Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Pte Monte FORD SX11408 was awarded Medals 1939 /45 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939/1945, Australia Service Medal.

Married Coral May ARTHUR.  Sons, Ian Monte FORD, born 10/8/1948, Rodney Arthur FORD born 27/6/1951. 
 
“Coral states that Monte had become accustomed to sleeping on a hard surface and quite often awoke and found him asleep on the floor next to the bed.” 

Monte Harold Ford was born in Orroroo, South Australia, on the 23 March 1919. He attended school at Orroroo Area School. After finishing school, Monte, better known as Pat went on to work at a family owned store in Orroroo, as a store assistant running it with his brothers and father.

Pat enlisted on the 24 February 1941, in Wayville, Adelaide, South Australia. On the 13th of September 1941, Pat was sent to the Middle East. He was assigned to be a part of the 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion. The 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion started to fight in Syria and Lebanon around June to July. Pat arrived in these areas soon after as reinforcement for the other battalions that had been a part of the Australian 7th Division.

After serving in the Middle East and Syria, Pat and his battalion was ordered to go back to the Pacific after the Japanese joined the war. Pat’s record then shows him going onto the Orcades. The Orcades transported the 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion and other troops, from Port Tewfik to Java, in February 1942. Because the Japananese had joined the war and was advancing rapidly through South-East Asia, Australian troops were redirected from the Middle East. The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion was sent to Java as part of an emergency Allied defence.

In late February 1942, the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion joined the war in Java as a mixed Allied force known as Blackforce, commanded by Brigadier Arthur Blackburn VC. Blackforce included Australians, Americans, Dutch and British forces. The battalion fought as part of a delaying defence near Leuwiliang, west of Buitenzorg. The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion was not used just as a machine gun artillery, it fought more like infantry, because of the emergency conditions. Japanese forces had landed on Java on 28 February, and Blackforce went into action at Leuwiliang around 4 March.

Pat was first declared missing on the 7th of March 1942, then believed to be a POW per Japanese radio, and later confirmed as a POW interned in Java. After the Dutch surrendered, the Blackforce was also commanded to surrender on, 9 March 1942.  Many other Australian prisoners captured in Java were later moved through the Japanese POW transport system to camps across Asia and Japan. Pat was moved to the Ohama camp. This was a coal-mining centre in northern Honshu, where about half the prisoners worked in mines and others worked on farms. In the Ohama camp, there was approximately 250 Australians that were held along with about 390 other Allied prisoners. Pat was recovered from the Ohama camp on the 13th of September 1945, just after the Japanese surrendered.

After Pat was recovered, he was moved through Manila, Philippines. Manila was a major Allied processing and medical reception point for recovered POWs. After Pat had returned in Australia he was transported to Adelaide Royal Hospital where he recovered from the physical and emotional trauma he experienced. Along with the other injuries and illnesses, nurses who were assessing the injuries, found a scar on his abdomen in the location of his appendix, as it was found on his discharge papers, it is believed that he had undergone surgery on his appendix while being held a prisoner of war in Japan.

Monte Harald Ford was discharged on the 6th March 1946, after 5 years of service and 3 of those years spent as a POW in Japan. After leaving he went on to be a storekeeper. On the 17 March 1947, Monte Harold Ford married Coral Arthur and had 2 sons, Ian and Rodney. Unfortunately, on the 12th of December 1955, at the age of 36 Monte died of an Aortic Aneurysm in the Adelaide Royal Hospital and buried in the Orroroo Cemetery.