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Herbert Arthur SNELL Update Details

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SNELL, Herbert Arthur

Personal Details

Service Number:	QX21253
Enlisted:	20 May 1941
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	Not yet discovered
Born:	Wooroolin, Queensland, Australia, 31 March 1919
Home Town:	Gunalda, Gympie Regional Council, Queensland
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Farm Hand
Died:	Died at sea (Rakuyo Maru), South China Sea, 13 September 1944, aged 25 years
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God" Panel 15 at the Labuan Memorial.
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Gympie WW2, Imbil War Memorial, Kenilworth & District Honour Board, Kenilworth Memorial Wall, Tiaro Shire Honour Roll WW2, Tiaro War Memorial

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Service History

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939:	Involvement Private, QX21253
20 May 1941:	Enlisted Australian Army (Post WW2), QX21253
9 Sep 1944:	Imprisoned Malaya/Singapore, After training he was shipped to Singapore as a reinforcement for 2/26 Infantry Battalion. He was one of several members of 2/26 Battalion chosen as part of "A" Force, which left Singapore in 1942. The majority of "A" Force were never to return to Singapore. He was assigned to a work party under Lt. Col. George Ramsay of 2/30, which was to be known as Ramsay Force, and slaved on the Mergui - Burma end of the Railway. On completion of the railway, many members of "A" Force were kept in various POW Camps throughout Thailand, with a majority being sent to Bangkok from where they were selected to go to Japan to work in the mines. Herbert was selected for work in the Japanese Mines and left Singapore on 9 September 1944. The unmarked Japanese P.O.W. Ship Rakuyo Maru was sunk by a U.S. Submarine on its way to Japan. Very few P.O.W. were rescued.

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