Filtering by Tag: F Force

LARAGY, Leo Christopher VX43170 A Coy [F Force Ponds Party]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

Hayley McClure, great granddaughter of Leo Christopher Laragy (VX43170), was awarded the inaugural Ben Hackney Trust Education Grant. Hayley’s essay follows:

My name is Hayley McClure. I am commencing Year 11 at Mentone Girls’ Grammar School in 2019.

My Great Grandfather, Leo Christopher Laragy (VX43170), born 1913 and died 1983, is our family hero, and it is through his stories passed down through the family that we are able to achieve a deeper understanding and appreciation for the life he led.

Leo enlisted in the AIF in 1941 and was a private in the 2nd/29th battalion. He trained in Bonegilla and Bathurst and was deployed to Malaysia. He was held as a Japanese POW from 1942 to 1945.

My interest and understanding of the 2nd/29th Battalion first began when researching for a school Anzac Day presentation in Year Six (2014), and then again while writing an Australia History essay in Year 10 (2018) on World War II. Following this, I commenced tracing the family genealogy to understand the connections that we have to his life and experiences.

My father and I began discussing the connection we have with our own family hero, whom was held and survived the brutal captivity of the Japanese from 1942 to 1945. In our family, my Great Grandfather is seen as a remarkable hero, and together, my dad and I have begun to catalogue his story.

My research has been undertaken with my father, whom holds a variety of primary and secondary sources which allow us to map Leo’s life before, during and after the Second World War. My father owns the family collection of books and artefacts, which include messages and letters from Leo to his wife and family during his war service. The books we hold include A History of the 2/ 29th Battalion – 8th Australian Division AIF, No Lost Battalion and Surviving Captivity. Our library also contains Changi Brownlow, Weary Dunlop Diaries and Grim Glory – the AIF in Malaya. Although having not read all these myself, I have used them as resources and references in investigations and have had the assistance of my father to understand the content. I have watched many documentaries on Changi, Thai Burma Railway that are available on YouTube and ClickView.

My father spent time with Leo before his passing and without knowing that it was insensitive to ask veterans about their experiences, he was able to obtain information not previously known by the family.

Life before service

Before enlisting, Leo worked for the Herald and Weekly Times (HWT) where he completed an apprenticeship as a photo engraver. Originally based in Melbourne, he was transferred to Brisbane to work on Courier Mail before the outbreak of the war. He married in Brisbane and then returned to Melbourne just before the outbreak of WWII, buying a house in Elsternwick with his new wife. He only had one occupation and one employer for his working life. He would return to the HWT after the war, and continued with this job until his retirement in 1977.

Leo was athletic and would occasionally play football for North Melbourne reserves. He would follow North Melbourne for his entire life.

Details of service

As Leo lived in Elsternwick, we understand he volunteered in Caulfield Melbourne in 1941. Although not keen to participate in the war, he did see it as a part of his civic duty to volunteer. Also, he understood that conscription was imminent and that this had a social stigma associated. Leo preferred to be seen as a volunteer than conscripted as this was more socially acceptable and important to him and his family.

I understand from my Grandmother (Leo’s daughter) that he was trained in Bonegilla and Bathurst NSW before transporting to Queensland. By reading his letters, we can see he connected with family in QLD before travelling overseas to complete his service. From these letters I assume pay in the army must not have been very good as he was continually asking for money to be sent to him. Through his service records, we can see that he seemed to be frequently injured during training as he has many days in recuperation.

Service in Malaysia/Singapore

Leo saw action in Malaysia. He received a minor wound when a bullet was shot into his back. Fortunately, the bullet ricocheted off his buckle in his backpack and instead hit his helmet. We understand this to be his luckiest escape!

He was a part of the retreat down the coast and was taken as a prisoner of war immediately following his landing return to Singapore.

On stepping off the boat from Malaysia to Singapore, Japanese greeted them with guns drawn. The Japanese soldier whom captured the company showed an element of kindness and offered them cigarettes. Leo had never smoked a cigarette until that time (and never did again).

Life as a prisoner of war

Leo would talk about his time in Changi prison before his role on the Thai Burma Railway. He described the cramped, disease-ridden conditions and recalled how rats would run across his feet at night whilst trying to sleep.

Telegram cards and communication cards show us that Leo had access to one of the hidden radios in prison, which the POWs cleverly developed using transistors and batteries. The radios were wired to the Allied Force’s radio stations which allowed them to receive news of progress on the war. The prisoners’ use of these radios highlights a key aspect of the ‘Australian Spirit’ of ingenuity and courage, as I understand from watching documentaries that it was extremely dangerous to be in possession or use these radios.

The telegram cards also show that they reached main land Australia in Cape York and have been handed from person to person in a journey many thousands of kilometres to arrive at Elsternwick, Melbourne.

We have read his letters that were passed through the Red Cross to his family in Melbourne. These letters contain lots of insight into his life and also the censorship applied by his Japanese captors. Being conscious of the censorship, Leo would use language that would enable him to advise his family of information that would otherwise be redacted. An example of this was how he communicated the death of another friend POW. He used his own code to make his wife aware of the death to inform his friends’ family.

Leo talked of how his friends died of cholera and dysentery. I understand he suffered from beriberi swollen legs while working on the railway. Leo only talked of deaths of friends from dysentery and that his friend, a doctor, whom was very particular about hygiene, succumbed to dysentery and died.

Leo did not discuss much of his experiences on the railway other than the story where of one Korean guard, spotted Leo’s crucifix around his neck. The guard asked if Leo was Christian. Fearful, but ever honest, Leo responded. Fortunately, the Korean guard was also Christian and as a result, he kindly allowed Leo to work in food preparation. We expect this meant that Leo’s nutrition was not as dire as many of his fellow POW’s. We believe that this deed may have contributed to his good fortune and enabled him to better survive in the appalling conditions.

In undertaking his duties in food distribution, I understand that Leo would look to ensure the men that were in worst condition were looked after with their portion of food, even when they were unable to line up to receive it, further displaying acts of mateship and comradery, important characteristics of the ‘Australian Spirit’.

At the end of their time as POWs, Leo described that some of the men felt shame when being liberated.  The fit soldiers had a look of shock and disbelief that these men were in fact soldiers.  This must have been another very difficult moment for the proud soldiers that had been through such an atrocity.

Life after the war

We understand that Leo spent time at the repatriation hospital in Heidelberg. He returned to his place of work and continued there, where he attained 50 years of service.

As with many returned POWs, Leo was a changed man. We understand he had relapses related to malaria. His main form of release was to surround himself with his friends at his local RSL. The Elwood RSL became a very important part of his life. I understand that he and his friends relied on each other and alcohol to help them through.

Leo would also attend lunches and dinners with ex POWs and we still have restaurant menus signed by his friends in the 2/29th. We understand that the bond that Leo shared with the men had on their return was like no other due to the mateship that developed during their time of service and captivity.

