The Japanese 'hell ship' Rakuyo Maru

Discussion in 'War Against Japan' started by ritsonvaljos, Jan 8, 2014.

  1. papiermache

    papiermache Well-Known Member

    Pte. Edward Brettell VX.30486 A.I.F. 2/4 Casualty Clearing Station, Australian Medical Corps.

    See Australian National Archives document with barcode 527610 page 140 and further witness statements on subsequent pages.

    " He was on my raft when he died on 13 Sept 44. Major Chalmers who was a doctor pronounced life extinct.

    A burial service was read and his body committed to the sea."

    R.I.P.
     
    Recce_Mitch and Tricky Dicky like this.
  2. Pammy

    Pammy Member

    Thank you very much for all of this . I certainly will be busy . I do appreciate the time it takes . Thank goodness some of us are still researching what happened / may have happened to these poor men after all their previous ordeals too. Whenever I hear the South China Sea
    Mentioned I feel so sad .
    I'm glad you've explained to me re the lifeboats , as I'm not that familiar with what they are like . I did think the men would be in a bad state but I forgot they would be lower down . -- some of them (in the Blairs book ) seemed to be taking charge ok and organizing somewhat , I will see what I can find out further , if anything new and will be posting later but it could be a bit of time hence . ( don't. Want you to think I have gone off radar ! )
    Kind regards from Pamela .
     
  3. Pammy

    Pammy Member

    Sorry , I keep missing bits before I reply to you . I've now got that last one . Thank you so much for finding that , it means a great deal to know exactly what happened to him . I hope a lot of other relatives find out too , for a certain amount of peace of mind.
    It's comforting to know that major Chalmers was there , as he would have known him well . Sadly , I know , Major Chalmers died at some point later too. So sad , after all they had been through and achieved looking after people in such terrible circumstances. !! Only consolation fwas no Japan suffering for them , as I know , some did not get to return.
    Many thanks from Pamela .
     
  4. papiermache

    papiermache Well-Known Member

    Australian Archives have an excellent policy of making files available, so it's thanks to whoever photographed the files so well, really. I just read them. It has been interesting to read about other events in the South China Sea a few days before my uncle died.
    I've been researching for so long I tend to be very matter of fact about it all but it was rather moving to read that your uncle's companions had marked his passing. I'm glad that they did. Best wishes, John.
     
    Tricky Dicky likes this.
  5. Pammy

    Pammy Member

    Thanks John , I will read about your uncles ship and events surrounding it too. Since I've been researching I've read all sorts of aspects of the Far East war with Japan. I've read a lot about the Burma Thai Railway , especially the medical part , which you know had a tremendous amount to deal with in awful conditions .
    I will keep in touch , as I'm pleased to have found someone with the same enthusiasm and resolve to find out about all these poor men . -- lest we forget . Pam.
     
  6. Pammy

    Pammy Member

    Hi John , just a line to say Thank You again for finding me all that information . ( sorry this is a bit late but I seem to have major things going on this year. In fact for the last 3 years -- I'm waiting for a better year ,in fact , so that I can read some books I've downloaded about the war in the pacific -- all aspects of.
    I was so pleased , mixed with sadness of course , to find out that some of the survivors knew things about my uncle . ( I think that was lucky to find out anything , as some victims I think , no one would know anything of .) I'm rather sad that I've got no immediate family to tell now , as my sister died just last September , and she was doing the research with me.
    Anyway I am passing it on to my. Children and Grandson for the future . ! -- I looked through a lot of the files to see if I could find more and I came across witnesses for major . John Chalmers and one of them said that he last saw major Chalmers trying to hold my uncle's head out of the water before he died . How sad ,! made even more so , as Major Chalmers was in a bad state himself , by then , having contracted malaria ,in the water. He died the night after my uncle died . I think they had probably worked together a fair amount .
    All so very tragic . !! I hope to be in touch again about anything as I'm trying to research the railway part of the war too and exactly where my uncle may have been at different times and what he would be doing etc.etc.
    that's all for now regards from Pamela .
     
  7. papiermache

    papiermache Well-Known Member

    Pammy, I am sorry that times have been hard and hope that things work out better for you. Best wishes, John.
     
  8. papiermache

    papiermache Well-Known Member

    An article in the London Evening News concerning British survivors of the Rakuyo Maru published in January 1945 was rewritten or syndicated in several Australian newspapers found on Trove, the Australian Government digital newspaper website.
    Tuesday 16th January 1945:
    " 56 British soldiers rescued after three years of hardship as Japanese prisoners of war in Malaya and Siam are the subjects of an extraordinary experiment in rehabilitation. These men, who are at barracks in north-east Britain, were rescued with 92 Australians when a Japanese prison ship was sunk last September, says a special correspondent of the "Evening News."
    "The experiment is not going very well," he adds, "and their relatives still cannot recognise some as the men who went away." Many of the men were more dead than alive when an American submarine picked them up. Many were in hospital all the way home, and some spent their leave in hospitals or under medical care.
    Instead of reporting back to a convalescent depot, as they were at first instructed, they were sent to artillery barracks. There they were expected to join in all processes of training, and they are paraded daily on a snow-covered square and foot-slogged along slush-covered roads. Four men have so far been graded in category A, a large number in B, and others in C2. All suffered from malaria, and none have yet become acclimatised, while many are nervy, restless, and unable to concentrate on what the instructors are telling them. Five were sent to hospital in less than five days of their arrival, and a number dropped out of a route march in a state of physical distress. A request for extra blankets couldn't be granted. The men, who are the sole channel for information for the authorities concerning the "legions of the lost" in Singapore are frequently under interrogation.The men have lost some of their emaciated appearance, but they can hardly be described as normal soldiers. — AAP."
     
    timuk likes this.

Share This Page