I know he was was on the Nishu Maru to Singapore, not sure of the ship to Borneo or back to Bangalore after liberation. You are not to say anything to anyone until after you have written out your statement and handed it in. I’d like to add that according to my Great Grandfather’s Changi POW diaries he left Keppel Harbour aboard the Moreton Bay with a ‘covettte escort’ on 13th September at 14:00 hrs, arriving in Madras on the 19th September 1945 at 09:00 hrs. After arriving in Vancouver he always related his journey over the Canadian Pacific Railway to Halifax, so we know this was a definite part of the route. Refitted, she was used as a pilgrim ship to Jeddah and was eventually scrapped at Taiwan in 1971. 354 British and Australian. APOLOGIES IF YOUR COMMENTS HAVE DISAPPEARED: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), Open Letter to Anyone Thinking of Adopting An Abandoned Cat, Choosing a Site for a DC Fast Charging Station, http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-04CV-Glory.htm. The list is especially incomplete in terms of flights. He left Moji Japan on an unknown hospital ship…. I’ve been trying to find out how my Dad got home, he was RAF pow – we have an airmail letter he posted from Bombay dated 3 Sep 1945 saying that they were “about the first to be evacuated and start for Blighty”so maybe he was on one of the flights. Estimates put the number at about 130,000 (not including local Asian populations.). USS Oconto was one of several ships that took part in this. You have provided vital information never seen before…..at least by my eyes. He caught a train back to Bridgwater and all the we coming party were still there to give him a fantastic welcome home. Mostly Australian & British from Singapore and Thailand, 1900 POW, 1500 Internees. The year was 1961. To access these you will need to pay the subscription of 8.95 for a month. Singapore's Duty & Tax Import Laws. They were all glad to be back on home soil and to carry on and not look back. Click here to view a site map. I only know that he said in around 1963 ‘when I was at New Zealand there was nothing much there’. Special trains and/or volunteer caravans were arranged to transport new arrivals. It is felt certain that now you know the reason for this Order that you will take pains to spare the feelings of others. Keep up the good work! Company K of the 28th Infantry Regiment was the first AEF infantry unit to set foot in France. A Japanese Navy photograph (extensively highlighted for propaganda effect) showing HMS Prince of Wales at upper left and Repulse beside it slightly close to the camera. Well done. I’m sorry, but as my research has largely finished now that my book has been published, I am no longer subscribed. This morning, I’ve added a few USS ships that were known to be transporting between Japan and Pearl Harbour. As always, there were variants. The list of ships below includes ships for which information can be found in the timetables/sailing lists or other publications shown on this website. Once in Egypt, he tried to abscond so that the ship would leave without him and the NZ Army would be forced to make use of him in Egypt. POW/internees, Route: Sydney - Morotai - Kuching - Labuan - Morotai - Balikpapan, Morotai - Brisbane - Sydney, embarked 34,600 rescued POWs plus 3,300 sick in hospital ships. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! From http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-04CV-Glory.htm Some ships also carried German/Austrian/Italian PoWs who were sent to camps in England. Nid oes dim yn ddall fel rhai nad ydynt yn dymuno gweld, is this the "Nelson" referred to? Built in 1921 with a gross tonnage of 16,280 and named Cameronia. Over 1,000 men were carried and the ship made three such trips, the first of which was completed in November 1945.”. I think we could maybe begin to move on if the Japanese government would only own up and admit they did wrong, apologise and possibly compensate. Great to find this information and thanks for sharing via CoFEPOW. My father, WFLocke, 4th Suffolks, service number 5823041 was, as far as I know liberated by the Australians from the last camp on the northern island of Japan. On the fifteenth he wrote General Wavell, Commander-in-Chief of ABDACOM (American-British-Dutch-Australian Command), about Singapore. It was to take six weeks to Singapore. Columns can be sorted to put the ships in alphabetical order. We were under heavy bombardment when we left and supposedly, from what I hear, we were the last ship that made it out of Singapore before it fell. Operation Magic Carpet was the repatriation by sea of US personnel (POW and demobilised troops) back home. It is available on Amazon in both paperback and kindle. A few months later, merchant shipping again provided yeoman service by evacuating the same troops from the ports of Hungnam and Wonsan, following the intervention of the People's Republic of China into the conflict. The crowded troop ships arrived safely, giving the soldiers, sailors and Marines a great sense of relief. I see from your list that the Monowai arrived on the 8th October, I have been looking at the wrong date. As he states that he was bound for Manila I am assuming that he was transferred to the HMS Implacable which you show left Manila 3 Oct 1945. Troop Ship (1914-1918) Two shots of hundreds of soldiers on a troop ship. “How many troops would be ne… The records