Throughout the 70’s, Leo stopped attending the Anzac Day marches, however we are unsure why. It was not until encouraged by his grandchildren (where they wanted to see him on television) that he resumed in 1980.

Leo died on the 15th August 1983. Strangely this was the same date as his liberation from captivity some 38 years later.

Why this history is important to me

I have a deep interest in history and understanding my family’s role in it. I am studying both History and Japanese in Year 11 & 12. I know the Japanese culture well and struggle to connect the brutality I understand from my Great Grandfather’s experiences. Although my Great Grandmother could not forgive the Japanese, the only evidence Leo showed of any negativity towards the Japanese was the increasing awareness of Japanese cars in the 70’s and 80’s and disappointment of Australians to support them.

Some things I have learnt from my investigations on my Great Grandfather and the 2/ 29th. I believe I have a different perspective on events especially in relation to the end of the war to many others my age. I understand that the controversial and rapid end to the war, as brutal as it was to the Japanese people, meant that my grandfather was released earlier that what would have been the case. As such, all of us, as decedents of returned Japanese POW soldiers, are somewhat indebted to the United States for ending the war in the manner and time that they did.

I think that more students should look into their families’ past and understand the sacrifices, experience and achievements. It has helped me connect my place in the world and I am keen to connect with other surviving families as we have a common remarkable history that should never be forgotten.

Hayley McClure

KORIN, George VX55506 C Coy [F Force Ponds Party]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

George Korin (VX55506) celebrated his 99th birthday on 16 January 2019. George recently moved to a lovely nursing home in Gosford and will soom be joined by his wife Audrey. They have been happily married for 72 years.

Vale: George Korin (VX55506). George passed away peacefully on 3 November 2019 at 99 years of age.

DEDMAN, John William VX40791 D Coy [F Force]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

Cpl John Thomas William Dedman VX40791 15 Dec 1915 – 23 May 2008

  • 1940 – July – enlisted. Signed on at Caulfield Racecourse and went into tents at Mt Martha for about 6 weeks.

  • Sent to new camp at Darley (near Bacchus Marsh) as reinforcements to 2/7th Battalion serving in Middle East.

  • December 1940 – 8th Division was formed at Bonegilla (near Wodonga). Became Corporal 9th Section, 18th Platoon, D Company 2/29th Brigade.

  • 1941 – March – went to Bathurst for brigade training.

  • 1941 – September - Embarked from Melbourne aboard Marnix Van St Aldegonde for Singapore then to Segamat in Malaya.

  • First in action near Gemas, withdrew to Singapore.

  • 15/2/1942 – captured in Singapore in Tanglin Hill and taken to Selarang Barracks.

  • Work party building Japanese memorial at Bukit Timah / work party on the wharves in Singapore, camped at River Road

  • 20/4/1943 – train to Ban Pong, Thailand. Rice Trucks / 28 men per truck / 5 trains (in train no. 5). Travelled for 5 days and 5 nights. F force.

  • Walked to Songkurai Lower camp at night (200 km) in 15 nights (walked 2 nights / rested for I night). Cholera very bad many died here.

  • Lived in huts constructed by natives. Tasks were building embankments for railway. (heading towards Burma).

  • Went on to Songkurai (River Camp). Worked on bridge for railway.

  • Washed in creek near camp. Tripped over obstacles in dark on the way back to camp – bodies of dead British soldiers.

  • Volunteered for job of getting wood for kitchen. Worked with elephant to drag logs. Worked 100 days straight to keep job. Rail line came through. Became too ill and weak to put chain under log, felt nudge from elephant which pushed log over chain.

  • 1943 – Christmas - Travelled by train on flat topped trucks from Songkurai to Kanburi (Kanchanaburi)/ sparks from engine blew over trucks (and passengers) during trip. Extremely ill – left to die at Kanburi with other sick men while others returned to Singapore. Kanburi proved to be a good camp and recovered very well. Increase in food. Diagnosed with ‘Beri Beri of the Heart’ and was confined to quarters. Fed on peanuts and received extra ration.

  • 25/4/1944 – left for Singapore – no recollection of how travelled back

  • Singapore – housed in Selarang barracks and worked on airfield at Changi

  • October 1944 – moved into Changi Prison but slept outside in huts. Still worked on Changi aerodrome

  • 15/2/1945 – Shifted back to River Road camp and dug foxholes for Japanese in Oxley Road, between River Valley road and Orchard Road.

  • Returned to Sydney on Esperance Bay.

Excerpt from John Debman’s recollections/stories

COWLING, Gordon Basil VX35154 HQ Coy [H Force]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

SILENT HISTORIES

Dianne Cowling, Proud daughter of Pte Gordon (Mouse) Cowling, 2/29th HQ Coy, H Force

In May 2018, I was approached by the ExPOWRA of Victoria with a request, that had been made to them, for volunteers willing to be interviewed by a photo journalist who is writing a series called ‘Silent Histories’. The subheading is ‘The effects of the Japanese occupation during WWII and its enduring effects’. This amazing young man is looking at the effect of major devastating events throughout history on the hidden or otherwise invisible victims behind these events. The untold story if you like.

Previously completed works include two stories with photos of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant in Ukraine and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. A further study was completed in 2016 looking at the invisible victims of Bikini nuclear testing in 1954.

In 2014 a study of those in Japan who still live in the shadows because of injuries sustained during the WWII bombings was completed. This study brought into the light how these children with war related injuries (not of their own volition) still living in shame of their injuries, forced to live harsh lives, unable to cure their wounds, concealing their pain, hiding their scars and sparing others the discomfort of seeing them!

The current work needed volunteers, descendants of exPOW’s, who would be willing to talk about their fathers and hopefully would have photos of exPOW’s of Japan both before and after the war.

Kazuma is a remarkable young man, not afraid to ask the hard questions or look at the unvarnished truth and has already been to Great Britain, Holland and now Australia, gathering information and photos for this new work.

What is even more valiant is that Kazuma Obara is a young Japanese artist interested in revealing the truth regardless of preconceptions or bias and deserves all the awards he has amassed so far.

His insightful questions caused me to reflect on not only who my father was in my life time but to look at what his life was and how his personality may have changed from before the war?  What was he like when I was a young child and how did his experience as a POW of Japan for 1276 days affect him upon his return and the remainder of his years? What aid or assistance did he receive with his PTSD if nay and what were my memories and that of his family and how did the way my father react or cope with his nightmares affect me and my attitudes to life?

So much to think about and find answers to but so rewarding and cathartic in so many ways; I think Kazuma may have been sorry he asked for ‘family albums’ as being a ‘creative memories’ person I lugged along two very heavy tomes for his perusal as well as a lot of single photos still not in albums as yet. I even had a set of photos that Dad had brought back with him from Singapore at the end of his captivity. Mostly street scenes of Singapore City but some of farm lands as well. Funny little black and white photos of places and unidentifiable people of various districts, taken in 1945 by some unknown person and sold in sets! Of course Dad had to buy them and kept them safe all those years since.

