7374184 Pte Frank Hill

7374184 Pte Frank Hill 198 Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps

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My Father was deemed to have been enlisted into the Royal Army Medical Corps Embodied Territorial Army on 5th March 1940. He was posted to 198 Field Ambulance based at Macclesfield and achieved Nursing Orderly status on 22nd December 1940. Following some 19 months of home service he was sent to Malaya on 28th October 1941 (age 23) and arrived in Singapore January 1942.

My Father was reported missing after the fall of Singapore to the Japanese on 15th February 1942.

My Mother received a Certificate of Death from The War Office dated 21st February 1946 certifying that my Father was presumed killed in action on 14th February 1942 while serving in the Far East.

The last time my Mother saw my Father was when he left Macclesfield by train to go overseas in 1941 and I remember my Mother saying I was in her arms. I was born in March 1939. The last contact my Mother had from my Father was a telegram received from Singapore on 4th February 1942 which ended with the words ‘all well and safe, please do not worry’.

When I was young my Mother and Grandparents would never talk about the War or my Father. I therefore had little knowledge of him. As a schoolboy I could not understand why my Father’s name was not included on the WWII Memorial at Conisbrough, South Yorkshire where I was born or at Kirkburton near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire where my Father was born.

It was not until 1987 (42 years after the war ended) that I became aware, through my wife’s contact with the Imperial War Museum in London, that my Father’s name is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial in Kranji War Cemetery. He has no known grave. I was on a business trip to the Far East at that time and was fortunate to be able to change my return travel arrangements to the Middle East via Singapore to visit the War Cemetery and Memorial and see my Father’s commemoration for the first time. This was an enlightening experience. I visited again in 1989 with my wife Ann to celebrate my 50th birthday, also in 1993 during a business trip to Malaysia.

In 2010 my son-in-law, Colonel Marty Slade L/RAMC, carried out research and traced my Father’s attestation and service records to the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow. He found my Father was one of the few survivors of the Japanese Army massacre at, or near, the British Alexandra Military Hospital in Singapore and was taken prisoner. His POW registration card confirmed his date of capture within Singapore as 15th February 1942. Some evidence at that time suggested he was transported to No.1 POW Camp at Changi in Singapore. This was unbelievable news to find (65 years after the war ended) that my Father had escaped the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army in Singapore and not being killed there. Marty Slade also conducted a search within the Army Medical Services Museum (now known as The Museum of Military Medicine), Ash Vale, Aldershot. He discovered a register linked to Changi No.1 POW Camp Singapore and found an entry that my Father was, with 5 others, sent ‘up-country’ on 6th November 1942. Exactly where and purpose were not stated. At that time it was thought that my Father may well have been sent to Thailand to work on the infamous Burma railway and did not survive, but nothing could be found to support this. At that time, the Curator at The Museum of Military Medicine in conjunction with Marty Slade miraculously discovered a surviving original copy of Changi No. 1 POW Camp Singapore first publication of a journal entitled ‘198 Club THE ONER’, inaugural issue dated May/June 1942, produced by some of the inmates.

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It had been signed by those members of 198 Field Ambulance then available and able. Amongst them can clearly be seen the signature of my Father! I confirmed his signature by cross checking with his service records and marriage certificate. It was unbelievable to find my Father had been held as a POW.

I went to The Museum of Military Medicine at Ash Vale in late 2019 with Marty Slade. When I held the journal and opened it to see my Father’s original signature when in captivity, my feeling was very emotional. It made me wonder what his life had been as a POW and I thought why the War Office records did not show my Father survived the Singapore massacre. I was aware how badly the Japanese Army ill- treated prisoners of war. Additionally they were at risk of contracting and dying of dysentery. So the odds of my Father surviving the war would have been very poor. In September 2019, when I was 80, I re-visited Singapore with my daughter Melanie and son-in-law Marty Slade. We met by appointment Tan Ding Xiang at Alexandra (ex- British Military) Hospital who we found had admirable energy and enthusiasm for perpetuating the memory of the 1942 hospital incident. We were shown around the hospital site and the building point of entry by the Japanese. Tan Ding Xiang sent my Father’s details to the Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOW) Family and received several responses with additional information of my Father. In October 2019 Marty Slade became a member of FEPOW Family to search for further information of my Father. As a result of communications with FEPOW Family it was established, 74 years after the war ended, that my Father was put on a Japanese ship named the Kenkon Maru from a Singapore POW Camp on 18th October 1942 with 5 other RAMC as medical support to the Royal Artillery “Gunners 600 Party” bound for an unknown destination. This was amazing news.

