Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Leonard "Len" Mark Victorsen - known lovingly as Len, was born on 10 May 1920 in Brisbane, Queensland, the eldest son of Mark and Maggie Renwick Barrie Victorsen of The Crescent, Coorparoo. As the eldest son, Len carried a quiet sense of responsibility and warmth. He was deeply loved by his parents, a protective and caring brother and a cherished nephew and cousin; he was also a well-regarded friend and workmate.

Len grew up in a close-knit home. In his early years, he attended Coorparoo State School. Before the war, Len was working at the Poultry Farmers’ Co-operative Society in Roma Street. His life was steady and full of promise - the kind of young man whose future seemed certain to unfold close to home, surrounded by family.

But the war changed everything!

Len enlisted in June 1940 and by February 1941 he had been posted overseas. For his family, that moment marked the beginning of a long and anxious wait. Letters and photos were precious.

At the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Len became a prisoner of war.  Whilst back home the silence was difficult for his family, in July they learnt Len was listed as one of thousands of missing Australians in Malaya.  Their anxious wait continued.

For a time, there was some hope when it was learned he was a prisoner of war. But the reality of where he was - and what he was enduring - was far beyond anything his family could have imagined.

At Changi prison (Singapore), in March 1943, prisoners were divided into groups and moved. Len was among those sent with “E Force” from Changi aboard the S.S. DeKlerk to North Borneo. There, he was imprisoned at the Sandakan POW camp, now remembered as one of the most tragic places of suffering for Australian soldiers during the war.

The men at Sandakan endured starvation, disease, and relentless forced labour to build an airfield. As conditions worsened, they were forced on what became known as the Sandakan Death Marches—brutal treks through jungle terrain from Sandakan to Ranau. Of the approximately 2,400 Allied prisoners who died in this ordeal, only six men survived and only because they escaped.

Len was tragically among those who never returned.

On 18 March 1945, at just 23 years of age, Len died as a prisoner of war at Ranau, Borneo. He rests in an unknown place. His name is recorded on the Labuan Memorial in Malaysia, but for our family, his true resting place has always been in our hearts.

His parents, brothers and extended family remembered him year after year in The Brisbane Courier-Mail, their words carrying love, pride and sorrow:

“Not a day dawns or a night begins, but what we think of you. To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die.” and: “Silently, with love and pride, we remember.” and simply: “Deep in our hearts a memory is kept.”

From his wider family came words just as heartfelt: “The missing years can never change; Our thoughts of one so dear; Fond memories linger round his name; Remembrance keeps him near.”

These are not just lines placed in a newspaper long ago—they are the voice of a family who never forgot Len and never stopped loving him.

To remember Len now is not simply to recount the events of war or the sorrow of his loss—it is to honour the young man he truly was: the boy from Coorparoo, the eldest son, the devoted brother and the cherished cousin. He was one of our own and he will always be.

Though his life was far too short, Len’s memory has never faded. He lives on in our family’s story, carried in quiet pride, in deep sorrow and in the enduring love we hold for him.

Len was far more than a soldier taken by war.  Len was a beloved son, grandson, brother, nephew and cousin.

The loss of Len, combined with his pow experience and so far away, left a grief that never fully healed, and his story has quietly echoed through generations, shaping the hearts of all who loved him.

Written by Lynne Victorsen-Bennett (26 March 2026)

in honour of Len,  my 1st cousin once removed

Sources:

NAA - personal service file

TROVE - family notices/newspaper clippings

Personal family stories and recollections