Questions about my father’s attitude towards Japan, and if it changed at all over the years, of course were easy to answer as Dad had made his attitude most plain when I was younger. He was adamant we were never allowed to have anything in the house that was made in Japan but as time went on his attitude changed so much that in 1989 he even bought a Nissan Blue Bird (car for those who don’t know). I remember going to a Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant in Collins St, the first to open in Melbourne in 1975. I was wary of telling Dad for fear he would explode but when he found out he said ‘the war was a long time ago and the young people of today were not responsible for what had been done during the ‘war’.

He liked the rice diet and we always had rice in our diet always. On Saturday nights it was Dad’s turn to cook and he always cooked his version of ‘Chinese’ which of course included fried rice. We were the only family that I knew as a child who had rice as a savoury, most were used to ‘rice pudding’ but we had all sorts of exotic ‘Chinese’ dishes that included rice. Doovers were also another common dish that I had no idea came from his days as a POW until I started my own research into his war history. I thought Doovers was an Australian word, how shocked was I to find this originated from the POW days of the Japanese.

He never talked much about the worst of his experiences but now and then he would talk about things that he must have thought were appropriate for a young woman to hear. I remember he once told me that there were many prison guards that he hated with a passion but he told me of one guard ‘On the Line’ who wasn’t so bad as he did on occasion hand out cigarettes. Another time he said that many of the guards were just as bad off for food at times as the POW’s. He even told me that towards the end of the war one of the guards at Kranji (North Western camp on Singapore Island) said he hoped our side would win as he was only a slave in Japan and would go back to a horrible life. It was this guard’s hope that if our side won things would be better in Japan for him and his level of society.

Every country has its secret shames including Australia particularly in the treatment by white settlers of indigenous Australians. A project like this one that Kazuma is doing takes much courage and from it hopeful some healing for those affected will result. I thank Kazuma for telling these untold stories and look forward to the publication of this work.

How my Dad got his nickname ‘Mouse’

Growing up I only ever heard my father’s exPOW mates call him ‘Mouse’. As a kid one just accepts these things as normal and goes with the flow, however as I got older it puzzled me where this nickname came from.

So, taking my courage in my hands one day when I was only a teenager, as one never knew how my Dad would respond to any questions about his time as a POW under the Japanese, I asked him out right. Being the joker that he sometimes loved to be his offhand remark was “Oh that was because I loved cheese’.

This didn’t sound right with me as I was sure they didn’t get cheese when they were POW’s and so it continued to puzzle me until an opportunity arose for me to go to the source, his mates. I asked several over the years as I just had to get corroboration before I could finally accept that what I was being told was true.

The first person I asked was his ‘Pommy mate’ Joe when I met up with him and his family in England in 1975/76. Joe spoke of my Dad the hero – a very foreign concept for me to accept as I didn’t have a good relationship with my Dad in those days. Joe was adamant that if it wasn’t for my father he would not have survived. He said that Dad used to sneak out of the camp and scrounge food to bring back and share with his mates and so one and all said he was so quiet, small and crafty that ‘like a mouse’ there was no place that could keep him in; hence the nickname.

Other Aussie exPOW mates, including Ben West, just before he died last year, told much the same story, that Dad was a great scrounger and could get out, and back again ‘like a mouse’ without being caught, to bring back food to share.

Many books have been written about the scrounging ability of the Aussies, so I know my Dad would not have been the only one but it is a story he never shared with us. He was very quick to laud the heroic actions of others and loved to tell a good tale but when it came to talking about his own escapades without sounding anywhere near like a hero – well that he never did.

When we were children he did like to tell us stories that he thought were funny, only looking back I’m not so sure how appropriate they were for our tender ears. One story did relate to his sneaking out at night to scrounge for food, as he was nearly caught by a Japanese patrol, but according to him, he quickly ducked into a nearby cemetery. He then ran to the area that contained the mausoleums and found an unlocked door, sneaking inside he found nowhere to hide; except for coffins the place was just an empty space. Thinking quickly, he said, he opened the lid of one of the coffins, pushed the bones aside, apologising to the current occupant and climbed in and closed the lid. Once the patrol had passed he thanked his bunk mate for his hospitality, climbed out and snuck safely back into camp.

The way my Dad told the story, we were highly amused and laughed at the time but looking back I shuddered to think of the reality of that situation. The fear and the stress of being caught outside the current camp or gaol I now know would have meant a death sentence, yet even knowing this he still went. As did many others over the 1276 days of captivity, forging an unbreakable connection with their surviving mates that continued once they were back home until the day they died;

‘Lest we forget’

Dianne Cowling, Proud daughter Mouse Cowling 2/29th Battalion HQ Company H Force

LONSDALE, John VX20469 A Coy [F Force Ponds Party]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

A Picture of three POWs

George Aspinall Photo – Songkurai Hospital, Oct 1943, three F Force men.

‘We grew up knowing that the photo of three POWs included my father (he’s the one in the middle), but whenever I mentioned it, I was told everybody thinks “that is their father”. My research kept drawing blanks until our recent visit to Myanmar and a visit to the Thanbyuzayat Museum where the photo was on display showing dad’s VX number 20469 – not a flattering photo, but that was a sign of the times.

When dad was initially sent the Aspinall book he saw the photo and put it away, but mum later wrote in the book, ‘Jack Lonsdale is in the middle!’  In the Barry Dickens book, ‘Ordinary Heroes’ dad is quoted, ‘We always knew what was going on. This guy Aspinall had radios in Changi. He seemed a bit strange to me, every time a Jap plane would crash he would scrounge to pinch parts for the radios and he also took pictures.  He slept near me and someone said, “he’s stickin’ stuff under your bed!!”

I said to him, “stick that stuff under your own bloody bed!”  This was followed by laughter from the three men.’

Joy Derham, Daughter of Jack Lonsdale, 2/29th

BRAND, Victor VX39085 HQ Coy [F Force]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

Victor Brand’s Memorabilia at the Shrine

Andrew Brand

It came totally out of left field when our intrepid Secretary Joy emailed me last June to advise that she had been contacted by Neil Sharkey, a curator at the Shrine, who was seeking out family members who may be in possession of memorabilia available for display relating to doctors in captivity during the Second World War. I contacted Neil who was very anxious to examine some of my father’s war memorabilia. I was very pleased to assist as after all, Victor’s bits and pieces had resided, in the main, in cupboards for some 70 years hidden from family and public view.