This ship became known as a ‘hell ship’ because of atrocious conditions and it arrived at Rabaul on the island of New Britain in New Guinea on 5th November 1942. A total of 599 POWs disembarked (one POW had died during the voyage) and were transported to a nearby camp in Kokopo. 82 prisoners were left behind at Kokopo as being unfit to travel. The remaining fittest 517 POWs, including my Father, were taken back to Rabaul and departed on a different Japanese ‘hell ship’ on 15th November 1942 to an unknown destination - now known to be Ballalae Island, one of the 992 Solomon Islands, arriving a few days later. The Japanese ‘officially’ reported that the ship carrying the 517 British prisoners was ‘missing at sea - presumed lost’. This was an attempt of a cover up by the Japanese, it was a lie. Ballalae Island is a small remote island of the Shortland Islands Group, in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, south of Bourgainville, Papua New Guinea. At that time, Solomon Islands was a British Protectorate.

On Ballalae Island the 517 POWs were forced to construct an airfield in appalling conditions. They were over worked in the tropical sun, beaten and starved. Some POWs died of illness and many prisoners were killed in an American air raid as the Japanese refused to allow them to take shelter in slit trenches or air raid shelters. During 1943 as the Allied Forces liberated the South Pacific Islands, it was reported that with the news received by the Japanese that the Americans were closing in, orders were given that the remaining POWs were to be disposed of by any means.

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Accordingly, those POWs still alive, including the medics, were massacred in cold blood and not one of those taken to Ballalae Island survived. This was a terrible atrocity carried out by the Japanese Army. There where however 18 survivors at Rabaul who were recovered by Australian Forces after the war ended.

The War Office was not aware of the Gunners 600 Party on Ballalae Island until after the war ended. The massacre was reported by natives who witnessed the killings. A mass grave was discovered by Australian Forces after the end of the war. It was estimated to contain the remains of 438 men. Their service tags had been removed and they could only be identified with artefacts linking them to the British POWs transported from Singapore in October 1942. The other 79 men are assumed to have died or were executed by the Japanese.

Their remains were exhumed and temporarily buried at the nearest Allied War Cemetery at Torokina on Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Later they were permanently re-interred in individual graves at Bomana War Cemetery near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on 13th December 1945. They are tended by the Australian War Graves Commission. Their headstones are marked with the words ‘A Soldier of the 1939-1945 War Known Unto God’. The Cemetery was commenced in 1942 by the Australian Army. The names of the Gunners 600 Party are all honoured on the Singapore Memorial as having “No Identified Graves”.

Rabaul and the Solomon Islands were defended by the Australian Army during WWII until they were overpowered by the Japanese in June 1942. The Japanese used POWs labour to construct airfields to protect their captured territories. They planned to develop Ballalae Island into a forward airbase.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour had taken place in 1941, which brought the USA into WWII. The Japanese then captured key islands in the Pacific, including the Solomon Islands. American Forces landed on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomons in August 1942, beginning the Battle of Guadalcanal Campaign until February 1943. The Allied Forces eventually recaptured the islands in the Pacific and prevented the Japanese from reaching Australia. The tragedy of Ballalae Island was compounded by the fact it was bypassed by the Allied Forces and left to ‘wither on the vine’.

Ballalae Island was left with more than fourty Japanese aircraft shot down by Australia, New Zealand and American forces. The original incomplete Ballalae Roll of Honour contained 504 names of Ballalae Island victims and includes 5 RAMC in the list namely Capt. B.H.M.Aldridge, Sgt. L.Knox and Privates P.J.Neaves, C.Robinson and K.L.Sharman. The missing names are J.Hoult and my Father. However, in late 2019, based on the Gunners 600 Party Roll and Japanese POW Registration Card, FEPOW Family concluded my Father was part of the 600 Group and added his name to the Ballalae Roll of Honour for all who died as part of the infamous group. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has also amended their records accordingly. It is believed my Father died on Ballalae Island. The date of death given by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is 5th March 1943 for those who died on Ballalae Island, the correct date is not known. After the war, interviews with natives, Japanese, Koreans and Chinese workers suggest June 1943 may be nearer the truth. I may never know how my Father died and there is no known grave.

