Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

After the Fall of France in May 1940, Governments of the Commonwealth nations became very concerned about the bleak prospects of their country’s future.  In Australia, this concern triggered a rush to the AIF recruiting offices by thousands of young men wanting to enlist and join the fight.

Although only 17 at the time, William (Bill) rushed to the recruiting office in Sydney and signed up, though he lied about his age, stating he was 21 years old to avoid the requirement of the AIF to first seek his parents’ permission as he was under 21 years old.  On learning her son joined the AIF illegally, Bill’s mother informed the Army and Bill was discharged immediately.  A few months later he turned 18 and with his parents’ permission, Bill signed up again.

By late 1941, our government became very concerned about the Japanese expansion into Malaya as they were approaching too close to Australia; the response was to send thousands of new troops to Singapore to keep the Japanese at bay.

After disembarking in Singapore, Bill was sent to the western defence positions of Singapore.  As it was believed the Japanese would attack the eastern positions of the island, it was assumed the western positions would be safer.  Unfortunately, the Japanese anticipated strong defence on the eastern positions and so moved their troops to the western side of Singapore.  The outcome was Bill, and his 2/20 Australian Infantry battalion would go down in history as being the battalion that wore the brunt of the Japanese primary attack on Singapore. His battalion, then the two other battalions further down the coast, consisting of a total of 3,000 troops were attacked by 15,000 Japanese troops and Singapore soon fell.

Bill became a POW on 15 February 1942. A year later, he was forced to work on the Thai-Burma railway (Death Railway) and survived for seven months until its completion in October 1943. He was later transported to Japan on the hell ship Rashin Maru (aka Byoki Maru).  This sea journey became well-known as it lasted for 70 days: the longest of any hell ship voyage during WW2.

The conditions faced by the men during the voyage were horrific and included allied submarine attacks (the allied submarine commanders didn't know POWs were on board), a typhoon at sea, illness, beatings, and surviving on starvation diets with little water and no medical supplies.

Arriving in Japan on 11 September 1944, Bill was sent to the Copper mine at Yamane, near Niihama, Ehime, and worked in very dangerous and freezing conditions with little clothing, food, or footwear. There the POWs worked for nine months until the mine closed.  The POWs then worked at the nearby Niihama POW camp. From this camp they witnessed many allied bombing raids on Niihama and saw the terrible impact such bombings had on the local population. It was also at this camp where on 6 August 1945, the POWs witnessed the detonation of the atomic bomb dropped on the nearby city of Hiroshima, though at the time they didn’t know what the mushroom cloud really meant.

The Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945 and three weeks later, the Japanese guards left the camp, though the POWs were to remain at the Camp until the POW Recovery Team could liberate them on 13 September 1945.  During this period of waiting, the POWs received many allied food, clothing, and medical air-drops.

Bill survived the war; however, he died at a relatively young age of 58 as a direct result of the damage caused to his organs resulting from the treatment he received from his Japanese captors.