The proposed display was to occupy a small section of a medical installation featuring Weary Dunlop and Albert Coates. Neil was particularly interested in a number of the smaller artefacts whichh included an aluminium trench art box made in Changi, prisoner identity tag, miniature medals with Military Cross, photos and an original typed personal account (the Diary) of the Battle of Muar. Neil asked if we had something else which was overtly medical in nature. Fortunately, this prompted me to contact my sister Melanie to check if there was anything inside an old medical canvass bag which had been hanging in the shed at our family home for as long as I could remember. To my extreme surprise and delight, we discovered shell dressing, syringes, ampoules, scalpels, chloroform and miscellaneous medicine bottles. Neil was excited by this treasure but due to space restrictions and preservation requirements (especially with ampoules filled with morphine), he considered that some of these items could be used when the display was updated at some future time. 

The items are now on display and Melanie and I and our families are very proud and honoured to have these items publicly displayed by the Shrine.

HACKNEY Ben Charles NX71148 HQ Coy F Force

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

Information from Lynette Silvers Book entitled “The Bridge at Parit Surlong”

Ben Hackney was a grazier in the Bathurst District where his family were among the early pioneers. At the age of 26, Ben Hackney became part of the 2/29th Battalion, training at Bathurst, then embarked with the Battalion for Malaya in July, 1941.

 He was severely wounded in the Battle of Muar in January 1942. After 36 days in the jungle, Ben Hackney was captured and imprisoned in Pudu Gaol, Kula Lumpur, before being transferred to Changi on Singapore Island. He survived the experiences of F Force in Thailand. His evidence of the Parit Surlong massacre was crucial to the successful 1950 prosecution for war crimes of Lieutenant-General Takamo Nishimura.

 With Nishimura dead and Australia entering into a peace treaty with Japan, the events of 1942 were now a fading memory, however Hackney did not forget. He did not marry the girl whose photo had sustained him during his ordeal, but he did marry in the early 1950’s. He fathered a child, a girl, but the marriage was short lived. Haunted by the memories when awake and tormented by dreadful nightmares when asleep - he remained on the land raising cattle and sheep on Wonolabee property near Bathurst, his only brother Tom died in 1947 in a horse accident. For the last ten years of his life he became a virtual recluse, crippled with arthritis, he never forgave or forgot those responsible for the massacre at Parit Surlong. He died of emphysema in May 1984, leaving this legacy to his old battalion, the 2/29th. Ben Hackney’s death went almost unnoticed, apart from the usual announcements placed in newspapers by the funeral director.

About Ben Hackney

[From the Australian War Memorial]

Lt BC "Ben" Hackney, 2/29th Australian Inf Bn

was one of only two men to survive the Japanese massacre of wounded at Parit Sulong during the fighting on the Malay Peninsula in 1942.

The force commanded by Lt-Col CGW Anderson attempting to withdraw along the Bakri to Parit Sulong road was stopped at the bridge over the river at Parit Sulong. Unable to withdraw on the road, Anderson's men were forced to disperse through the jungle and swamps.

They left behind 165 wounded who could not travel, including Lt Hackney. After they were captured by the Japanese the wounded PoW's were brutally herded together; many of the PoW's were forced into a shed from where on the evening of the 22nd January 1942 they were tied together in small groups and taken away to be killed.

Lt Hackney, feigning death, was left behind. He crawled away and eventually found another member of his battalion, Sgt Ron Croft, who had also escaped, and they were also joined by a British soldier. The three eventually reached a Malay house where they were given assistance. Hackney who could not stand, convinced the others to leave him. The Malays, fearing reprisals by the Japanese, carried him off some distance from the house and left him. He managed to crawl from place to place, but was generally refused assistance by Malays, who feared reprisals, but was given assistance by Chinese.

On the 27th February 1942, thirty-six days after he escaped the massacre, he was caught by a party of Malays, one dressed as a policeman, taken back to Parit Sulong and handed over to the Japanese. He was again subjected to brutal treatment by the Japanese, but after a series of moves on 20th March 1942 he arrived at the Pudu gaol at Kuala Lumpur. He was later taken with other PoW's to Changi gaol.

He survived the war and returned to Australia.

WEST Albert Benjamin TX5828 A Coy [F Force Ponds Party]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

Article written by Dr Tim Flanagan from Tasmania and published in 'Barbed Wire & Bamboo' Feb 2016.

‘F’ FORCE SURVIVOR – STILL AT HOME

Albert Benjamin ‘Ben’ WEST TX 5828

Ben West, ex2/29, an F-force survivor and still at home.

At the 2015 annual reunion of the 2/29th Battalion, held in Melbourne, there was only one former POW present- Ben West. He was though surrounded by the next three generations of his own family, all testimony to the remarkable life he has lived, and person he is.

I visited Ben at his home, still on the Soldier Settler block his father was granted after returning wounded from World War One. Ben came to live there as a 5 year old. The farm is on north-west Tasmania’s Table Cape, just outside the town of Wynyard. The cape is now famous for the tulips grown on it, and their colours which with the rich brown soil, sea and a lighthouse perched on a high cliff makes for a photographer’s paradise. On this farm Ben and his wife who died earlier in the year, raised their 7 children, one of whom now works the farm, 3 others live nearby.

In all likelihood walking up and down the steep paddocks as a lad helped attune Ben for what was to lie ahead.

Ben is the only bloke left, from a group of about 80 Tasmanians who enlisted in September 1941. After initial training at Brighton camp near Hobart they went to Victoria. In January 1942, about midway through the Malaya-Singapore campaign, they were amongst 3500 personnel who sailed from Sydney on the Aquitania. The Tasmanians were part of a draft of about 500 reinforcements who were sent to Johor in southern Malaya to reinforce the 2/29th Battalion shortly after ‘it was cut about badly at (the battle of) Muar River’ on 20 January 1942. Then the retreat back to Singapore- all on foot.

Ben sees life’s various turns as lucky- in Singapore only two days after the surrender he was put in the first work party to go to the city, and did not return to Changi until ten months later. As a result he told me he missed out on being put in A-Force which went to Burma, or B-Force which went to Borneo and as he says ’And only six of them survived’; or the Selerang Barrack affair.

His luck deserted him when he was drafted to F-Force, 7,000 men slightly more than Australian and British POWs. F-Force was ‘loaned’ by the Japanese command in Singapore, to the Japanese command in Thailand, which was an added complication, and added to the groups’ deprivations. They left Singapore by rail in  ‘….. April 1943, in F Force, Pond’s Party, 700 of us, we never had a permanent camp, just carried our gear, you’d walk and work – finished up at Nieke, up near the border with Burma’ (which is 302 km from Bampong where they had got off the train that bought them up from Singapore). The group carried their chunkels and qualies, and few worldly possessions on themselves; and eight men to a stretcher but soon only four left capable of doing that; and on top of this still expected to work by day.

Ben quietly tells me of his experiences, and I am mesmerised as I listen to this humble old man.  ‘ The Japs set us up in companies, in alphabetical order; Hec Watson, Jimmy Welsh. It was all night time travel, about 20 km a night. I remember when we pulled into Tarsau, only a little bloke, got him up …he told me to stop and have  a break, I said “If I put you down cock,  I’ll never be able to pick you up again”…put him and his pack up on my back and pack, sort of like a fireman’s lift’.

