18th (5th Bn. The Loyal Regt) Recce

Thanks for the welcome Tom , Paul and Andy . Pictures attached are of my father. 1st one is taken in New Zealand in september 1945. 2nd one is taken in 1939 prior to the war starting and is the TA 5th loyal regiment at training camp ( he is the centre one of the three soldiers at the back with hats on ). 3rd one is again taken in New Zealand ( he is 4th from left ) along with other fepows who were sent there to recover from captivity in Japan . Andy it would be great if you can check if my father completed a liberation report and if he as japanese pow card at kew many thanks Dave

 

Dave thanks for posting photos.

Cheers
Paul

 

Hello Dave and welcome to the forum.
Lovely to have another Recce on here. Thank you for posting the photos

Lesley

 

Hello,

My great grandfather Albert Parnell served with 18th Division Recce Corps during WW2. His number was 4133553. My family are looking for any information that people may have in relation to him. We know he was captured in 1942 and we have copies of his letters home, however we do not know what happened to him after he was rescued by the Americans - we believe he went to New York for a number of months but we would love to read any information about what happened.

Many thanks

 

Hi and welcome to the forum, do you have a copy of his service records?

 

Hello GBJ1984 welcome to the forum. Great to have another Recce on board.

Cheers Paul

 

Hi Paul. I am looking for any information I can obtain about my Grandfather Trooper John Newton (3857290) of the 18th (5th Bn. The Loyal Regt.) Reconnaissance Corps who died on the 12th of June 1945 somewhere in Burma.
Thanks in advance
Paul Newton

 

Paul, hello and welcome, here is some information on your grandfather. There is other information relating to his POW time which I need to look through and will come back. (Unless someone beats me to it).

Pratchapkirikan Cemetery
Grave No 27
POW No 11990
Regt No 3857290
Rank Pte
Name Newton J
Unit 18 Recce Corps
Date of Death 12.6.45
Cause Malaria

Casualty list No 796 Dated 13 April 1942
Malaya
Missing
18th Bn Reconnaissance Corps
3857290 Newton Pte J Date of casualty 15.2.42
[Note there are 230 men of 18 Recce on list list !!]

Casualty list No 1209 Dated 11 August 1943
Malaya
Previously reported missing now Prisoner of War
18th Bn Reconnaissance Corps
3857290 Newton Tpr J Previous list No 796 Date of casualty 15.2.42

Casualty list No 1921 Dated 27 Novemeber 195
Previously reported Prisoner of War now reported died
Royal Armoured Corps
3857290 Newton Tpr J 18 R Recce Corps Previous list 1209 Malaya
(Date of death 12.6.45 Previously shown with unit as Recce Corps)

[Note. as you may be aware the Recce Corps were absorbed into the Royal Armoured Corps on 1 January 1944]

 

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum. Lovely to have another Recce on the forum.
The first thing we say to new members is to apply for the service records from the MOD in Glasgow. They take just a few weeks and well worth the 30 pounds. These are a good start for your research.
Get a copy of military service records - GOV.UK

Lesley

 

Hi Tony56,

This already a step forwards and adds a little information to what we have. Thank you for this. The information about his POW time would be great as my Father and I have none so would be very interesting and will help to fill in gaps
Thank you so much
Paul

 

The following are details of some of the POW records I have found, a few are just name, rank and number and some duplicate others, anyway they are here.

WO 361/1623
Far East: death index: soldiers’ names entered from files in series SS/330/141: entered to SS/330/141/689
Newton J Pte - Recce - 3857290 - SS/330/141 Ref 70

WO 361/2235 (as per my first post)
Prisoners of War, Far East: Thailand – Burma Railway camps: death rolls: cemetery details
Pratchapkirikan Cemetery
Grave No: 27
POW No: 11990
Regt No: 3857290
Rank: Pte
Name: Newton J
Unit: 18 Recce Corps
Date of Death: 12.6.45
Cause: Malaria

WO 361/2178
Prisoners of War, Far East: 18th Division headquarters and infantry: pilot roll M – S.
3857290 - Pte Newton J - 18 Recce C - OVL P 2.11.42

WO 361/2172
Prisoners of War, Far East: Allied POW camps in Thailand: nominal rolls
Name: Newton John
Ser: A
Rank: Pvt
New Card No: I 11990 (the I is handwritten in front of number)
Old Card No: I 24494 (the I is handwritten in front of number)
Former camp: M 5450
Regtl No: 3857290
Remarks: M-17/11/10

WO 392/25
War Office: Directorate of Prisoners of War: Prisoner of War lists, Second World War, 1939 – 1945
No: 36906
Name: Newton, John
Rank & Ser No: Pte 3857290
Br of Service: A
Date of Capture: 15.2.42
Date of Liberation: 12.6.45
Camp: TH
Remarks: Deceased

WO 361/1955
Prisoners of War, Far East: Thailand POW camp, name list, as of 1 November 1944: volume II
Name: Newton, John
Ser: A
Rank: Pvt
New Card No: I 11990
Old Card No: I 24494
Former Camp: M-5450
Regtl No: 3857290
Remarks: M-17/11/10

WO 361/1623
Far East: death index: soldiers’ names entered from files in series SS/330/141: entered to SS/330/141/689
Newton T Pte - Recce 3857290 - SS/330/141 Ref No126

I am not an expert on POW records so cannot offer much in the way of interpretation of these although I am sure that some searching will reveal the answers. On the other hand there are plenty of experts here – wait a little and I am sure someone will be along.