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My Father’s name does not appear on the Rolls of Commonwealth War Cemeteries at Rabaul or Port Moresby. In late 2019 and early 2020, visits were made by Marty Slade and myself to the Imperial War Museum London and National Archives Kew to search files for further information of my Father. I have seen the original manifest of the Gunners 600 Party, with my Father’s name on it, sent overseas from Singapore (Changi) on 18th October 1942 to New Guinea.

During 2020 Tan DingXiang deciphered my Father’s Japanese POW Registration Card. On Side One: his camp is marked as Malaya and he was in Malaya POW Main Camp. Nationality is stated as British and his rank is written as Private. His place of capture is given as Syonan. Date of capture was Showa 17th Year 2nd Month 15th Day, or 1942 February 15th, the Fall of Singapore. His occupation indicates he worked in a spinning mill. Reverse Side: Showa 17th Year 10th Month 18th Day (1942 October 18th) this ticket is for the sake of transfer from Malaya POW Camp to the Japanese 17th Army Division (New Guinea). On Showa 17th Year 10th Month 18 Day (1942 October 18th) he boarded the Kenkon Maru. There is no other detailed information regarding his captivity. This gives further weight to the previous assumption made regarding his embarkation on the Kenkon Maru and the dates also align with other documents. When the Japanese occupied Singapore on 15th February 1942 they named the island as Syonan-ti or Light of the South. Marriage Certificate states my Father’s occupation as woollen warper. On my Birth Certificate, my Father’s occupation is stated as worsted mill warper. These facts confirm the Japanese POW Registration Card details.

Japan did not surrender until 15th August 1945 and V-J Day is commemorated in the UK on 15th August. DOCUMENTS WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOUND IN THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM LONDON AND THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES KEW IN LATE 2019 AND EARLY 2020:

1. Roberts Hospital Singapore Daily Orders published 2nd November 1942 for Station POW Area, Changi lists 6 RAMC proceeded overseas with working party from Southern Area Camp on 18th October 1942. Destination unknown. RAMC names are Sgt L. Knox, Pte J. Hoult, Pte F.Hill, Pte P.Neaves, Pte C.Robinson and Pte A.L. Sharman.
2. A manuscript document which is, in effect, some contemporaneous notes made by a Sergeant Major of 198 Field Ambulance relating to locations/dispositions of various soldiers of the unit. This lists Sharman, Neaves, Robinson and Hill proceeded overseas on 18th October 1942.
3. Original manifest of 600 POW Gunners party overseas from Singapore (Changi) on 18th October 1942 lists the names of 73 Officers and 527 Other Ranks which includes 6 RAMC one of which is my Father’s name, who embarked on the ship Kenkon Maru which sailed to New Guinea.
4. My Father’s name is listed in a file ‘Solomon Islands unaccounted for POW, who embarked at Singapore on 18th October 1942, and at Rabaul on 5-6th March 1943’. This file makes reference to ‘unidentified graves on Ballalae Island’ and ‘investigations’.

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5. In the 600 Party end of war review roll list which embarked at Singapore on 18th October 1942, my Father’s name is listed as “missing” along with many others.
6. Copy of telegram from RAPWI to Troopers (War Office) London dated 13th October 1945 regarding Nominal Rolls of 600 Party overseas New Guinea from Changi on 18th October 1942. This has been marked -up in red with the status of the individual POWs and the majority of names are listed as “missing” including my Father.
7. George Lee’s private papers are filed in The National Archives. He was born in 1919 in Mexborough, South Yorkshire (5 miles from Conisbrough). He served in the 1939-1945 War as a Private in the RAMC with 198 Field Ambulance at Macclesfield, Cheshire until October 1941. He was then sent to the Far East and arrived in Singapore/Malaya in January 1942. He was taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in February 1942 and held in Changi Camp (Singapore) and sent to Thailand in November 1942, he survived the Burma-Thailand Railway. He returned to England in 1945. In his papers are two letters written to his Mother in Mexborough, South Yorkshire on his way home after the Japanese surrender. In his first letter dated 25th September 1945 sent from the Bay of Bengal on a Dutch Navy ship he wrote, “the last time I wrote on a ship I was unable to tell you where I went, here is my journey as I travelled out (from UK). Embarked Clydeside, ship ‘Duchess of Atholl’. First call Halifax Canada. Transferred to American liner ‘Mount Vernon’ 33,000 tons. Second call Trinidad. Third call Cape Town. Fourth call Mombasa. Fifth call Maldive Islands. Final Singapore January 13th 1942. Having spent almost three months at sea I travelled into Malaya. Action January 17th 1942. Captured Singapore February 15th 1942”. In his second letter dated 7th October 1945 from Port Suez, he wrote “Frank Hill is from Conisbrough and is in the same unit as myself. The last I heard of him was in October 1943 when he was reported to be on Borneo”. After the war George worked and lived in Chesterfield. He was secretary of the Chesterfield & District Far East POW Association 1950-1996. He died in 2015. It is interesting to note my Father and George were in the same unit at Macclesfield and both were sent overseas in October 1941. Both were captured in Singapore on 15th February 1942 and held as POWs in Changi No.1 Camp Singapore. My Father’s and George’s signatures are in the same Changi No.1 Camp journal ‘198 Club THE ONER’. There is a good possibility my Father may have sailed on the same ship from the UK and the same journey’s described by George. I think it is safe to assume that George, my Father and the formed unit of 198 Field Ambulance would have embarked as a whole. In addition, the fact that George and my Father were captured on the same day and presumably the same location along with others from their unit reinforces the view that all timetables and experiences given by George would have been shared by others.
8. Copy of telegram from the Australian Army to TROOPERS (War Office) London:- “GR126 S740 SCH. UNCLASSIFIED.1st AUSTRALIAN ARMY INVESTIGATING ATROCITIES BALLALAE ISLANDS REPORT 90 BODIES ALMOST CERTAINLY BRITISH EXHUMED. FOLLOWING MEANS OF IDENTIFICATION FOUND. FIRST. DESSERT SPOON WITH NUMBER 838024. SECOND.