Did you ever see him again? ‘No, I don’t think he made it, half of them (F-Force) never returned’.’

After the Thai-Railway was completed, Ben started the long walk back down the Line, but inevitably ill health came and he travelled part of the way on a barge.

Ben though does not see life in terms of misery and suffering. He was a tough footballer, who knew how to take a blow; and a realist so when a Japanese guard abused them for being too slow going down a greasy slope, and showed them how but slipped and landed on his backside the group of Australians all laughed, which I commented on was a brave thing to do ‘Not really, they couldn’t shoot us all, they had to have someone to do the work’.

Ben was in Thailand for 12 months. Upon his return to Singapore he spent much of his time working on Changi airport. On the 15 August 1945 when the Japanese surrendered he was in the River Valley Camp, working on Tagglin Hill digging foxholes for the Japanese. Coincidentally, this was the same place where he had been at the time of the British surrender on 15 February 1942, at that time he had been with other Australians guarding a crossroad.

The Japanese initially made no announcement of the surrender, it was a growing presumption, badly interrupted a few day later when a British plane flew over, and the Japanese opened fire with their Ack Ack guns. The surrender became real, when a 6 feet 3 inches tall British lieutenant who had parachuted onto the island, commandeered a car and came to their camp. It was to be a little longer before they saw the next ally, but it was none other than Lord Louis Mountbatten himself with his wife and entourage, but the delay had caused the Australians to begin to refer to the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia as ‘Linger, Louis longer’

Ben returned to Australia on the Esperance Bay, via Darwin where they were issued with new uniforms, then to Sydney. As he says, by this stage he had completed a circumnavigation of Australia!

Then a train to Melbourne, and boat to Burnie. The Wynyard RSL had a bus for the 4 or 5 other POWs from his town returning home. Later in the day when Ben and I went for a drive in Wynyard, he showed me where the bunting was up in the street, and the townspeople had gathered to greet the survivors home.

Returning home was to have its own sadness, as he was to find out that his oldest brother Jack -Bertram John West TX3397, a member of the 2/40th Battalion, who was captured on Timor in March 1942; after escaping and going bush, was betrayed, recaptured, tortured then executed by the Japanese there in October of that year.

MCCARTNEY, Sydney VX45838 HQ Coy [F Force]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

Pte. Sydney Albert McCartney  -  10.7.1915 – 15.8.2014

Sydney Albert McCartney was born in Nhill to Alice and Ebenezer McCartney.  Sydney was the second youngest of 10 children and the couple’s youngest son. Growing up in Nhill, Sydney attended the local school, walking miles to and from school each day, along the way he would set rabbit traps which he checked on his way home, and I’m thinking rabbit was regularly on Alice’s menu. Like many of his generation Syd left school at a young age and went to  work for the Grain Elevator Board where he worked shoveling wheat into the silo......these were the days when hard work was ‘the order of the day’. It was during these years Sydney also played football for the local team.

With the onset of the Second World War, Sydney signed up for active service in Caulfield, joined the Army on the 10th of July, 1940, serving with  the 2/29th Battalion.  On the way to Sydney where the men were to be shipped off to War, Sydney’s company stopped over at Shepparton where they camped for a few days. It was here Sydney was to meet the lady who was to become his wife, Jean. 

In 1945 Sydney returned to Australia where he spent 6 months in the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital recovering from the horrors and brutality of a prison camp and working on the Burma Railway.  

In early 1946 he successfully applied for a position with the SEC. Starting work as a labourer, Sydney went on to become a driver, a heavy float driver and then a driving instructor, giving 33 1/2 years of loyal service to the company, 1946 was also the year Sydney and Jean formalized their relationship when they married on the 6th of October. Settling into life in their rented home in Yallourn for some years they then moved into their Housing Commission home in Vale Street, which still remains the family home, just over 66 years later.  It was into this home Sydney and Jean welcomed the safe arrival of their son Geoff. 

Syd was no stranger to hard work and provided well for his family; in many ways they were quite self sufficient with both Sydney and Jean keen gardeners. While Sydney looked after the vegie garden and kept the family supplied with vegetables each day, Jean looked after the front garden where the flowers bloomed. Sydney also brought home a sheep regularly, thus there was also meat on the table.  Geoff remembers well how once his dad put his mind to do something, it was done, even if it meant working in the garage until 3 am or in the garden until midnight. Yep, there was no changing his mind; such was Syd’s stubborn streak which held him in good stead for life.

Aside to gardening Syd and Jean greatly enjoyed showing dogs and went to many shows with their Irish Setters, German Shorthaired Pointers and Hungarian Visla’s. They enjoyed great success with Paddy or its kennel name, Maxine Marksman who became the Victorian KCC Champion. Syd also enjoyed river and open water fishing with young Geoff, and many good weekends were also enjoyed with mates throwing their lines in and having a yarn or two but not while the fish were biting. Syd’s favorite pastime and hobby was shooting; he greatly enjoyed clay target shooting and he especially loved duck shooting. Each year, come duck and quail season, the family headed up to Nhill and while Sydney was out duck shooting, Geoff and Jean enjoyed time with the relatives.

 

Syd was held in high esteem at the Moe Field and Game Club where he was a Founding and Life Member of the Club.  Over the years Syd was a regular at the Club of a Thursday night where he enjoyed clay target shooting; something he continued to do  until his eye sight began failing at the age of 90 years.  Whilst no longer able to shoot Syd still enjoyed his Thursday evenings catching up with fellow members and keeping up to date with what was happening. 

Like many of his generation Syd was a man of routine, Thursdays evenings as mentioned were a regular and every Saturday he enjoyed putting a bet on at the TAB and catching up with his mates at the RSL and watching the racing.  Syd also took a keen interest in his grandson Brook’s horses, mind you, when announced Brook had another horse, his Pa’s response was, ‘another bloody horse’. Syd also maintained his interest in the Moe Football Club, which goes back to the days when he helped to level off the ground and set up the original clubrooms which were brought across from Yallourn. Syd was very much a part of Moe’s history and while he wasn’t born in here, he lived here for over 66 years and during those years he enriched the lives of his family, his friends and his community.

A man of old fashion values, Syd’s word was his bond, but most of all he was a proud family man; a loved and respected father and father in law to Geoff and Robyn, Syd was a much loved Pa to Peter and Sharon and Brook and a great pa to Macey and Benny. Everyone here can say without hesitation, what an honour and a privilege it was to know Sydney McCartney.

Syd, rest peacefully, your memory will live on.

 

Syd left us with this poem:

 

…….The End of the Road

Now that I have come to th end of the road

And the sun has set for me,

I want no rites in a gloom filled room,

Why cry for a soul set free.

Miss me, but let me go.

