Memorial Park in the RSL section (Figure 8). Along with his brother William, Eric’s name is also on the Curramulka District Honour Roll (Figure 9) honouring his service during WW2. Eric’s name is also a part of Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, City of West Torrens WW2 Boulevard of Honour and the Curramulka War Memorial.
 

Lest We Forget
                               
 
 
Bibliography
 
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Changi POW camp (2015) History Learning Site. Available at: https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/prisoners-of-war-in-ww2/changi-pow-camp/ (Accessed: April 20, 2023). 

Department of Veterans' Affairs; address=21 Genge St, Civic/Canberra City, ACT 2601; contact=+61 2 6289 1133; [email protected] (2022) Australian prisoners of war 1941-1945, Anzac Portal. corporateName=Department of Veterans' Affairs; address=21 Genge St, Civic/Canberra City, ACT 2601; contact=+61 2 6289 1133; [email protected]. Available at: https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/resources/australian-prisoners-war-1941-1945 (Accessed: May 7, 2023). 

National Museum of Australia; address=Lawson Crescent, A.P. (2023) Burma–thailand railway, National Museum of Australia. National Museum of Australia; c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=National Museum of Australia. Available at: https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/burma-thailand-railway#:~:text=From%20October%201942%20to%20October,railway%20linking%20Thailand%20and%20Burma. (Accessed: May 3, 2023). 

Darwin, NT. 1945-09-14. The SS Highland Chieftain carrying prisoners of war (POWs) from Singapore (no date) Australian War Memorial. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C291298 (Accessed: May 1, 2023). 

Eric George Ball (1919-1998) - find a grave... (no date) Find a Grave. Available at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113305760/eric-george-ball (Accessed: May 2, 2023). 

Eric George Ball (no date) Virtual War Memorial | Eric George BALL. Available at: https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/596186 (Accessed: May 2, 2023). 

Journal, T.A.P. (no date) Japan's world heritage miike coal mine – where prisoners-of-war worked "like slaves", The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Available at: https://apjjf.org/2021/13/Palmer.html (Accessed: May 7, 2023). 

Life on the death railway (no date) Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Burma-Railway/Life-on-the-Death-Railway (Accessed: May 1, 2023). 

scheme=AGLSTERMS.AglsAgent; corporateName=Department of Veterans' Affairs; address=Gnabra Building, 21 Genge Street, Civic; contact=133 254 (no date) DVA's nominal rolls, DVA's Nominal Rolls. scheme=AGLSTERMS.AglsAgent; corporateName=Department of Veterans' Affairs; address=Gnabra Building, 21 Genge Street, Civic; contact=133 254. Available at: https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=676606&c=WW2#R (Accessed: April 2, 2023). 

National Archives of Australia (no date) RecordSearch. Available at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=6401903&isAv=N (Accessed: April 7, 2023). 

Training Militia Camp Dates - details of three months' training 10 sites fixed - the advertiser (adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954) - 1 dec 1939 (no date) Trove. Available at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/35651930 (Accessed: May 5, 2023).