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TEASPOON MARKED JRA MESS 2. THIRD. MESS TINS NUMBERED 88130. FOURTH. MESS TIN NUMBER 934927 IDENTIFIED HERE AS 934927 GNR SAMPSON JA EX MALAYA OVS 18 OCT 42 SINGAPORE TO NEW GUINEA WITH 600 PARTY. FIFTH. MEDAL STAMPED W ARDY IDENTIFIED HERE AS 1773841 GNR WA ARDY 35 LAA OVS SINGAPORE TO NEW GUINEA 18 OCT 42 WITH 600 PARTY. INFM TO DATE ON 600 PARTY AS FOLLOWS. 18 RECOVERED IN SOLOMONS EVACUATED AUSTRALIA ONE RECOVERED JAPAN TWO DIED IN BORNEO TWO DIED SOLOMONS ONE DIED AT SEA REQUEST ALL NEW INFM OBTAINED FROM NINETY RECOVERED MEMBERS OF 600 PARTY BE FORWARDED” The copy of the telegram is stamped “WAR OFFICE CASUALTIES (PW) RECEIVED 4 MAR 1946 CURZON ST., W1”. The known 18 survivors were from Rabaul, PNG (not Solomons).

9. Two survivors of the 82 POW who were left behind at Rabual, each wrote a letter to the War Office London in response to a circular they received after the War asking if they knew of any information on the missing Gunners 600 POWs who had been shipped from Singapore on 18th October 1942.

One was Joe Blythe, who was a Sergeant with the RA. He had to look after those POWs who were too ill to travel as there were no medical officers. Extracts from Joe’s letter dated 28th November 1945, “on 16th November 1942, 517 officers and men under Col Bassett J left New Britain (Rabaul) to go to the Solomon Islands. This left a total of 82 men still at New Britain. At the end of February 1943, 512 officers and orderlies came back from the Solomon Islands (5 of the original 517 had been killed by bombs). Between 1st and 5th March 1943 these 512 men again left Rabaul, this time according to the Japanese Sergeant Major, they were going to New Guinea. Accordingly, their kit which was left behind on 16th November 1942 was collected by the Japanese and taken to the ship. We heard no more news about the party until January 1944 when a Japanese Military Policeman came to our small camp at Kokopo, New Britain near Rabaul to take their names and country of residence. They asked about the party of 517 who had left them. He told them they had been sunk by the Americans. As to the authenticity of his statement, Bill wrote he could not say whether the ship reached New Guinea or not, as he was kept a POW at New Britain until he was released by the Australian Navy on 7th September 1945”. (It seems as though the March 1943 sailings could not have been on the Kenkon Maru as this ship was sunk on 21st January 1943).

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In his war time diary Joe Blythe recorded the main party which left Rabaul on 16th November 1942 were supposedly coming back for the 82 men later. The main party returned on 3rd March 1943 but never left the ship. When the Japanese guard saw their condition he was deeply shocked, the result being he could not take them with the main party and 82 men were left behind again.

