The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Collection relating to the Second World War service of NX45378 Bombardier James Richard 'Dick' Braithwaite, 2/15 Field Regiment, and prisoner of war of the Japanese. This item is a drawn map of Sandakan camp at the end of May 1945. It was drawn from memory, in Morotai in July that year after Braithwaite had been rescued. It shows bomb damage, hospitals and barracks, and that the British and Australians were integrated.
Dick Braithwaite enlisted in the Army on 24 June 1940 from Newcastle. After being assigned to 2/15 Field Regiment and training in Sydney he left for overseas with his unit on 29 July 1941 onboard the troop ship 'Katoomba'. They arrived in Singapore on 15 August and after further training moved to the state of Johore in Malaya around the end of the year as the Japanese threat increased. After failing to stop the Japanese advance, the Australian troops crossed back into Singapore and were subsequently captured when Singapore capitulated in February 1942. Initially imprisoned in Changi, Braithwaite later found himself sent to Sandakan in North Borneo to build an aerodrome for the Japanese. In 1945 when this work was finished the Japanese forced the prisoners to march from Sandakan to Ranau. The majority or prisoners died or were killed along the way, only six survived. Dick Braithwaite was one of those. He took the opportunity along the march to escape into the jungle, where he was helped by the natives, and then eventually picked up an American PT boat.
Collection relating to the Second World War service of NX45378 Bombardier James Richard 'Dick' Braithwaite, 2/15 Field Regiment, and prisoner of war of the Japanese. The collection consists of three
Informal outdoor portrait of NX45378 Bombardier James Richard (Dick) Braithwaite, 2/15 Field Regiment, taken at the Three Sisters prior to embarkation. Bombardier Braithwaite was one of only six survi
Portrait of NX45378 Bombardier James Richard Braithwaite, 2/15 Field Regiment. Bombardier Braithwaite was one of only six survivors from 1100 prisoners who were forced to march from Sandakan to Ranau
Collection of photographs relating to the service of NX45378 Bombardier James Richard Braithwaite, 2/15 Field Regiment. Bombardier Braithwaite was one of only six survivors from 1100 prisoners who wer
Portrait of NX45378 Bombardier J. R. (Richard) Braithwaite, 2/15 Field Regiment, of Newcastle, NSW. Bombardier Braithwaite was one of only six survivors from 1100 prisoners who were forced on a death
Major H W S Jackson, right, with one of the men from Sapi village who had assisted in the rescue of Bombardier James Richard Braithwaite, who escaped during the Sandakan death march in 1945. In 1946 t