Sandakan POW camp Borneo

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by Croney, Nov 16, 2015.

  1. Croney

    Croney New Member

    Hi,
    I hope someone can help me with some information. My relative Joseph Kenneth Crone was with the RAF Volunteer Reserve in WW2. I am going out to Borneo in a few days to visit his grave. He spent 2 and a half years in Sandakan POW camp and died on 4th April 1945 at the age of just 23. He is buried in Labuan War Cemetery.
    What I would love to know is what an Aircraftman 1st Class was, and historically why the RAF were in Java when he was captured? And what were the RAF volunteer reserve? His service number was 1036472 and he was from Kendal in Cumbria. If anyone can shed some light on these questions I would be hugely grateful. Thank you.
     
  2. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

  3. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

  4. Croney

    Croney New Member

    Many thanks Bamboo43 and TD.
     
  5. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

  6. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    Croney,

    For details of what happened to members of the RAF after capture on Java, have a look at Terence Kelly's 'By Hellship to Hiroshima' (also published as Living with Japanese). This is only the first two chapters, so borrowing from the library, if possible, is probably the way to go.

    From Sandakan The Untold Story of The Sandakan Death Marches by Paul Ham, p149:

    During April, (1943), more than 750 British prisoners, after a ghastly ordeal at sea and several months in prison camps in Kuching and Jesselton, disembark at Sandakan. Exhausted, sick, malnourished and ill-treated, they are an amalgam of several British regiments, including a large proportion of Royal Air Force personnel - mostly ground staff taken prisoner at Singapore and Java. On arrival, under the authority of the Japanese officer Captain Nagai Hirawa, they move into 'Compound Number 2', a line of atap huts separated from the Australian compound.

    Mark
     
  7. Croney

    Croney New Member

    Thank you Mark. This is exactly what I'm looking for.
     
  8. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    Corney,

    I will look through more of my books later today, when I am home, and post more.

    Mark
     
  9. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    From 'Sandakan: A conspiracy of silence' by Lynette Ramsay Silver, pp. 346 - 352:

    1942
    09 Oct British PoWs leave Singapore for Borneo
    19 Oct British PoWs arrive Jesselton

    1943
    08 April 200 British PoWs arrive at Sandakan from Jesselton
    18 April Rest of British (576) arrive from Jessleton. All British in camp near airstrip.
    18 Aug British PoWs move from airstrip to No 2 Compound

    1945
    Mid Apr British moved to wired section of Australian camp.

    Mark
     
  10. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2677048/CRONE,%20JOSEPH%20KENNETH

    Rank: Aircraftman 1st Class
    Service No: 1036472
    Date of Death: 05/04/1945
    Age: 23
    Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
    Grave Reference: T. E. 9
    Cemetery: LABUAN WAR CEMETERY
    Additional Information: Son of Joseph Edward and Agnes Crone, of Kendal, Westmorland


    It took a few goes through the Labuan War Cemetery burial cards as held on file by the National Archives of Australia (NAA) to find his card.

    I don't know if the info helps but attached is a copy of his card.
     

    Attached Files:

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  11. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    From 'Sandakan: A conspiracy of silence' by Lynette Ramsay Silver, pp. 108 - 110

     
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  12. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    Attached is a map from 'Sandakan: A conspiracy of silence' by Lynette Ramsay Silver, p. 127, to help you place things in context spatially.

    Map.jpg
     
  13. ritsonvaljos

    ritsonvaljos Senior Member

  14. BarbaraWT

    BarbaraWT Member

    Hi,
    Though I'm posting a couple of years out, you may be interested in this photo from a memorial to Australians who died on the Sandakan Death March.
    The only reason 6 men survived is that they escaped during the March.
    Barbara
     

    Attached Files:

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  15. John Tulloch

    John Tulloch Member

    Good afternoon all

    A bit late by four years in this conversation but I thought I would let you know I have written a book on Borneo 1941-1945. The book is called The Borneo Graveyard 1941-1945. It took 12 years of research and five in writing. I have attached my book flyer; I am the only outlet in the UK.

    I would make just one comment about the British North Borneo UK POWs; they comprised of Royal Artillery, RAF and RAF VR. In 2011 I organised SABAH SALUTE, the RA Act of Remembrance and the Unveiling and Dedication of the RA Memorial at the Kundasang War Memorial near Ranau.

    John
     

    Attached Files:

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