The other was Bill Dunne, who was a L/Sgt in the Royal Artillery. Extracts from Bill’s letter dated 10th August 1946, “517 officers and men embarked at Rabaul on 16th November 1942 for an unknown destination, leaving 82 men behind of whom he was one. Sometime in February 1943, the Japanese soldiers in charge of the party, returned to Rabaul from Bourgainville, Solomon Islands and the 82 men were going to rejoin them. A few days later they loaded onto lorries the kits belonging to the men who had left them, to be taken to Rabaul. On the morning of 2nd March 1943, he and two other men, went by lorry to Rabaul with five Japanese guards to load stores and they saw a large company of British soldiers (at least they were white) encamped near Rabaul harbour. They naturally at the time took it for granted that they were their chaps. On the morning of 5th March 1943 they were ordered by the Japanese guards to pack their kits and strike camp as they were leaving Kokopo to re-join the main party at Rabaul. At 5pm that evening they were hurriedly told to put up their tents again as new orders had just arrived concerning them. Later, the Japanese guards told them they were leaving Rabaul by ship that night with the main party. The guards said the 82 men were being left behind again because of the state of their health”.

The two letters appear to be similar in that they said the main party of 517 POWs which left Rabaul on 16th November 1942, returned to Rabaul from Bourgainville, Solomon Islands at the end of February 1943. They left Rabaul for a second time in early March 1943 This is puzzling because Bourgainville is very close to Ballalae Island, so why would the ship go back to Rabaul? There seems to be some confusion as this contradicts the facts that the fittest 517 POWs departed from Rabaul on 15th November 1942 arrived at Ballalae Island in late November 1942. Bill Dunne admitted they assumed the large company of white soldiers encamped near Rabaul harbour on 2nd March 1943 were their main party? The official date of the Ballalae Island massacre is 5th March 1943. After the war, interviews with natives, Japanese, Koreans and Chinese workers suggest June 1943 may be nearer the truth.

10. RAMC book entitled ‘Faithful in Adversity WWII’ published in 2019 includes the atrocities against medical personnel at the British Military Hospital (Alexandra). It describes the conditions in Changi Camp, Roberts Barracks and Roberts Hospital in Singapore. It also includes 18th October 1942, 600 men were sent from Changi as the ‘Gunners 600 party’ with two medical officers, Captain Bernard Aldridge of the 1 Malay Field Ambulance and Captain J.W. Lillico of the Indian Medical Service. They boarded the Kenkon Maru and were transported in atrocious conditions to the port of Rabaul in New Britain, to the east of Papua New Guinea. Working in appalling conditions, many became ill and just 517 were deemed fit by the end of November 1942. They were taken on a different ship to Ballalae Island, one of the Solomon Islands, to build an airstrip for the Japanese. Many prisoners were killed in an American air raid and the Japanese, believing that Ballalae Island would be taken by the Americans, ordered all the remaining prisoners, including the medics, be shot. As well as Aldridge and Lillico, RAMC members executed by the Japanese were Privates Charles Robinson, Percy Neaves and Kenneth Sharman of No.198 Field Ambulance, and Sergeant Leslie Knox. (The elusive names are J.Hoult and my Father).

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I became a member of FEPOW Family and COFEPOW in March 2020. I participated in a FEPOW Family video meeting on Sunday 14th February 2021, one day before the fall of Singapore in 1942, a very good talking point. I outlined my Father’s story. I completed writing my Father’s story during 2021 and posted it on FEPOW Family Facebook on 13th February 2022 to coincide with the 80th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore. There is a Far East Prisoners of War Exhibition at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. This features the 600 British POWs transported from Singapore who died on Ballalae Island. I visited the NMA in October 2021.

A well known military researcher Stuart Lloyd published a book in October 2021 entitled ‘A Bleeding Slaughter - House’ which is an outrageous true story of the Alexandra Hospital Massacre, Singapore in February 1942. Marty Slade came into contact with the author in 2021 during his writing of the book. The book includes excerpts from my story of my Father and Marty was asked to write the Foreword. On 14th February 2022, Stuart gave a one hour presentation “The Alexandra Hospital Massacre Singapore 14th February 1942” on YouTubeWW2TV. Brian Hill, Bournemouth 2022.