Syd McCartney, Bill Vanderfeen, Jack Lonsdale, regular meetings at the Moe RSL.

IRVING, Alan Lindsay VX60959 HQ Coy [F Force]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

THIS IS THE STORY OF of ALAN (BENNY) IRVING VX60959 F FORCE HQ COY. 2nd/29th BATTALION, 8th DIVISION, AIF.

My name is Luke Oakley DePaul, I am 16 years of age, and I am currently completing Year 9 at Bayswater Secondary College.

I am the Great Grandson of Alan (Benny) Irving VX60959 F Force HQ Coy. 2nd/29th Battalion, 8th Division, AIF.

Below is a song which has been handed down through the generations of our family, my Nana and her brothers and sister used to sing it with their Dad, Benny, when they were children and have kept up the tradition.

They still sing this song at family gatherings.

I try to imagine my Great Grandfather as an 18 year old young man standing on the Harbour in Singapore singing this song.

IF WE ONLY HAD AUSTRALIA OVER HERE

I was standing on the Harbour, a showcase of first choice

Quietly reminiscing, listening to my sweetheart’s voice

In a fancy I suggested, in a vision which seemed clear

Of what strange things might happen, if we had Australia here.

If the Harbour Bridge was spanned across the Causeway

And old Freemantle came to Singapore

If Adelaide bells rang out in Bukit Timah

And Bondi Beach was lined across the shore.

If the River Yarra flowed into the Harbour

And Rockhampton on this island did appear

We would never have to roam, we would always feel at home

If we only had Australia over here….

I am very proud of my Great Grandfather and I have been studying WW1 and WW2 at school. I have a particular interest in the mental and physical health of our POW’s after they returned home from Changi.

I have used information found in the book “Heroes of F Force” collated by Don Wall in 1993, it is very informative and contains personal accounts from POW’s regarding their health and the various medical conditions at the camps. I have also gathered information on the internet from the Government Anzac portal and the 2nd/29th Battalion history.

ENLISTMENT

Benny was born on 30th June 1923.

Army Records show his Birth date as 30th June 1920.

As he was under the minimum enlistment age, Benny put his age forward and along with his mates, he enlisted at Richmond on 4th August 1941 when he was only 18 years old, he had forged his mother’s signature, as parental consent was required for anyone under the age of 21.

The thought of adventure was exciting, and he and his mates were very happy to be receiving a brand-new pair of leather boots!

After Benny was sent to Training camp for the 2/29th, his girlfriend Joan, aged 16, visited.

According to Benny, when they boarded the ships in Sydney to leave for the War, his brother Walter and brother-in-law Bill were put on one ship and Benny and mates were on another. After they set sail, Churchill was told that more troops were needed to help defend Singapore, so Churchill changed plans and split the fleet, sending ships to both Tobruk and Malaya.

Subsequently Benny then found himself on a ship bound for Singapore, while Walter and Bill were headed for Tobruk.

The following are recollections told by Benny to my grandmother Cheryl:

“After the war, Benny had a dislike for Churchill, as after being told of the desperate need for troops in Singapore, Churchill decided to keep and send the bulk of the troops, including Australians, to Europe, as he needed to defend England, the concerns for Malaya and Australia were less important to Churchill.

In Benny’s words “the Yanks saved Australia…not bloody Churchill”

Benny was forever grateful that the Americans entered the War in the South Pacific and ultimately ended it by bombing Japan, as he reckoned that there was no way that he would have survived another few years or more in Changi.

DURING CAPTIVITY.

F FORCE

Camps: Benny’s Camp was Ni Thea (Nieke) There were four major camps all located in Thailand, east of the Pagoda Pass. H.Q. was established at Nieke and there were three other camps that were named, “Songkurai, Kami and Konkoita” that were not too far away from Nieke.

F Force was comprised of 3600 Australian and 3400 British prisoners of war (POW) who marched three hundred kilometres into the absolute hell that is the Thailand jungle as part of the Construction force of the Burma-Thailand Railway. They eventually arrived there on May 1943. The Imperial Japanese Government made a policy towards the allied prisons of war which was “No work, No food.”

Conditions in the railway camps were primitive and horrific. Food was totally inadequate, beatings were frequent and severe, there were no medical supplies. Tropical diseases were rampant, and the Japanese required a level of productivity that would have been difficult for fully fit men to achieve.

In November 1943, they came out of the jungle on the railway they had helped to build. Over 2000 British and 1000 Australians died while building the railway.

Illness and death were very constant on the Burma Railway and 12,800 of more than 60,000 allied prisoners of war died due to the harsh conditions they had to go through.

The three main causes of these deaths were attributed to malnutrition, tropical diseases and being overworked, this massive death toll was caused mainly by the brutality and indifference of the Japanese soldiers.

The Aussie mateship was definitely a huge factor in helping the 2nd/29th soldier’s morale and helping them to survive all the very harsh and deadly conditions of the Burma Railway and Changi, that the Japanese enforced upon them.

CHANGI

Most Starving prisoners turned to scrounging. Snakes, fish, clams, and rodents were caught and usually shared with an inner group of friends. Medical personnel would experiment with vegetation such as weeds as a potential source of vitamins.

The diseases that the soldiers in Changi faced were tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and tropical ulcers; diseases caused by overcrowding and lack of hygiene, such as dysentery and cholera; and diseases caused by a limited diet and vitamin deficiencies, such as malnutrition and beriberi.

On 26 February 1942, Sir Weary Dunlop was promoted to temporary lieutenant-colonel, Dunlop became a Japanese prisoner of war in 1942 when he was captured in Bandung, Java, Indonesia together with the hospital he was commanding.

Because of his leadership skills, he was placed in charge of prisoner of war camps in Java, and was later transferred briefly to Changi, and in January 1943 he commanded the first Australians sent to work on the Burma Railway. Dunlop’s pure dedication and heroism became a legend among other prisoners of war. They thought of him as a courageous leader and a compassionate doctor. He restored the morale of fellow prisoners of war who were trapped in the Japanese prisoner camps and helped them get through all the tough times that they had to face while they were forcefully imprisoned by the Japanese. In the words of one of his fellow friends, author Donald Stuart “He was a lighthouse of sanity in a universe of endless madness and suffering.”

My Great Grandfather held Weary Dunlop in the highest esteem. Weary attended many of the 2nd/29th Battalion POW Picnics over the years. He used to arrive in a colourful summer shirt and shorts, which resembled ‘summer pyjamas’.

HEALTH: After the War

It appears that not enough was done by the Australian Government of the time to help these men recover after being held captive for 3 years by one of the most brutal perpetrators of war crimes in modern history.

They were told not to speak of their experiences in Changi or of the horrors that they endured whilst working on the Burma Railway.

For many former POWs, post war physical and psychological problems took a significant toll on their families. Depression and moodiness required a lot of emotional support and understanding. Their wives were very strong and devoted women indeed, by supporting their husbands who had just came from hell and back.

