3rd HAA Regiment RA, POW Singapore 1941 to 1945

Roy,
Camp, Aug44-Nov44 is LINSON CAMP (202Km camp)
N Paton full name is Nakom Paton

Col Owiran is Lt. Col OWTRAM of 137 Field Regiment.
Tamakan is Col. Williamson again.

Mike

 

Thanks Mike

 

Mike,
Sorry to trouble you but hopefully one last question: Did the camp '248 KM camp' have a name?

Regards, Roy

 

Roy,

I am not sure about this.
The nearest camp I can see to 248km is Krian Kri (also called Krieng Krai) but that is listed as 250Km.

Mike

(its never a trouble to help those genuinely interested to keep the mens story alive)

 

Thanks once again Mike.

 

Hi Mike
Following the list of camps Gnr Harris was POW for some reason I can not find any info on Chunkai camp; do you happen to know the distance of this camp from Ban Pong and what kind of work Gnr Harris be expected to do at the camp.
Roy

 

Roy,

Many camps had alternative spelling. Try CHUNGKAI.
It is 60Km from Nong Pladuk , (57Km) from Ban Pong.
Chungkai was a major camp.

It is just 7km from Kanchanaburi, which is the CWGC Cemetery.

Mike

 

Hello all . Really interesting reading all of this. My grandfather was Cornthwaite, Leslie, service number 845929. It seems that he was in 3rd HAA when Singapore fell. He died when I was just three, but he never really spoke about it afterwards anyway so our information is sketchy. All I really know is that he was married to a local in Singapore (my grandmother) and they were separated when he was imprisoned. I think that he was in Burma. After the war, possibly motivated by wanting to see things through (I suspect), he went back to Singapore as a prison guard at Changi, where he witnessed some of the worse officers meeting their fate.

Is the best starting place Kew? I had a look on cofepow and he is listed on there but I am struggling to find any narrative / battery number etc that would allow me to try to learn more about his experiences.

 

As you have his Army number, you could apply for his service records from the MOD.
Request records of deceased service personnel

 

Many thanks sir!! I think my mum has a couple of his documents lurking somewhere (and his football medals from when he won the Malaya Cup in the 1950s ) but definitely not complete!

 

Hi Andy,

The National Archives will have some POW documents for Leslie, his Index card for example and possibly a liberation questionnaire. There are a lot of listings and nominal rolls available on Find My Past in relation to POW status. The only document I have on my computer is part A-D of WO392/23 a nominal roll of those held by the Japanese.

Leslie's entry does show his liberation date, perhaps something new to you, as 2nd September 1945 (Thailand). Hopefully, other members will know more on his unit etc.

Good luck going forward.

Steve

 

Hi Andy,
A few pieces to get your search moving.

He was 29th Battery, and was sent to the Siam Railroad on 10.10.1942 (maybe 15.10.42 according to another document).
He was at 7th Branch camp of the THAI POW Camp which is Kanchanaburi.

On his Regiment Roll he lists HIS grandfather as next of kin.
On his Japanese Index card he lists John Varcoe.
.
.

 

Oooo many thanks!! Those are really helpful starting points! A bit too much family history coming out here... (!) . He was born three years before his mother married. He always listed "George" as his father (but it was in fact his maternal grandfather). John Varcoe was his sister's husband and the address was his home address. He was married to a Malay and many went to great lengths to conceal that from the Japanese as their wives were prisoners too and at risk of worse treatment if they were married to British soldiers. In this case though, it was probably a means of getting word home... his wife will have already known!

I used to work for a Japanese bank so will get an old colleague to translate the text

 

For anyone interested (!) the Japanese writing on the obverse reads "Aug 30, Showa-20yr (=1945): (He was) handed over to the Allied Forces in Bangkok." . I guess it took three days to process him.

 

Looking carefully at the Regimental Roll quoted by Enigma I think the OVL date does actually say 15.10.42.
This is also the date given by the RA Roll

You may find reading this of interest:
Death Railway

Tim

 

hi all. I wonder whether anyone can help me, I am looking for Gunner Enoch Joseph Smith 1810686 who was also in 3 RAA RA and he was killed/died in 114km camp as far as I am aware. if anyone can help I would gratefully appreciate it. many thanks in advance, Anthony.

 

Gunner E J Smith, Service Number should read 1810689.
CWGC Concentration Report shows him originally buried Kukkyre Cemetery then reburied Thanbyuzayat Military Cemetery.



I'll try and find out where Kukkyre was.

Tim

 

According to the Bureau of Record and Enquiry roll ( WO361/2101 at Kew ) , prepared in Changi, Singapore ( a long way from Burma and the railway ), Gnr Smith EJ 1810689 served with 30 H.A.A. Battery of 3 H.A.A. Regiment. His POW registration card might have the cause and place of death on 29th December 1943.

 

Thank you so much tim for your research, I have tried searching for him but it all comes down to going to Kew, what you have found is amazing, I have found out by going on forces war records that he was in captivity for a while and died of malnutrition. once again thank you so much. Ant

 

Gunner E J Smith.
This is becoming intriguing.
The Royal Artillery Roll compiled by the BRE (Bureau of Record and Enquiry) has his entry as M-PAD (Missing Padang) indicating that he escaped from Singapore (either officially or unofficially) to Sumatra and was making his way to Padang.

His Japanese Index Card shows he was not captured (or at least registered) as a POW until 17 Mar 42.
Sm-So Database
Those captured in Singapore show date of capture as 14 Feb and those captured in Java show 8 Mar. It would appear that he initially evaded capture before being sent to Thailand/Burma. The BRE obviously lost track of him until the report of his death as shown by Papiermache at #58. This indicates that he would have gone direct to Thailand/Burma by sea from Sumatra/Java.
There may be more information in this file at the National Archives:


Tim