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Update 2023:

1. During 2023, I participated in a FEPOW Family video meeting and opened discussions on my Father’s name being mentioned in a letter written by Private George Lee to his parents on his way home from Thailand in October 1945 after the Japanese surrender. He was in the same RAMC unit and same Singapore Changi POW Camp as my Father and had written “the last he heard of Frank Hill was in October 1943 when he was reported to be on Borneo”. I also mentioned the telegram from the Australian Army received by the War Office in London on 4th March 1946 regarding information on the Ballalae Island 600 Party which lists two had died on Borneo. I was referred to a book entitled ‘The Borneo Graveyard 1942-1945’ published in 2020. I have read this book (472 pages) and also checked all known Borneo Roll of Honour websites and cannot find any related link to my Father or RAMC 198 Field Ambulance.
2. Communication with the Australian National Archives in Canberra has failed to identify the two names of the Gunners 600 Party reported to have died on Borneo?
3. At the National Archives in 2020, I had also drawn a blank.
4. As the POWs had no contact with the outside world, I consider George Lee may have been mistaken when receiving heresay information regarding my Father in October 1943, during the time he was subjected to forced labour on the Burma-Thailand railway construction.
5. At the National Archives at Kew in early 2020, I have seen a copy of the original Gunners 600 Party manifest that my Father was put on a Japanese ‘hell’ ship “the Kenkon Maru” in which left Singapore in October 1942 and arrived at Ballalae Island via Rabaul in late November 1942. He was not one of those left behind at Rabaul, (names of the 82 are known), therefore he must have gone to Ballale.

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6. My Father’s Japanese POW Registration Card states he was transferred on 18th October 1942 from Malaya POW Camp to the Japanese 17th Army Division (New Guinea) and on 18th October 1942 he boarded the Kenkon Maru.
7. One of the Gunners 600 who was left behind at Rabual as being unfit to travel, and one of 18 survivors, Alf ‘Blackie’ Baker, RA Gunner, wrote his memoirs and these are published in a book during the 1990’s entitled ‘ What Price Bushido’. This is the true story of the ‘Gunners 600 Party’ captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore and transferred by ‘hell-ship’ to Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The story takes us through the known 82 left behind in the POW Camp at Kokopo near Rabaul. It tells us what happened to the 517 men taken from Rabaul in November 1942 to Ballalae Island in the Solomon Islands, from which there were no survivors.
8. I believe my Father died on Ballale Island in 1943.

Brian Hill, Bournemouth 2023

‍Update 2024

1. Ronnie Taylor, the founder of FEPOW, completed his RAMC 198 Field Ambulance pages during 2024. The medics with the Royal Artillery Gunners 600 party are listed under ‘Killed in Action’ and my Father’s name is amongst them.
2. In 2020, I read a COFEPOW article relating to the story of 3 relatives of British POWs who undertook a pilgrimage to uninhabited Ballalae Island in 2003. They erected, with help from nearby islanders, a small War Memorial with a wooden cross to commemorate the 517 British POWs who died there. The Memorial is near the airstrip constructed by the POWs in WWII. A memorial plaque was donated by the Royal Artillery Association which has the words ‘IN PROUD MEMORY OF MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ARTILLERY WHO DIED AS PRISONERS OF WAR OF THE JAPANESE WHILE CONSTRUCTING AN AIRFIELD ON THE ISLAND OF BALLALAE IN 1942’.
3. In 2007, it was found the Memorial had fallen foul of the merciless tropical climate and an ex-British serviceman working in the Solomon Islands as part of an Australian government mission, rebuilt the memorial with an iron cross on a concrete plinth on top of the remains of the old cairn.
4. In August 2023, I read a COFEPOW article of a British Royal Navy warship HMS TAMAR from Portsmouth visited Ballalae Island in July 2023 on the 80th Anniversary of the tragedy. The ship is permanently deployed to the mid-Pacific and was visiting the Solomon Islands to support the British High Commissioner and strengthen the UK’s and military ties with the islands which has been a member of the Commonwealth since Independence in 1978. The crew members refurbished the Memorial as it does not receive any regular maintenance (it is not a registered Commonwealth War Grave). A service of re-dedication was held to remember the soldiers who had died on the island, led by the ship’s Chaplain and attended by local island Chiefs and the British High Commissioner to Solomon Islands.

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5. In August 2024, I retraced my Father’s wartime journey from Singapore to Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. I was accompanied by my daughter Natalie Hogarth (55 years old).

