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.
Hi Croney Welcome Re why were the RAF in Java - https://www.google.fr/search?q=Sandakan+POW+camp+Borneo&oq=Sandakan+POW+camp+Borneo&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=raf+java+1942 for background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Java_(1942) I am sure others will be along to help answer your other questions Have you applied for his service records? - if not the link is https://www.gov.uk/guidance/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records#how-to-apply-for-service-personnel-records TD
Hi Croney, Some information on Joseph in case you have not seen it already: http://www.cofepowdb.org.uk/cdb2/Controller.jsp?action=showfepow&id=48747 Attached is his entry on the WO392 listing of POW's held by the Japanese during WW2. I'm sure other members will help out with your other questions.
The RAF Volunteer Reserve: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Air_Force_Volunteer_Reserve Aircraftman 1st Class: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraftman Mark
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
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
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 is a map from 'Sandakan: A conspiracy of silence' by Lynette Ramsay Silver, p. 127, to help you place things in context spatially.
Croney's pilgrimage to Borneo to visit the place his relative, LAC Joseph Kenneth Crone of Kendal, Westmorland (now Cumbria) has been featured on consecutive nights on ITV Border News & Lookaround (21, 22 and 23 December 2015). It has been a moving and personal story. This is a link to the ITV Border website page about the story: http://www.itv.com/news/border/2015-12-21/itv-borders-paul-crone-travels-to-borneo-to-retrace-the-footsteps-of-a-distant-relative/
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
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