FAIRY, William Fredrick
| Service Number: | VX48685 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 8 August 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Preston, Victoria, Australia, 5 May 1919 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Porcelain Enamel Worker |
| Died: | Illness, Malaya, 5 April 1944, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
Kranji War Cemetery |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Lance Corporal, VX48685 | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Aug 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Lance Corporal, VX48685, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion | |
| 30 Jul 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, VX48685, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion, ex Sydney to Singapore | |
| 13 Oct 1941: | Promoted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Lance Corporal, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion, Singapore | |
| 31 Mar 1942: | Imprisoned Malaya/Singapore, Changi - exhaustion | |
| 8 Jul 1942: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Lance Corporal, VX48685, 2nd/29th Infantry Battalion, ex Changi to Borneo as part of 'B' Force |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Lance Corporal Fairy's death is 'likely to have been because of poor treatment following recapture by Japanese Forces' (Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal 2017;p146). William Frederick Fairy (Lance Corporal; Service No:VX48685) enlisted in the AIF in August 1940, initially with 2/23rd Infantry Battalion before transferring to 2/29th Infantry Battalion in November 1940. He was Reported Missing in Singapore on 31 March 1942 and reported PoW on 15 September 1943. William was initially held at Changi before being transferred to Borneo on 8 July 1942 as part of 'B' Force. On 31 July 1942 he was one of five junior soldiers to escape from Sandakan Camp. Assisted by a Chinese farmer, the soldiers were hidden and in January 1943 they stole a junk intending to sail to Australia. When the junk grounded near Sandakan Harbour, the soldiers swam ashore, were recaptured by the Kempeitai (Japanese MPs) and taken to Sandakan PoW Camp. They were on trial at Kuching on 21 July 1943 and in August William was transferred to Outram Rd Gaol in Singapore. On 9 March 1944 he was transferred to Changi Hospital, where he died on 6 April 1944 (Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal 2017).
William grew up in Melbourne Victoria, the youngest of two children of Joseph Henry Fairy (b1893 in Melbourne, Victoria) and Evangeline (Eva) Jarman (b1887 in Melbourne, Victoria). Joseph (a Railways Employee) and Eva married in 1912 in Melbourne, Victoria where they raised their family and Joseph worked for the Railways.
Before enlisting in the Army in 1940, William had worked as a Mill Hand and a Porcelain Enamel Worker. Brother Henry served in the ACMF (Service No:V52311).
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