(A) Our first visit was to Kranji War Cemetery and Singapore Memorial which stands in the Cemetery. A Stone of Remembrance with the words ‘THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE’ is located near the entrance to the Cemetery. The central avenue of the Cemetery rises gently from the Stone of Remembrance to the Cross of Sacrifice, beyond which flights to the steps lead to a terrace on top of a hill on which the Memorial stands. Twelve wide columns bear the name panels and support a flat roof, which gives protection to the inscribed names and shade and shelter to the visitor. Rising through the roof in the centre, to a height of 24 metres, is a great pylon surmounted by a star in gold colour. On a curved panel at the foot of this pylon are inscribed in English these words: ‘1939-1945 ON THE WALLS OF THIS MEMORIAL ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN OF MANY RACES UNITED IN SERVICE TO THE BRITISH CROWN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN MALAYA AND NEIGHBOURING LANDS AND SEAS IN THE AIR OVER SOUTHERN AND EASTERN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE CUSTOMARY RITES ACCORDED TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH. THEY DIED FOR ALL FREE MEN’. We visited Column 105 where my Father’s name, corps and rank are engraved. We looked in the register safe and found my Father’s details and left a double sided laminated copy of his Ballalae Roll of Honour/brief story in the register safe, nearest the column. We visited the re-developed Changi Chapel and Museum the following day. We also visited Tan Ding Xiang at Alexandra Hospital to give him an update since meeting him in 2019, and to inform him of our retracing my Father’s wartime journey to Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

(B) We then visited Solomon Islands and took a once weekly Solomon Airlines day return flight from the capital Honiara to Ballalae island in a de Havilland Twin Otter 16 seater aircraft. Purpose was to visit the small War Memorial near the airstrip and fit a commemorative plaque and also lay a traditional poppy wreath to pay our final respects. We had obtained permission from the High Commission to fit the marine quality stainless steel plaque. The commemorative plaque has the words : ‘IN PROUD AND LOVING IN MEMORY OF 7374184 PTE FRANK HILL ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS WHO WAS PART OF A SMALL CONTINGENT OF RAMC MEDICS ATTACHED TO THE ROYAL ARTILLERY, WHO COLLECTIVELY WERE ALL BELIEVED TO HAVE PERISHED ON BALLALAE ISLAND IN 1943. CAPTURED BY THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE ARMY AT THE FALL OF SINGAPORE IN FEBRUARY 1942, ALL 517 BRITISH POWS DIED WHILST BEING FORCED TO CONSTRUCT AN AIRFIELD ON BALLALAE ISLAND. THEIR REMAINS WERE LATER RE-BURIED AT BOMANA WAR CEMETERY NEAR PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA IN DECEMBER 1945. (Placed by his Son, Brian from England, August 2024).’

(C) We finally visited Bomana War Cemetery, near Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The Cemetery contains 3,824 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 699 of which are unidentified. In the walk-in Memorial Building, near the entrance, there is a Cemetery safe which houses the burial register. Above the register is a Royal Artillery plaque with the words: ‘WITH THEIR 3,400 AUSTRALIAN BROTHERS-IN-ARMS LIE 438 BRITISH SOLDIERS OF THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY UNIDENTIFIED BY NAME. THEIR GRAVES ARE IN PLOTS C2 C3 C4 AND C5 AND ARE MARKED BY HEADSTONES INSCRIBED SIMPLY A SOLDIER OF THE 1939-1945 WAR KNOWN UNTO GOD’.

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A Stone of Remembrance with the words ‘THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE’ is located at the front of the Cemetery. The graves are laid in three blocks, at the head of which stands the Cross of Sacrifice. Beyond is Port Moresby Memorial, which commemorates almost 750 men of the Australian Army (including Papua and New Guinea local forces), the Australian Merchant Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force, who have no known graves. The remains of the 438 Ballalae POWs are buried in individual graves and are marked by white marble headstones, each has a cross and is inscribed simply ‘A SOLDIER OF THE 1939-1945 WAR KNOWN UNTO GOD’. We walked along every one of the 17 rows of 438 headstones in respect of those men so far from home. We laid a poppy wreath under the RA plaque in the Memorial Building and left a double-sided laminated copy of my Father’s Ballalae Roll of Honour/brief story inside the burial register in the Cemetery safe. There is no plaque at Bomana War Cemetery recording the history of the 438 Ballalae British POWs.

