Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The fourth eldest brother, Raymond ‘Ray’ Long (QX18648), was born in 1921 in Mackay. He enlisted in 1941 in Mackay and served as a signalman in the Australian Army. Raymond Long was a POW but returned to Australia. At the outbreak of the war, a local newspaper made a note of Raymond Long who was in a draft of 15 AIF recruits leaving for the South by an evening train. The men marched to the station led by the city band – ‘among the men, who comprised the draft, [was] Raymond Long of Baker’s Creek’.

During the war, while serving as a signaller in Singapore on 15 February 1942 with the 8th Division Signals he was captured. Ray was in imprisonment for three years and six months in Singapore – Thailand – Burma. From the camp, Ray wrote a card to his mum, ‘All Bakers Creeks safe and well. On a Japanese diet. Would appreciate Red Cross effort. Please don’t worry’. In reality, in the prison he witnessed terrifying starvation, torture and death which he had never seen anything like these in his life. Unlike his brother Ray, he was recovered from prison on 15 August 1945. He survived the heavy hardship of prison which left its impact upon his health. After the war, he could only ‘marvel’ how he survived torture, heart pounding, fear and tunnel vision. Later on, he was employed by the Main Roads’ Department at Colston Gap, working as a cost clerk. Ray has rarely spoken about his time in the camp and the loss of his brother who died in captivity among his 2,802 dead comrades.


From the book:

Dzavid Haveric, 'A History of Muslims in the Australian Military from 1885 to 1945: Loyalty, Patriotism, Contribution’, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, 2024