PICKERING, James Alexander
| Service Number: | NX7129 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 7 May 1941 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd/20th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Rockdale, New South Wales , Australia, 5 March 1902 |
| Home Town: | Auburn, Auburn, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Baker |
| Died: | Illness whilst a prisoner of the Japanese , Malaya, 27 March 1945, aged 43 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Labuan Memorial, Labuan Federal Territory, Malaysia |
World War 2 Service
| 3 Sep 1939: | Involvement Private, NX7129 | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 May 1941: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX7129, 2nd/20th Infantry Battalion | |
| 29 Jul 1941: | Embarked Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX7129, 2nd/20th Infantry Battalion, Embarked from Sydney per "F.F." | |
| 16 Aug 1941: | Involvement Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX7129, 2nd/20th Infantry Battalion, Malaya/Singapore, Disembarked in Singapore and taken on strength to General Base Depot (G.B.D.) | |
| 10 Apr 1942: | Involvement Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, NX7129, 2nd/20th Infantry Battalion, Malaya/Singapore, Following the fall of Singapore, Private James Alexander Pickering was reported as MISSING. He was a prisoner of the Japanese but not recorded officially as such until the following year. | |
| 9 Apr 1943: | Imprisoned Malaya/Singapore, James became a POW as a result of the fall of Singapore the previous year. He was officially recorded a POW in Borneo (Sandakan). |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Matthew Rutkin
James Alexander Pickering was the fifth child and fourth son of Frank Hessell Pickering Snr and his wife Kate Pauline Cavanough of Sydney Australia. Both his paternal grandfather (1834-1892) and great grandfather (1805-1854) were named James Pickering.
When James Alexander was 14 his two eldest brothers, Frank Hessell Pickering Jnr and Rowland Taafe Pickering were both killed in battle at Pozieres on the Western Front in WW1.
James was 21 when on 17 March 1923 he married Rose Alice Olive Turton at Parramatta in Sydney. They had two daughters, Rosemary and Barbara.
The family resided at Auburn in Western Sydney where James worked as a baker.
During WW2 James enlisted in the Australian Army at Paddington on 7 May 1941. He embarked for Singapore in July 1941.
Private J. A. Pickering was captured by the Japanese following the fall of Singapore in early 1942, and ended up at the notorious Sandakan Prisoner of War camp in North Borneo.
After 3 years as a POW, James Alexander Pickering died on 27 March 1945, reportedly of illness, at the Sandakan camp. This was around the time of the infamous death marches that so many of his colleagues were forced to endure. Those prisoners too ill to march were left behind in the camp to die, or were killed by the Japanese, and it seems this was the fate of James.
While his exact burial location is unknown, Private James Alexander Pickering is remembered with honour at the Labuan Memorial in Malaysia. He is also remembered with honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, and on a cenotaph in a war memorial park in his hometown suburb of Auburn in Sydney Australia.
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