of ships used to carry troops to their theaters of operations were destroyed intentionally in 1951. I have not included these unless they had at least one known PoW or civilian internee on board. Landed 35 Canadians in Manila, abt 25 RAF in groups of 4-14 men over the week, 1000 PoW and 200 internees (left Colombo abt 19 Sep), 1000+ liberated Allied prisoners. For Edwards, as with all the troops, life on the ship was a new experience for them and I would imagine it embodied much of what they had envisioned the war to be. In other instances, I found reports of expected arrivals but not the actual arrival. The fall of Singapore was one of the greatest embarrassments the British ever had because they had 125,000 troops there and … Many were never reported to Japanese HQ and some had already closed before Japan surrendered. He landed in Portsmouth and got the train to Bridgwater where he lived. My research has primarily been centred on British and Colonial civilian internees. Renamed Empire Clyde in 1953. Many thanks Ship arrived in Yokahama on 9th Sep, first ship to leave Singapore, 400 men/women all stretcher cases. Countries sometimes have a "de minimis value", where if you ship a parcel that falls under that value, you don't have to pay taxes on those purchases. First they were told that hearing the truth would only bring untold misery to those who had lost sons and husbands. If anyone has an interest in the CoFEPOW organisation from West Sussex / South London, please get in touch. The troops need only be shipped to Burma or Calcutta, ideally the latter so to avoid being cut off when Rangoon falls. Empire Clyde. liberated prisoners were triaged on Rescue in harbor before transfer to other ships. In general, Australians were sent to hospitals in Moratai and Labuan. Good luck with your search. The town Mayor and various dignatories were at the railway station to greet him. She and her sister ship, the Dilwara, represented a considerable advance on the older troopships. Keith Bettany. 1942 World War II Troop Ship Crossings Crossings - July Through December If you have information about a crossing, please submit your information. I estimate that it comprises only a half of the ships used to repatriate Commonwealth FEPOW. Order of Silence: Can you give me any more info on the actual camp – any other name it was known by, etc? It was a bit of a joke, since he was the highest ranking army officer on board. I think he was possibly shipped to Sanfranciso but can’t be certain. By October 18th, 1945 the situation in Singapore alone was: There were well over 220 concentration camps, Kempetai jails, or other PoW facilities in the Far East (some reports run to nearly 500). It was decided very early on, that the ex-prisoners were in no condition for long flights to the United Kingdom. It was thought that some of the more seriously ill might not make the lengthy journey through the tropics to the United Kingdom. But I can only find HMAS Canberra which apparently sunk in Aug 1942 at Solomon Islands, P&O Cruise Ship Canberra which did become a troopship during the Faulklands War but wasn’t launched until 1961 and USS Canberra which was in Boston undergoing repairs between Feb-Oct 1945. Troops destined for Singapore (and therefore a dreadful fate at the hands of the Japanese) were in ships detached after Durban from the main body and sent direct to Singapore in a series of three convoys designated DM (Durban Military). He had other named (I think) ex prisoners with him. He had his fortieth birthday, 4th Sept 1945 still a prisoner. However, it is true, especially in the case of PoW’s and government employees, that the public were sometimes kept away from the areas immediately adjacent to the wharf to allow for efficient disembarkation and/or because of potential infectious diseases. Apart from a few ships mentioned in the table above, most Commonwealth POWs from Japan were evacuated in USS ships to Manilla for transfer to Europe/Australia or Pearl Harbour where they were transferred to Canada. The camaraderie, the new sights and the thrill of seeing the surrounding warships in action must have been as exciting as they had hoped. Later that year the Alaunia carried troops to Bombay. Hi thank you for this record. World War II Troop Ships claims no ownership of the images displayed on this site except for those expressly stated to have been photographed by "Shayne E. Wallesch". British were sent to hospitals in India or New Zealand. My father was a.j.wisdom945543 gunner/ramc Occasionally other Allied nations were included on these ships, but generally the Netherlands were responsible for their own citizens in the Dutch East Indies, the french were responsible for french Indo-China, and USA, China, etc for their own citizens. Whereas the British operation was largely finished by the end of November with the stragglers coming in by Feb/Mar/Apr 1946. I think my Dad was on the earlier boats, but he recounts that he came to London by train then he took the bus home from Balham, after jumping in a taxi that was going there. Allied Powers Arthur Percival (POW) (UK) Gordon Bennett (Australia) Lewis Heath (POW) (UK) Merton Beckwith-Smith (POW) (UK) Empire of Japan Tomoyuki Yamashita Takuma Nishimura Takuro Matsui Renya Mutaguchi Therefore the arrival dates may be wrong by a few days for some entries, as ships were occasionally held up by: weather, wharf strikes, passenger walk-offs, destination changes, waiting at Suez Canal, etc. I have not initially included the prefix for ships, as most of them are well known troopships or hospital ships and newspaper reports of the day did not always use a prefix. Between Jan 3 and Feb 5, 1942 ten convoys arrived at Singapore carrying over 30,000 troops. Having received my dad’s records from Royal Navy navy command under remarks/comments states Lent to Antenor I now know that he arrived back in Liverpool 27 / 10 / 1945 after being flown from Sumatra where he was a POW of to Singapore, many thanks! I was hoping to find the list of ships, I know they are on the memorial plinth at Liverpool, and it’s nice to know there is film footage. 