Filtering by Tag: Ponds Party

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.

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

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.

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

CHRISTIE Robert William VX48633 HQ Coy F Force (Ponds Party)

Added on by 2/29 Battalion.

VALE ROBERT WILLIAM ‘BOB’ CHRISTIE OAM

VX48633, 2/29th Battalion AIF

‘Bob’ Christie, for that is how everyone knew him, passed away peacefully on 10th September 2014. He had reached the remarkable age of 97 years of ago. 

Bob leaves behind his much loved family and a great life of service to his country, his community, his ex-POW mates and his church.

I first met Bob Christie in 2006, when I was just about to embark on the writing of a book about ex-POWs of the Thai Burma Railway. Both Bob and Berris welcomed me into their home and at the instant I walked into Bob’s office, I knew I was in the heart of our history and the history of the 2/29th Battalion Association. Bob was ordered and he had kept anything and everything about the men he had fought with and survived with on the Thai Burma railway.  In their honour. As we were walking to the gate after our talk I mentioned how beautiful his house was and he said, ‘I was born in this house. In the front room, in fact.’ I came away from our meeting knowing I had met someone special. 

Bob Christie loved and honoured the men he served with and he was never going to forget them. The service to celebrate Bob’s life at Malvern Presbyterian Church was packed, as Andrew Coffey, the son of one of Bob’s 2/29th mates Jack Coffey, commented to me later. And in typical form, Bob had requested no flowers, rather donations be made to Legacy. 

When Bob was past 90 years of age he stood up on the dais of the Shrine of Remembrance, in front of a packed audience, to thank those for attending the launch of his book, ‘Surviving Captivity’.  Bob had managed, at his great age, to write an account of his life, the Malay campaign he had fought in and his diary notes from the Line.  The book was published in 2010 to wide acclaim. There is never any way to keep a good or a busy man down and Bob Christie was both.

Bob served in Singapore; he fought and men, his friends, fell by his side.  Survival turned to capture through the horrors of the Thai Burma railway.  Bob was a Signaller; he fought at the Battle for Muar, was captured and sent up the Line in Pond’s Party in F Force.   If there can be any Force you did it worse on the Line than others, I will cope the abuse by saying that Pond’s Party has that accolade. Bob Christie came home and took up the position of Association Secretary of the 2/29th Battalion Association for over 60 years in order to closely remember, and help others to know of those men he knew so well. Bob was awarded the OAM in 2003 for service to veterans and their families.  He cared for all until his death.

Throughout his life, Bob Christie loved his cricket and prior to the war he worked in the insurance industry.  At Bob’s funeral, his family recounted how their father’s first position was to light the fires in the city building fireplaces of that insurance company.  Post war he returned to work within the same company and moved into a very senior position within the firm. 

One of the sweetest things Bob ever said to me was during the launch of my book at the Shrine.  It was a staggering busy day, with people in every direction wanting to catch my attention, but Bob stood there with Berris until the coast was clear and he said, ‘Thank you Pattie. You have done a great thing for the POWs this day.’  I was honestly overwhelmed by his comment, and perhaps cannot even now put into words how I felt about his graciousness, but I knew Bob meant every word; and I have never forgotten it.   My comment to him then, as now, is ‘No….it’s not you who should thank me, rather the reverse.’  So thank you Bob Christie.  

The Association would like to extend their condolences to Berris, Robert, Janella, Shan, Sarah and Ashley at the loss of a terrific fellow. Please know that we will miss Bob at our functions.

 

Pattie Wright with thanks to Andrew Coffey – 2/29th Battalion Association

Bob Christie's Retirement

Bob Christie, undoubtedly the most venerated member and the Honorary Secretary and mainstay of the Association for the last 65 years announced his retirement at the AGM on 24 April 2012. John Lack was elected to take over this role.

Bob became honorary secretary in 1947 and has worked diligently and has been the prime force in overseeing the smooth operation of the Association since that date. He has dedicated his life to ensuring that the Association operates for the wellbeing of the members and their families and to perpetuating the memory of the men and their sacrifices. With his unfailing memory and his warm and humble manner, he has always been (and will continue to be) available to provide useful information to relatives of men who have since passed on. And for all these years, Bob has had the loving and untiring support of Berris, his wife, a life member of the Association.

Bob was instrumental in the publication of the Battalion History in 1983 and the subsequent edition and reprints. It has been Bob's lifelong work and passion to ensure that the Association continues to survive and flourish and the current Committee is dedicated to these aims. Bob will continue on the Committee as our mentor. We all know that he will be around to support us and the Association until his last gasp!

Andrew Brand President

November 2012

Standing Ovation for Association Patron

The Committee resolved in April that Bob Christie be invited to become Patron of the Association. John Lack read the letter of invitation and Bob’s acceptance. John asked ‘Does this have the support of this AGM?’ John’s invitation to members was responded with a standing ovation of acceptance.