Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

John Francis Dowd (commonly known as Jack) was born on the 24th of January 1918 in Jamestown, South Australia. His family moved to Georgetown, and he began attending primary school in Port Wakefield before passing Year 7 in 1931. The Great Depression had an impact on their family and resulted in John missing his high school experience and working on farms instead. He started farm work at 14 years old, going to different stations, and in 1937, he ended up working around the mid-North of South Australia. On the 3rd of March 1941, he enlisted for service in Adelaide at 23 years old.  Before he was able to enlist, he was required to undergo a medical examination on the 25th of February. On the 6th of March 1941 he signed his Oath of Enlistment began his training in Woodside, only for about a month before he was going with his division to the real deal.

Jack was placed in the 8th Division Ammunition Sub-Park and his brother was in the 9th Division. His unit was stationed at Alice Springs from the 24th of April to the 23rd of September, where they carded fuel, ammunition, etc along to Larrimah, where those resources went by train off to Darwin.

They were back to Adelaide in October where they stayed on leave for a few days and received some vaccinations before they were off again, this time to Melbourne by train. When they arrived in Melbourne, they were stationed in horse stables, where they again had leave for 8-10 days, doing small tasks around the place to become prepared for war.

On the 22nd of October 1941 he embarked from Australia, getting on a ship fuelled by coal escorted by the Adelaide, travelling 180 miles south of the bight, where they encountered “whales and waves that were 2 times as high as the building.” One of his mates on the ship asked him if he wanted to work with them because they were short on crew.  He was put to work by using a wheelbarrow to bring coal from up the bunker and giving it to the stokers.

He began living with the crew, meaning he didn’t have guard duty, and he couldn’t be touched because they were the ones having the hot showers. He described his experience on the boat at that time as “beautiful.” He spent three days with the Adelaide escorting them, until conditions got too rough and the Sydney had to take over.

They soon landed at Fremantle and stayed for around 4-5 days not doing much until they were finally off to Singapore, still being escorted by the Sydney. A day and a half out to Singapore, there was a smoke attack, so regularly they would send out the plane they had onboard to do a safety check to see if the enemy were becoming a threat. The following day they arrived at Singapore and found that the Sydney had been sunk, which was the boat behind them.  

They were stationed at a base in Singapore at the time of the bombing of Peal Harbour on the 7th of December, and Jack was sent to go pick up gas masks. It wasn’t long before their division was carding ammunition while the Japanese were infiltrating the ranks, meaning Jack had to go on many back and forth trips for ammunition. The Japanese were packing their units in from everywhere. The Australians had nothing except their 303 rifles which were “absolutely useless in those conditions.” The Japanese were overrunning them with full battalions until the day of the 15th of February 1942, when the Japanese had captured them and there was nothing they could do about it.

After a day and a half being overpowered by the Japanese in Singapore, their guns were all thrown in a heap and Jack soon realised that the Japanese were becoming embarrassed because they didn’t know what to do with the Australians. Since the Japanese didn’t know what to do with the troops, they sent them off to Changi, without any sleep for around 2-3 days. 

In Changi, they stayed in a 2-story place, and Jack was bit by bed bugs during his stay there, and he knew because of the horrible smell they left after they bite, and the fact that they ‘bite like hell’ and suck blood. While at Changi, they went out on working parties on the island, taking motors and gearboxes out to the Chinese high school. They then went to Adam Park, again doing more chores until they came back to the Robert Barracks area.

On the 23rd of April 1943, 3,600 Australians (including Jack), 3,400 British, and some Dutch men left Singapore. They travelled by train for 5 days and 5 nights, only having one meal a day 26 men to a truck and no getting out. They stopped to conduct a kit search, and someone had leant Jack a camera that he had been taking photos with during his time in the war. He had no choice but to throw the camera in the pond, and it would still be there today. Jack thought they were getting back on the truck back one of the Japanese leaders stood and said, “tonight all men march”.

They marched for 15 nights, not wanting to be seen during the day, wanting to cover 298km to Siam. On the 12th day, Jack got blisters on his feet and he fell out. A supposed Japanese doctor came and injected him with undiluted iodine, which to his relief worked and cleared his blisters so he was able to continue a few days later. He carried on with a group of men from Manchester, who were only a bunch of troublemakers. They stopped marching somewhere two camps off the Burma border and were only allowed 2 days of rest before the Japs declared “all men work.”

