P02468.633 Accession Number: P02468.633

Description

Vic. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of VX65389 Private William Frederick Brown, 2/10 Ordnance Workshop, Australian Corps of Electrical & Mechanical Engineers. He was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of E Force. The 500 Australian and 500 British POW's who made up E Force, left Changi on 28 March 1943, on board the S.S. DeKlerk arriving at Berhala Island (adjacent to Sandakan Harbour) on 15 April 1943. The POWs were held there until 5 June, when they were taken by barge to Sandakan. The next day they were transferred to the 8 Mile Camp, which was about half a mile from the B Force compound. Private Brown, aged 26, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 22 March 1945. He was the son of Reginald John and Elsie Eliza Brown, of Portsea, Vic. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 29. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)

Details

People

• Private William Frederick Brown

Rolls

• Brown, William Frederick

Conflicts

• Second World War, 1939-1945

Units

• Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

Tags

• Prisoners of war
• RAEME workshops
• Changi Gaol
• Sandakan Prisoner of War Camp