Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

ALan William Glover was a Truck Driver. He was born in Avoca in rural Victoria in 1911. He was a cartage contactor who met his beloved Violet (Vi) Lloyd in nearby Beaufort. They had plans for the future. Hence they moved to Melbourne in 1938. Then came the war.

Alan did not have to enlist for overseas service but he did. He volunteered to do his bit. Alan was enlisted on 2nd June 1941. His immediate problem that he was planning to get married on the following Saturday. His Wedding date was 7th June 1941. Hence Army gave him unpaid leave for that purpose. Violet and Alan had wanted to marry immediately once Alan was enlisted in case he was killed.

They married and had a very brief honeymoon. Alan then did his basic training at Puckapunyal. He was posted to the 4th Anti Tank Regiment. Alan and Vi seen each other briefly on 30 July 1941 as his ship embarked for Malaya. That would be the last time that Vi and Alan would ever see each other.

Alan was imprisoned in Changi Prison following the fall of Singapore. Then on 15 May 1942 he was sent to Burma as a slave to level an enemy airstrip at Tavoy.

Alan and seven of his 4th Anti Tank Regiment mates decided to 'shoot through' ASAP. They shot through on 2nd June 1942. Hostile natives reported his party to get a reward. Alan and his mates were recaptured on 5th June 1942.   

The following day, the eight POW escapees were each tied to eight prepared stakes. Their gaves behind each stake had already been dug POW comrades at bayonet point. 

The eight 2nd/4th mates bid each other cheereo before that fatal execution order. Alan was executed on the eve of what was his first wedding anniversary.

Their summarily execution by firing squad was conducted without a trial or even a padre. It was witnessed by both Brigadier Arthur Varley MC and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson VC.   

The Australian Officers had pleaded for their men but were denied contact with them. The Commandant executed these eight men as an example to POWs who had likewise planned to escape. The Commadant was charged with war crimes, post war. He was convicted of war crimes in 1950 in what was called the "Tavoy Eight POW" case.   

Meanwhile, back at home in Melbourne, Alan's wife had no idea of his fate.  Vi had worked in a munitions factory during the war. It was not until late 1944 that news filtered back about Alan and his executed mates.

That news came through from ex Burma POWs who were rescued at sea after a U.S. Submarine attack. Their Japan bound Maru Transport was torpedoed and sunk.

The U.S.N. would not have known that Rakuyo Maru carried POWs. That included Brigadier Arthur Varley MC who had witnessed Alan's execution. He was K.I.A. along with hundreds of other Australian and British POWs during the U.S. Submarine attack.

Alan was awarded a posthumous Commendation for Gallentry. That was in 2012 but his wife by then had already passed way. Violet never remarried. Sadly, they could not be buried together because Alan was interred in a Commonwealth War Cemetery in what was Burma (now Mayanmar). 

Violet died in 2003, more than sixty years after her husband's unlawful death. Alan is memorialised on her headstone, for he was her beloved husband. 

Lest We Forget. 

AWM Bio cited plus "Tavoy Eight" POW Executions and the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Find a Grave,  MyHeritage and Trove Newspapers.