Jack was working on the Thai-Burma railway, building the bridge, cutting down cliffs, working down in the quarry with no boots, and doing all sorts of dangerous tasks. The malaria he was contracting every fortnight caused him to get terrible headaches, and he felt “weak as a kitten”. The Japs had confiscated all their medication, which is why the Japanese weren’t getting sick, but meanwhile the POW’s were constantly dying from lack of medication. Some days they worked 18 hours, and some days the Japs would pull men out of the hospital just to they had enough numbers to keep a steady work rate. If you attempted to escape, it would affect everyone and subsequently, the Japs would cut the troops rations. Although if you managed to get outside of the wire, Japs would try shoot you through it. Jack underwent 8 months of being a prisoner of war, his group coming with 7,000 soldiers, and coming out with 3,400.

On the 17th of December 1943, the 3,400 men were sent back to Changi, staying in huts for 13 months where he was relieved, but suffered from blood clots, Beri Beri, tropical ulcers, and the terrorising sounds of his mates wailing and screaming in pain. At some points he couldn’t swallow, only chew, and while there he was being given medication for preventing malaria, which he stopped taking two months later because it was about to poison him. The troops were constantly thinking of food, and some got so desperate that they started eating dogs and cats, but Jack stuck to snails. After too long in Changi, they were finally able to go home.

He arrived in Sydney on the 5th of October 1945, and then back in Adelaide on the 11th. Jack’s discharge description in South Australia stated he was 27 years old and nine months, 5’11, hazel eyes, fair complexion, brown hair and scars on the back of his right hand, left knee cap and left ear. His full-time war service in AIF was from 6/3/41 to 9/1/46, having a total effective period of 1771 days, including 95 days active service in Australia. He started working in carpentry and went to trade school for 5-6 months. He has a daughter, but at first he didn’t want her to know about his war experience.

Jack watched the first 3 episodes of the Changi series, but couldn’t it handle anymore because it was too inaccurate and overdramatised. He developed skin cancer after the war because of the conditions he was put in, but still calls himself very lucky. He received four honours and medals; the 1939/45 star, Pacific star, War medal, and the Australian Service medal.

In 1951 he quit carpentry and established a transport business for fruit and vegetables. He was also a day-care bus driver for 18 years, an RSL Welfare officer, RSL correspondent to the Loxton News, active member of the Rotary Club for around 20 years, Loxton Bowling Club past president and life member, and member of Loxton Masonic Lodge. Jack had few grandchildren and lived a good life after the war. He died on the 23rd of December 2007 and an award of the Order of Australia was made in the Queens Birthday Honours.

He believed no matter how bad it got, and if you could only exist, there had to be something better somewhere. If someone told Jack he had to be in that position for 3 ½ years, he would have had a different line of thought. He believes that the only reason they survived was because of the mateship and helping of others that were worse off than the rest. For example, someone in his unit would escape and bring back food and resources to share with the others. Major Hunt was their savour, because he was a stickler for hygiene, for example, he said the water had to be boiled before use, so it was perfectly clear. A camp near them lost a bigger percentage of men than they did, because they weren’t particular with their hygiene. In Changi they organised concerts every 7 days, where they made their own instruments and created tickets. In Singapore they were writing recipes and playing cards, especially when someone was sick and one of the other men went in to keep them company while they were dying. The mateship between the men was the most important thing to have in the traumatising moments, giving them a reason to live so they could go home.

Bibliography

Home - Trove (nla.gov.au)

Virtual War Memorial | John Francis (Jack) DOWD (vwma.org.au)

John Francis (Jack) Dowd as a private, 8th Ammunition Submarine Park, 1941-1946, and Gladys Perrott, interviewed by Alison Viney Houghton. | Australian War Memorial (awm.gov.au)

Virtual War Memorial | 8th Division Ammunition Sub-Park (vwma.org.au)

Australia Service Medal 1939-1945 | ADF Members & Families | Defence

Two wooden huts that are believed to be part of Roberts Barracks which formed part of Changi ... | Australian War Memorial (awm.gov.au)