A known number of RAMC servicemen are not commemorated at Bomana War Cemetery. There were 6 RAMC, my Father being one of them, attached to the Royal Artillery and taken by the Japanese from Singapore to Ballalae Island. It would be fitting if there was a permanent tribute to these RAMC at Bomana War Cemetery.

I had communications with the Australian War Graves Commission regarding the above. They are planning appropriate signage at Bomana War Cemetery to tell the stories of more than 3,800 Commonwealth war casualties at rest. This would include the stories of the British servicemen at Ballalae Island in 1943. During the development of this signage they say reference can be made to those others who were with the British artillerymen at Ballalae in 1943. Brian Hill, Bournemouth 2024

My Father is remembered at Kirkburton, Huddersfield where he was born. In early 2021 I found out my Father is remembered at Kirkburton, Huddersfield where he was born. Unknown to me, during 2020, Kirkburton Environment Group scoured the county archives, regimental records and old editions of newspapers to find information and relatives of the local servicemen who lost their lives in WWII. They also looked on social media. On Remembrance Sunday 2020 they visited the Centotaph at Conisbrough and Denaby in South Yorkshire in their quest to find the son or relatives of Frank Hill. Without success, early in 2021 they began contacting by phone local persons with the surname Hill taken from local telephone directories. They were lucky that one of the Hill’s contacted was my cousin who lives at Emley, near Kirkburton. Hence I received a phone call ‘out of the blue’ from Anna Boden (Burton Environment Group) and found out my Father is remembered at Kirkburton. WWII fallen names including my Father were added to the base of the WWI Cenotaph in 2009. Their names are read out during the Remembrance Sunday Services at the Cenotaph in the Memorial Gardens. A new Memorial Board honouring the men from Kirkburton who gave their lives to WWII was unveiled at the Remembrance Sunday Service in 2021. The Memorial Board includes photographs of the fallen. In addition to my Father’s photo, the Memorial Board includes a brief account of his WWII story from Singapore to Ballale Island. Attendance at Kirkburton Remembrance Sunday Service in 2021 for the first time was a special and memorable occasion for myself and my Sister and our families.

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I was proud to wear his medals and lay a wreath for the first time. I will take my Sister to future Kirkburton Remembrance Sunday Services. The quarterly local newspaper ‘Burton Bulletin’ autumn edition was issued to coincide with the 2021 Remembrance Day and featured the WWII story of my Father.

My Father was born on 4th July 1918 in the sub-district of Kirkburton, Huddersfield. His Japanese Registration Card states he was born at Cote Close, Shepley (Huddersfield). My Mother (Nancy) was born on 4th October 1918 in the sub-district of Kirkburton at Shelley. They were married in Huddersfield in 1938. Marriage Certificate states my Father was a Woollen Warper and lived at Slant Gate, Kirkburton and my Mother was a Hospital Nurse who lived at Storthes Hall Mental Hospital at Thurstonland, Huddersfield. Kirkburton register states my Mother and Father lived at Park Head, Cumberworth in 1939. My Grandma (Jane) Hill and Grandad (William Stanley) Hill lived in North Road, Kirkburton.

I was born 2nd March 1939, before WWII, at 29 The Crescent, Conanby, Conisbrough, Near Doncaster in my Grandma (Edith) Brown and Grandad (Frederick) Brown’s colliery house. My Sister Thelma was also born there on 10th May 1940. My Mother, although living in Cumberworth, gave birth to myself and my Sister in her Mother’s house in Conanby, Conisbrough. My Mother and Father continued to live in Cumberworth until my Father enlisted in March 1940 and then my Mother went to live with her parents and family at Conisbrough. After the war ended, my Mother stayed at Conisbrough where myself and my Sister grew up. My Mother, myself and Sister lived at 29 The Crescent with my Grandma and Grandad Brown and their family of three sons and a lodger in a colliery three bedroom semi-detached house during and after WWII. My Grandma and Grandad Brown previously lived at New Mill, near Holmfirth, Huddersfield and they moved to Conisbrough around 1935 for my Grandad and his three sons to work in the coal mines. My Grandma and Grandad Brown were married at Kirkburton.

My Grandad Hill died in 1967 and Grandma Hill died in 1974. My Grandma Brown died in 1955 and my Grandad Brown died in 1962, they were buried in the same grave in Conisbrough Cemetery. My Mother died in 1996 and her ashes are in Conisbrough Cemetery.

I left South Yorkshire in 1963 to progress my career in Engineering and worked full time until I retired in 2016 (age 77).

Brian Hill, Bournemouth 2021