Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

George Beetson was a son of George and Rose nee Eagle, and was born at Erskineville in Sydney in 1905. When he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force in July 1940, aged 34, he was married to Nellie nee Thomas and working as a cook. After basic training he was allocated to the 2/19th Battalion, a component unit of the 22nd Brigade, as a cook. The 2/19th Battalion embarked at Sydney on 2 February 1941 and disembarked at Singapore on 18 February. Upon arrival, the unit underwent jungle training in southern Malaya. This was followed by a move to Jemaluang to build defences on the east coast of the Malayan Peninsula.

After the Japanese landings of 8 December, the 2/19th Battalion was not initially engaged, but by January it was involved in heavy fighting on the west coast alongside the 2/29th Battalion, taking up a blocking position around the crossroads at Bakri. The battalion was then involved in heavy fighting with the Japanese, including the Battle of Muar, for which its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson, was eventually awarded the Victoria Cross. As they withdrew from Muar, the battalion was forced to leave their wounded behind, and they were subsequently murdered by the Japanese in the Parit Sulong massacre. By this time, only 271 battalion members were still able to fight, and 650 reinforcements were received, and hasty training was undertaken. George was promoted to sergeant on 28 January 1942.

In late January, the 2/19th Battalion withdrew across the causeway onto Singapore Island, and took up defensive positions. When the Japanese assault came on 8 February, the battalion was hard pressed and fell back towards the centre of the island, where its members were captured on 15 February at the time of the surrender. George was initially posted as missing, and not officially reported as being held as a prisoner of war until March 1943.

In July 1942, George was among the 1,494 Allied POWs that made up B Force, a group of 8th Division troops which was transported to Sandakan on the eastern coast of Japanese-occupied North Borneo on the tramp steamer Ubi Maru, and arrived at Sandakan on 18 July. Over 2,000 Allied POWs were held at Sandakan camp, and they were employed in airfield construction. On this day in 1944, George Beetson died while in Japanese captivity at the Sandakan camp, aged 39. He was initially buried near the camp, but after the war the Australian Army Graves Service considered the area to be too prone to flooding for a permanent cemetery, so disinterred all the remains and reinterred them at Labuan War Cemetery. Unlike many of the dead at Labuan, George’s grave is known and marked with his name and details.