HARDSTAFF Roy Albert TX5821 A Coy [B Force]

Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of TX5821 Private Roy Albert Hardstaff, 2/29th Battalion, Australian Infantry. 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 Hardstaff, aged 22, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 14 April 1945. He was the son of Albert Edgar and Dora Jeanette Hardstaff, of Burnie, Tas. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 16. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)

Studio portrait of TX5821 Private (Pte) Roy Albert Hardstaff. A mill hand from Penguin, Tasmania, he embarked for Singapore on 10 January 1942 with 2/29th Battalion. Pte Hardstaff was taken a prisoner of war (POW) with the fall of Singapore on 16 February 1942. He was one of over 2000 Allied POWs held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of B Force. The 1494 POWs 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 Hardstaff, aged 22, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 14 April 1945.