When Benny returned home to Australia, having been “fattened up” before he left Singapore, he was a very ill young man both physically and mentally.

On 12th January 1946, Benny and Joan got married in Richmond.

Shortly after arriving in Lorne for their honeymoon, Benny was rushed back to Melbourne urgently and admitted to the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital for a lifesaving treatment.

He was to have many more stays at this superb Hospital over the years.

Benny also suffered for decades from the effects of Tropical Ulcers and Strongyloides Worms.

“Distinctive characteristics of this Strongyloides parasite are its ability to persist and replicate within a host for decades. They are caused by poor sanitation conditions“

Benny unfortunately suffered from this condition on and off for the rest of his life.

MATESHIP

Benny kept in touch with his mates from the 2nd/29th Battalion, particularly John McFarlane who had moved to Dunkeld to work with Harry Rowbottem, the whole family spent many extended holidays there with John and June and their 13 children, even attending school there for 2 months during one of Benny’s “bad times”,

The time that John and Benny spent together was the best mental therapy and emotional support for both of them.

John McFarlane would come down from Dunkeld every Anzac Eve. Apparently, after attending the March and the Reunion, John and Benny would not arrive back at Benny’s until 2 days later.

For many years, our family attended the annual POW’s Picnic held at Keast Park in Carrum on the last Sunday in November, it was a wonderful day attended by many of the 2nd/29th men, all enjoying the time they were spending with each other, talking about all the things that happened in the past which only they were there to actually experience and fully understand.

The family also had regular social visits to see “the Mouse” Gordon Cowling and “Goldy” Peter Goulden, again this was the best type of therapy that they could ever ask for.

Benny worked at the Government Aircraft Factory in Fisherman’s Bend for many decades until he had to eventually retire due to multiple complicated health reasons, most of which were a direct result of the illnesses and diseases that he developed during his time being in Changi and on the Burma Railroad.

By the early 50s, Benny would still not allow anything that was made in Japan to be purchased, he refused to support any Japanese company.

In later years, a Fighting Fund was set up by the 2nd/29th Battalion in an effort to raise funds for legal representation to gain compensation from the Japanese for the work carried out on the Burma Railroad.

The men of the Battalion all contributed $100 yearly for many years.

Benny was very proud of his one and only 21st birthday card which he received whilst he was in Changi. His mates had scrounged some paper and coloured pencils to make him a personal birthday card just for him which also had a small key cut out of cardboard with a piece of string and a end of a wooden match stick.

Benny kept this card and was able to bring it back home with him to Australia. The family still has the birthday card which has been handed down to his Grandson, Ben Irving Jr who is now the custodian of the birthday card. The card is now 79 years old.

Years ago, Benny was asked if he wanted the birthday card to be kept in the Australian War Museum in Canberra. His ultimate reply was “Why would I do that? It’s my Birthday card, not theirs.”

Together with his wife Joan, they were able to raise 4 children and were happily married for 50 years up until his eventual passing in 1996. The 2nd/29th Battalion helped Benny with medical supplies needed during his final fight with his illness. Benny was very grateful for the assistance that he received from his Battalion and the visits he received from them.

LUKE OAKLEY DEPAUL

KING, David Leslie VX37484 HQ Coy [F Force]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

VALE

David Leslie King (VX37484)

David passed away at Bethlehem Hospital, South Caulfield, on Saturday 25 January 2014, aged 93 years. His funeral service was conducted by Father Peter Wilson at the Wilson Chapel, Springvale Cemetery, on 6 February. Peter delivered the eulogy, John Lack spoke on behalf of the Association, and Hugh Gordon, President of the Oakleigh-Carnegie RSL sub-branch, conducted the RSL service. The Association was represented by Lindsay Garner, Doug Ogden, and John and Sue Lack.

 The Eulogy

Peter Wilson cited duty, decency, reliability, honour, dignity, and respect as qualities that David not only held in high esteem but practised every day during his time on earth. He was a hard-working and considerate man who could never resist the opportunity to support and help his family or friends, given half the chance. He saw a lot in his lifetime, including a world ravaged by war. David and his brother answered the call of their country: his brother lost his life, and David became a prisoner of war. He believed that Australia was the best country in the world, and was proud serving it.

David was born in 1920 in Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia, the second eldest of four children (Robert, David, Arthur, and Mavis) of Victorian-born Leslie and Western Australian-born Mary. David moved to Melbourne as a child, and lived in the South Yarra/Prahran area, before moving to Chadstone where he and his family lived for the past 45 years. David was devoted to his family: his daughter Beverley (from an earlier marriage), his wife Marge and their five sons Leslie, Peter, Wayne, David and Terry. He worked two jobs in order to support his family: a milkman by night and a taxi driver by day.

David never asked much from life: he was always an active and contented man. An early riser, he loved his house and working on it, and got most pleasure from tinkering in his garden. A Norfolk pine that now stands almost 20 metres tall in David’s backyard was brought home on the back seat of his reliable Ford Falcon (KEV127), which served him and his family well for many years. He was a devoted Collingwood supporter, and would often feed the magpies that came to his back door, he said, for a feed and a chat. He had a fantastic memory and could recall the smallest but significant details of his life with great clarity and then magically weave them into his story.

David was a well-liked and well-respected man, someone you could trust and rely on, someone who enjoyed his Tattslotto or a bet on the horses, someone who would always be there if needed. I’m sure he counted himself lucky to have such a caring and loving family to help nurse and care for him as his condition deteriorated, and I’m also sure he gained a great deal of comfort from knowing they were there for him, as he had been in the past for them. Despite his worsening illness, he never grumbled or complained about his obvious discomfort. This is a rare virtue.

Tribute to David King

delivered by John Lack on 6 February 2014

David King was born in Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia on 11 June 1920. The family came to Melbourne and David went to school wherever his family happened to be living in the Depression years – Abbotsford, Richmond, East Melbourne, Kensington, and (finally) Windsor. He left school in 1934, aged 14. His first job was weeding the fairways of Albert Park golf club, and in 1939 he was working at Macpherson’s nut and bolt factory in Richmond. He had joined the militia, but on the outbreak of war his intention of enlisting for overseas service was interrupted by hospitalisation after a car accident. Hence he missed enlisting with his mates for the Middle East: ‘So I joined the AIF to catch up with my older brother Robert, who’d already joined.’

David enlisted at Royal Park on 15 July 1940, just a fortnight after his brother Robert - older by two years - enlisted at Caulfield. They were soon in the same training battalions at Mt Martha and Bonegilla. David (VX37484) and Bob (VX40646) joined the 2/29th Bn AIF on 29 November 1940, and sailed with their Battalion for Malaya in July 1941. The Eighth Division AIF in Malaya would consist of only three Brigades (the fourth being scattered across the islands to Australia’s north), and they were sent to Malaya with the thought that they might be replaced by British-Indian troops and sent to the Middle East where Australians were engaged in the ‘real’ war. But, of course, Japan launched a series of lightning attacks on the British, Dutch and American colonies and territories in December 1941. In less than four weeks the IJA sent the British-Indian forces reeling southwards, towards Johore, the southernmost state of the Malayan Federated States. Only in the second week of January 1942 was the Battalion sent into battle.