The WO (War Office) records are held at The National Archives, this link will take you to one of the pages – change the search criteria for others.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=wo+361%2F1623

I am assuming that you have carried out other internet searches such as the CWGC?
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2233421/NEWTON,%20JOHN

Best of luck with your research, you will find plenty of willing helpers here.

 

Paul,

This book is a history of the Reconnaissance Corps:


An extract:

The 18th Reconnaissance Regiment
This regiment was formed from the 5th Battalion of the Loyals. The 18th was lost at Singapore, where it arrived just at the time of capitulation and never had a real chance to fight. Most members of the Regimant who lost their lives died in the hands of the Japanese. The Commanding Officer of the Regiment was Lt-Col. H. A. Fitt, D.S.O.

Your grandfather is mentioned amongst the 263 other ranks of the Regiment who gave their lives in the war.

RIP

If you haven’t already found it you may like to look at this post and the attachments that will provide more information on the Reconnaissance Corps, the 18th are mentioned.
http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/reconnaissance-journal.28896/page-4#post-698534

You may also find this book interesting:
The British Reconnaissance Corps in World War II

 

Hi Paul welcome to the forum. Great to have another Recce on board. Do you have a photo of his grave marker?



Photo courtesy of Tony Beck

Trooper JOHN NEWTON
3857290
Who died age 27 on 12 June 1945 Malaria, Beri Beri, buried Mergui Road, 12 Kilo Camp Cemetery Thailand-Burma Railway

Son of Harry and Rebecca Newton, of Farnworth, Lancashire; husband of Marie Newton, of Farnworth.
KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY 6. E. 20.

Cheers
Paul

 

Morning guys,
I have received quite a bit of information from you guys in the last few days which is of major interest to me and my family, I thank you tremendously for this assistance and hope/plan to continue my research into the life and death of my Grandfather.
I have visited the CWGC site and various others and have found some photos and documents, including my Grandfathers grave marker. I have one photo of my Grandfather prior to his shipping out and will continue my search for more photos and further information.
once again, thank you all for the assistance so far

 

Thanks for posting photo of your Grandfather

Cheers
Paul

 

WO 392_23

 

hi,
Thanks to Tricky Dicky for directing me here. I'm brand new to this.
Dad's (Fred Lonsdale Thompson) history = 5th Loyals, 18th Recce, Empress of Asia, Changi, Railway, Nagoya (Iruka), killed down mine in Feb 1945.
I'm trying to find out:
Did all the 18th go to the same Thai-Burma Railway camp(s)?
Did they all return to Singapore by train (Rice wagons)?
Did they all travel to Japan (Moji) on the Singapore Maru?
How did they get from Moji to Nagoya (Iruka)
Was the rock fall accident that killed my dad just 7 months before end of war caused by 'friendly' (US) fire?
Any help on how to find answers to these questions would be welcome.
Ian

 

Ian,
Answers given to the best of my knowledge, but hopefully others more knowledgeable will correct or enhance.
Did all the 18th go to the same Thai-Burma Railway camp(s)?
No, 18th like most others would have been spread over wide areas on the railway, and indeed wide areas over Asia.
Did they all return to Singapore by train (Rice wagons)?
No, many would remain to work at maintenance, or road building, or too sick to travel.
Did they all travel to Japan (Moji) on the Singapore Maru?
No, again it would have been a case of availability of men when a shipload was requested. Also there was already 300 British in the camp when they arrived.
How did they get from Moji to Nagoya (Iruka)
Train. Useful reading here:
Iruka Bound
Was the rock fall accident that killed my dad just 7 months before end of war caused by 'friendly' (US) fire?
Always possible, but unlikely. My Dad also worked in a copper mine and there were many rockfall deaths. He put most of them down to lack of wooden supports. The Japanese considered it cheaper to get replacement slaves from the POW camps. The men were expendable.

I visited 'Iruka' a few years ago to attend one of the memorial services the locals hold every year for the 16 British who died.
There is also a mine museum there that has POW memorabilia on display.
Although officially the men are now buried in Yokohama, the elderly Japanese there are convinced the bodies were never raised and that is why they have this memorial site.
.
.

 

18th Recce mentioned here.