Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Colin Booth was born at Leura, in the Blue Mountains of NSW, in 1918, a son of Rowland and Margaret Booth, and was living with his parents at Leura and working for the railways when he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force at Paddington on 3 July 1940, aged nearly 22. He joined the 2/19th Battalion at Walgrove soon afterwards, and despite about of influenza and a couple of weeks recuperating, his leadership capacities must have been apparent early as he was appointed to the rank of lance corporal in early August. The 2/19th was and infantry unit allocated to the 22nd Brigade, 8th Division, which was soon warned for overseas deployment.

After being sent on pre-embarkation leave over the New Year period, the battalion moved to Bathurst in January 1941, and Colin found himself promoted to acting corporal. Boarding the liner Queen Mary at Sydney in early February, the battalion disembarked at Singapore two weeks later. On 22 March, Colin was substantively promoted to corporal. In May and June he was hospitalised due to jellyfish stings sustained while swimming, but returned to his unit on 20 June. The battalion underwent jungle training in Malaya until September, when they moved to Jemaluang on the east coast of Malaya to build defences. After the Japanese landed in northern Malaya in December, the battalion was not engaged in the initial fighting, but began to be involved in delaying actions as the Japanese pushed south, including the famous Battle of Muar. Nearly cut off by the flanking Japanese, the battalion withdrew, leaving many casualties behind. They became victims of the Parit Sulong massacre.

The battalion withdrew to Singapore in late January 1942 and fought desperately as part of the defence of the island, only to be captured on 15 February. Colin was captured with the rest of his unit and officially posted as missing. On 8 July he was allocated to B Force, a group of 8th Division troops which was transported to Sandakan on the eastern coast of Japanese-occupied British 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 26 March 1943 Colin was reported as a prisoner of war in Borneo. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis while in Japanese custody on 24 November 1944, aged 26. His remains were presumably buried at Sandakan, but the camp records were destroyed by the Japanese, and he has no known grave and his service and sacrifice is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial at the Labuan War Cemetery, Malaysia.