David, a private, and a driver attached to C Company, and Robert, a corporal also in C Company, became part of the fierce fighting after the battalion (less one of its five companies) was sent to ‘mop up’ a force of 200 Japanese who had crossed the Muar River. Instead of 200 of the enemy they faced several regiments of the crack Imperial Japanese Guard division. Outnumbered, outgunned and eventually surrounded, the 2/29th had to fight a desperate battle for survival, a battle that saw almost half of the Battalion killed in action (including its Commanding Officer on the first day, and his 2IC on the second), wounded, or missing in the surrounding swamps as it split up into groups and attempted to break free. David as a driver was trucking men and supplies through enemy infiltrated jungle and rubber plantations, and once the order came –‘every man for himself’ – he drove to Yong Peng. The remnant of the Battalion fought its way eastwards to join up with the 2/19th. When Battalion HQs later put the story together, Robert was reported missing, then reported believed wounded, and finally recorded as last seen between Bakri and Parit Sulong during a bayonet charge on 20 January, one of several charges mounted against Japanese machine guns in an attempt to break through on the Muar–Bakri road. In one of these astonishing bayonet charges, the Australians advanced singing ‘Waltzing Matilda’.

At Yong Peng, David was asking various men as they drifted into Yong Peng ‘Have you seen my brother?’ Eventually one told him how Robert had died. I’m not sure when the King family learnt of Robert’s fate. They may have been notified in 1942 simply that he was ‘missing’. Only in 1946 was his widow issued with a death certificate. David survived Muar and Bakri to rejoin his Battalion on Singapore Island. Here they were shelled and bombed continuously for days. He was one of those shocked by the British surrender on 15 February.

The Australians marched off to Changi prison camp. David was part of working parties on Singapore Island, including the Great World, a former amusement park near the Singapore docks. His closest mates were ‘Big Steve’ Lawson, Gordon (‘The Mouse’) Cowling (from Diggers Rest), and Peter (‘Goldy’) Goulden. David, ‘Big Steve’ and ‘The Mouse’ were put to work repairing trucks for export to Japan. After he deliberately bogged one truck, David was sent to labour on the docks. And then in 1943 he became part of F Force, sent to Thailand to build a section of the Burma-Thailand railway. He survived nine months on the railway, Battalion records indicating that he suffered multiple bouts of severe malaria, and also leg ulcers, but through good fortune or an iron constitution or both, none of the shocking diseases that carried men off in their thousands. David came down to Bangkok by rail, and was shipped to Singapore. He was thankful to have escaped the fate of those mates sent off to work in mines and factories in Japan, which meant running the gauntlet of American submarines. When the war ended he was at River Valley camp, marching out each day to the Tanglin hill area to dig tunnels that POWs suspected were intended as their graves in the event of an Allied invasion of Malaya.

David returned home with a large contingent of his Battalion on the Esperance Bay, arriving in Melbourne by rail from Sydney in October 1945. His mother and brother Arthur were waiting for him How much had his family heard of him in those four years? And how much had the King family heard of Robert? Probably very little, with communication by means of a few post cards sporadic, and months out of date when they arrived home. Homecoming, affected with the sadness of Robert’s death, was brightened for David by seeing his daughter Beverley for the first time in more than four years: the three-month old baby grown into a toddler.

When David agreed in 2011 to be interviewed for the Battalion’s records, and when I spoke to him in 2012 at his home, and again just weeks before his death, David always talked about the positive things of his war experience: the mateship, the comradeship. Somehow, after some of the worst experiences of loss, and enslavement and mistreatment, David remained unembittered. A gentle and lovely man, proud of his Battalion, loyal to the Association, mindful of the mates who had gone before, and above all proud of his long marriage to Marge, his six children, and his grandchildren.

The Battalion family – of veterans and their families – salutes you David for your example of courage in the adversity of battle, captivity, and illness, and for upholding the highest standards of the AIF, in war and in peace. May you rest in peace.

STILES, Leo Vern VX40201 A Coy [F Force, Ponds Party]

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

TRUE FRIENDSHIP

Colin Stiles

On 14 October 1945 Neil Ross, of 50 Virginia Street, Newtown, Geelong, wrote as follows to my mother Joyce Stiles, the wife of Sgt Leo Vernon Stiles VX40201 A Coy 2/29th Battalion:

I don't think you know me, but I was lucky enough to be a very good friend of your husband, Leo. We were in A Coy together and got very friendly. But I would like to offer you my sincerest sympathy on you great loss.

Leo was one of the great men of this world. Everyone thought the world of him and his death left a gap in our lives which can never be refilled.

Up to the last on the Thailand railway Leo was working to help other people and although he was sick himself he did not spare himself in trying to help other sick people. He has left a name behind that will never die. In the 2/29th Bn he is looked upon as the ideal Sergeant and everything a man should be.

It must be quite a relief to you that you have two sons left to carry on.

You and they were always in his thoughts. Once again I offer my sincere sympathy and if there is anything I can do I will only be too glad. Full records of his death are kept by the 2/29th Bn.

Writing to John Lack, Colin Stiles adds:

'I went to my first 2/29th reunion dinner in 1994 and was put alongside Jack Lonsdale. During the evening Jack spoke about my Father, which was great to hear. Near the end of the evening he said the day my Father died there was a call for a volunteer to go to a camp nearby to pick up some rice. My Father volunteered and despite Jack and his friends trying to stop him because he was very sick, he went. On his return to the camp he collapsed and Jack was nursing him and trying to get him to eat when he died. Jack did not give me any more detail than that.

'But on page 196 during an interview recorded in your book No Lost Battalion, Frank Nankervis stated "I remember one of our sergeants, who was an old sergeant, a highly respected sergeant. His health deteriorated to a stage where I walked into the camp one night and he was lying on the ground.

He was being cradled by three of his men who were a group. And they were begging him to eat. He was that sick, he couldn't be bothered. And one of the three, a rough tough man himself, this fellow, he was a miner down Wonthaggi, he got the food and he chewed it and he leaned over and he spat it into the mouth of this man. That was one of the most moving I think I've ever seen. And his sergeant - 'Ooh, sergeant', you know, as long as there's been army there've been fables about sergeants. These fellows begged him to live, and he died, and they just wept over him. They were men used to death and yet their sergeant died and they nursed him until the end."

'Frank told me he did not name Jack or my Father during the interview in case it embarrassed me. I know Tich Davitt was there also, but unfortunately do not know who the third person was.'

Leo Stiles and a mate