BENNETT Arthur David VX45020 B Coy [B Force]

Studio portrait of VX45020 Private (Pte) Arthur David (Mick) Bennett, 2/29 Battalion, of Caulfield, Vic. Pte Bennett enlisted in July 1940 and became a prisoner of war following the fall of Singapore in February 1942. He was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of B Force. The 1494 POW's that made up B Force were transported from Changi on 7 July 1942 on board the tramp ship Ubi Maru, arriving in Sandakan Harbour on 18 July 1942. Private Bennett died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 22 March 1945, aged 29. He was the son of Thomas Pappin Bennett and Edith Eulila Bennett, of Coleraine, Vic. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 16