Virtual
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Researched and written by Historian and Author Tony Wege

Private George Alfred Irwin was awarded the Commendation for Gallantry for actions following capture by the Imperial Japanese Army on 15 February 1942 until his execution as a result of an escape attempt on 21 August 1943. Very few escapes were attempted from POW camps in Japan due to the heavily populated areas surrounding the camps. Private Irwin sought food from a local Japanese woman following his escape. She alerted the Japanese Imperial Army to his presence which led to his recapture and subsequent execution. - ^{Defence Honours and Awards}

Researched and written by Historian and Author Tony Wege

VX 50024 George Alfred Irwin 2/4 Reserve Motor Transport Company

The murder of this soldier near Fukuoka Camp 6, Japan and subsequent posthumous decoration

Twenty five year old Driver G A Irwin was executed by Japanese soldiers on 21 August 1943 at Orio-shi (Mizumaki), Kyushu, Japan. The following is a summary of the War Crimes Investigation file dated 22 March 1946 in which the circumstances surround the demise of Driver Irwin is explained.

In August 1943, an Australian private named George Alfred Irwin, age 25, escaped from Fukuoka Camp 6 at Orio-Shi on northern Kyushu Island. He was at large for a day or two before being apprehended on 21 August 1943 by Japanese police. Camp Six was notified and two cars set out to retrieve the escaped prisoner. The then camp commander of Camp Number Six, a sergeant and several guards were in the party. After having picked up the prisoner, the car started back to the camp. On the way the cars turned off onto a side road near the police station in Orio-shi. Irwin was permitted to leave the car to urinate. At the trial of the commandant in 1946, he alleged Irwin then tried to escape. The sergeant seized him and strangled him into unconsciousness. As soon as Irwin regained consciousness, the sergeant shot him in the back with a rifle.i

Irwin was being held at Fukuoka Camp 6. He and other PoWs were used by Takamatsu Coal Mining Company (later Nippon Mining Company) as miners, above ground workers and as gardeners to grow vegetables for the camp. 1,062 POWs were imprisoned in the camp at the end of the war (764 Dutch, 138 American, 117 British, 41 Australian and 2 other nationalities). 74 POWs died while imprisoned including Irwin. In 1946, Colonel Iju Sugasawa who was the commander of Fukuoka Camp 6, Captain Suematsu and one guard were tried at the Yokohama War Criminal Trial for the murder of Irwin. They were found guilty and subsequently executed by hanging. Irwin is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, Yokohama, Japan.

Irwin’s Post War Posthumous Decoration The “Commendation for Gallantry” ribbon was awarded to 28 Australian servicemen who during World War 2 were killed by the Japanese while escaping or following their recapture. The 28 on the list were approved in 2017 to receive the ribbon posthumously by the then Governor-General of Australia, His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd). VX 50024 George Alfred Irwin was one of them.

Commendation for Gallantry ribbon (Wikipedia)

The servicemen were identified through the “Inquiry into Recognition for Far East Prisoners of War”. Their names were put forward by the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal (2017) and through a review by the Department of Defence. Of interest, the circumstances surrounding of the death of VX 48478 Driver Herman Reither (also 2/4 RMTC) near Ranau, Borneo in July 1945 were also investigated by the Department of Defence in this review. His name did not appear on the final list of 28. Irwin’s did as did two others from other units who also died in the tragedy of Ranau/Sandakan, Borneo.ii

VX 50024 George A Irwin was posthumously awarded the Commendation for Gallantry on 27 August 2018. His decoration had been gazetted in 2017 following the approval by the Governor-General of Australia. This decoration replaced the imperial Mention in Despatches leaf which had been awarded for lower level gallantry and service for more than 100 years.

^{i That is one version of the event. In Alexander Dandie’s book about “J” Force (“The Story of J Force” by Alexander Dandie 1985), he describes on page 180 a quite different scenario. Dandie who himself was a PoW in the same camp as Irwin, was able to collect statements from PoWs who were close to the action. In his description, Dandie documents that PoW eyewitnesses watched Irwin’s body being carried on a stretcher, brought back into the camp‘s sickbay. The Dutch PoW doctor in charge of the sickbay, on being told what was happening, ran into the room ignoring the Japanese soldiers. He flung aside the straw bags covering the body. He instantly saw the shocking state it was in. The body was riddled with bullet holes and badly slashed. It was clear it had been hacked at with swords or bayonets. It appears a distressed Irwin when at large, had approached a Japanese lady for help. She fled in terror and reported the prisoner. The guards on arrival found Irwin and it seems, did the rest by most of them shooting him then slashing the dead body in a frenzy of bloody hysteria. Irwin’s remains were, after return to the camp, cremated. Yet a third version of Irwin’s demise can be found at: www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplist/fukuoka/fuk-06-irwin_murder. A few statements concerning the fate of Irwin have been found by the author in NAA files dealing with Japanese war crimes. Every single version of the incident in these files varies to some degree when compared to every other one. The real and full truth about the end of Irwin probably will never be known.}

^{ii See “Report Of Inquiry Into The Recognition For Far East Prisoners Of War Who Were Killed While Escaping Or Following Recapture” Department of Defence Canberra August 2017.}