Can any POW or Signals experts give me more details on : HUMPHREYS, HERBERT REGINALD Rank: Signalman Service No: 2329096 Date of Death: 29/01/1944 Age: 23 Regiment/Service: Royal Corps of Signals 18th Div. Sigs. Grave Reference: 16. C. 12. Cemetery: KRANJI WAR CEMETERY Additional Information: Son of Herbert and Mildred Annie Humphreys, of South Carlton, Lincolnshire. Died POW at Changi, formerly of East Stoke.
Herbert Humphreys Sgmn attached to 18Div, captured at Fall of Singapore 15/02/42. He appears on the Royal Corps of Signals Roll as being shipped by train to Thailand to work on Burma Thailand Death Railway 24/4/43 as part of 'F' Force. Entry has been crossed out and 'D' (Died) 29/01/44 inserted. So whether he actually went to Thailand and then returned to Changi or was too sick to travel I am, at present, not sure. Still checking some other sources. Tim
Still going through the entries but the 2nd one on FMP states; Date of death 29th Jan 1944, diagnosis, Beriberi - Malaria. Seems he served with 18 Div Signals. 1943 has him in Thailand at Kami Sonkrai POW Camp No 1
UK, Army Roll of Honour, 1939-1945 Name: Herbert Humphreys Given Initials: H R Rank: Signalman Death Date: 29 Jan 1944 Number: 2329096 Birth Place: Lincoln Residence: Nottingham Regiment at Enlistment: Royal Corps of Signals Branch at Enlistment: Royal Corps of Signals Theatre of War: Malaya Regiment at Death: Royal Corps of Signals Branch at Death: Royal Corps of Signals Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current Name: Sgnlmn Herbert Reginald Humphreys Maiden Name: Death Date: 29 Jan 1944 Cemetery: Kranji War Cemetery Burial or Cremation Place: Kranji, North West, Singapore Has Bio?: N https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56321699 In the new section of Ancestry they have the FE POW lists but you need to have Fold3 subscription to open and see the files - I dont have that subscription I'm afraid - I hope perhaps someone else has though UK, Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 Name: Reginald Humphrey [Reginald Humphreys] Rank: PVT Military Date: 1939-1944 Service Number: 2329096 Death Date: 29 Jan 1944 Source Description: 1656: Far East: Japanese Prisoner of War Records; Unreported Deaths of Allied Personnel Name: Herbert Reginald Humphreys Rank: Sgmn Military Date: 1939-1945 Service Branch: A Service Number: 2329096 Source Description: 1947: Prisoners of War, Far East: Malaya POW Camp, Name List, as of 1 November 1944; Volume II TD
Thanks all , looks like he survived F Force and succumbed back at Changi after F Force's return in Nov 43.
Just for the record Kami Songkurai was F Force Camp 3. Shimo Songkurai was Camp 1. These two camps were mainly Australian. British were mainly at Songkurai, Camp 2 or Changaraya, Camp 5. 'F' Force were marched from Ban Pong to these Camps a distance of 300km. Death rate from this Force was 44% 3096 of the 7000 British and Australian POWs losing their lives. Of their return to Changi I take this quote which helps explain Herbert Humphrey's death: Our emaciated, cadaverous bodies were covered in rags, we were all barefooted with bandages covering our ulcers and we were almost all rotten with malaria and beri beri. … our own Black Jack Galleghan, the Iron Commander of the A.I.F. at Changi … was shocked to the point of silence and tears. [Stan Arneil, describing the return of F Force to Changi in December 1943, One Man's War, Sydney, Alterative Publishing, nd, 154.] (Home | The Anzac Portal) Tim
