GOODMAN, George John Parker
| Service Number: | VX21001 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 6 June 1940 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/2nd Pioneer Battalion |
| Born: | Cobram, Victoria, Australia, 19 March 1918 |
| Home Town: | Cobram, Moira, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Cobram State School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Builders labourer |
| Died: | Died at sea (Rakuyo Maru), South China Sea, 12 September 1944, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Labuan Memorial, Labuan, Malaysia |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Cobram Hay Memorial Avenue Plaques, Labuan Memorial, Labuan Federal Territory, Malaysia |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement VX21001 | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Jun 1940: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Corporal, VX21001, 2nd/2nd Pioneer Battalion | |
| 7 Mar 1942: | Imprisoned |
Help us honour George John Parker Goodman's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
VX21001 Corporal George John Parker Goodman was the 26-year-old son of George Daniel and Eliza Bradman Goodman, of Cobram, Victoria, and he was born in Cobram on 19 March 1918, and had three brothers and three sisters. He was known locally as Parker Goodman. He was educated at Cobram State School and took up fruit picking and rural work, also worked at Cobram fruit packing shed. Parker played football for the Cobram Tigers and was a keen cricketer.
He enlisted in the 2/2nd Pioneers on 6 June 1940, and after its initial training at Puckapunyal the Battalion sailed for the Middle East aboard the Queen Mary in April 1941. They fought in Syria until they were called home due to the Japanese threat, in early 1942. In a letter home Parker said he was not far from Barney Cowcher when he was killed. The 2/2nd Pioneers began the voyage home on the troopship Orcades. The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and other support units were also on board. However, the Orcades was about to be caught in the Japanese thrust. British forces in Singapore surrendered on 15 February 1942. Two days later the Orcades reached Sumatra before going to Batavia in Java. The Japanese were moving through the Netherlands East Indies and decided to make an attack on Java. The troops aboard Orcades, were combined to defend Java. They became known as the “Blackforce”. Their directive was political rather than strategic and ultimately futile.
The Japanese landed on Java on 28 February. Blackforce went into action on 4 March. It fought against the Japanese for two days but was ordered to lay down arms the day after the Dutch surrender on 8 March 1942.
The majority of the 2/2nd survived the fighting (865 officers and men) and spent the rest of the war as prisoners. Of these, 258 men died, most while working on the Burma–Thailand railway. Others died in Java, Borneo, and at sea when ships they were being transported on were sunk.
Parker Goodman was aboard the Japanese transport ship Rakuyo Maru carrying POWs from Singapore to Japan. On 12 September 1944, U.S. submarine Sealion (SS-315) sank the Japanese transport Nankai Maru and merchant passenger/cargo ship Rakuyo Maru in the South China Sea, East of Hainan Island. The Rakuyo Maru lost 1159 prisoners to the sea and the after effects of being in the water for up to 4 days.
Click images to start slideshow.