382 British for Akl, 54 Australian for Sydney. With many thanks, Penny Fyall. World War II Troop Ships is a "Fang, Ramses & Rupert " production. Peoples war, the BBC website had an interesting story of a guy who was on a troop ship at that time and records that half the troops went to the Western Desert and the other half to Singapore and some of the ships went via Capetown and others via Durban. You will have direct or indirect knowledge of the fate of many of your comrades who died in enemy hands as a result of brutality or neglect. Hi Ally, my Dad Eric Barnes an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander liberated from Japan completed his final leg of the journey home from New York to Southampton on the Queen Mary… he arrived on Nov 7th 45…. 5864 returned personnel, POW & internees. In Singapore the first British Navy cruisers to arrive in the Harbour were the Sussex and Cleopatra along with their minesweepers and destroyers. DILWARA: She trooped between Singapore - Calcutta - Andaman Islands, and Siam - Penang in 1945. However, many of this group were repatriated by US Navy, including, it seems, your father. If there was an official photograph taken of him, and there usually was I believe, then his army record should contain it. I can not as yet find anything on #2K and it doesn’t seem to quite relate to the naming structure. Camps like Sime Road in Singapore were renovated and reused as Transit Camps for newly recovered Allied citizens. I’m just after as much information and clarity about this as I can get. With the limited information I’ve got, I’m thinking it’s a possibility he may have been on the Australian navy ship Canberra when he either arrived in Singapore or was captured and left on a cruise ship, but has muddled the two names? My father was captured in Singapore, and also survived the Thailand death railway, and copper mines of japan. This is a lynch-pin that is growing each year as more people become aware of the horrors these poor men went through and had to endure for 3 and a half years – for some 4 years – at the hands of a manic regimental nation headed by an untouchable Emperor. He stayed on in the Army and rose to the rank of Major, he went back to Singapore in the 1960s and served three years with the Malaysian Army. That is just what will happen to the families of your comrades who died in that way if you start talking to all and sundry about your experiences. USS Oconto was part of the first convoy to arrive in Tokyo Bay Click link to read more about Operation Magic Carpet The US hospital ships Rescue and Benevolence initially stayed in harbour triaging POW. not to speak about the contemptible horrors they had witnessed when they disembarked. MS Dunera Troop Ship To School Ship Posted on March 28, 2013 by Mike Finding March 25, 2013 Hi Keith, I’d like to add this ship into my list. My father in law, John/Jack FYALL was from Lee, London, SE 12 and joined the territorials 118th Field Regt, 18th Division on 28.04. Alaunia: In 1914 the Alaunia and the Andania, were used as troop ships carrying Canadian troops across the Atlantic. Countries where Allied prisoner camps were situated are: Japan, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Java, Federated Malay States including Singapore, Burma, Siam (Thailand), Borneo, Korea, New Guinea, and Formosa (Taiwan). Once they had cleared a path, the first convoy came alongside Keppel wharves on Wednesday 5th September 1945 and repatriation began on 7th September. In any event, the ships arrived in Singapore on 2 December 1941 and were redesignated Force Z. Anchor Line. I hope that this list may be of use to other researchers, one of whom will hopefully enlarge and complete it. Some camps had only a few prisoners. Cheers and merry Christmas everyone, Ally McCormick. There are two troop ships that you hear very little about, they were Empire Parkston and the Wansbeck, these were known as ST's (sick tubs). Any thoughts on ship or how he got there. Off To The Sudan AKA Sundan (1932) Commonwealth, 94 sick, majority of evacuees from Formosa were recovered by US Forces, 459 British P.O.W., including many from HMS Exeter. Most of my initial research has come from newspaper clippings announcing the arrival and/or departure of FEPOW and civilian internees from Singapore and initially I ignored other Far Eastern ports. I live in retirement now and through my window comes the sound of seagulls, http://troopships.pier90.org/crossings/1941.htm, VerticalScope Inc., 111 Peter, Suite 901, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2H1, Canada. To avoid being cut off when Rangoon falls information never seen before….. at least one POW. 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