Can anyone point me to information on Edward Douglas Sewell, please? Purportedly a member of the East Surreys in WW II, he was captured at the fall of Singapore, imprisoned first in Changi jail and then marched to work on the Burma-Thailand railroad. He was shipped back to England on the Queen of Bermuda. I can't seem to find any records online. Carolyn
Carolyn, Here are all the Sewells recorded as being POW to the Japanese. This list is based on the Japanese index card files held at the National Archives. Not every man had a card unfortunately, or at least not every card survived the war. Here:Search Results Hope this will help.
Carolyn, Would his mother have been listed as: Mrs James, 16 Oatlands Road, Enfield Highway, Middlesex. ?
Thank you, both. Edward Douglas Sewell's name does not appear on that list, Bamboo43. His father died in South Africa and his mother remarried - John James. That address is correct. Carolyn
Hi Carolyn, I have found him listed in the Nominal Roll from Changi, and it does give a further lead for you to try and trace his POW days. When you study his name on this list you will see that on the right it states OVL 23.03.43 T9. This identifies that he was sent Overland (OVL) and the date of 23.03.43 is "D Party" . T9 probably means Train 9 (that needs confirmation). Hopefully, someone on the forum who knows more about the Burma Railroad will be able to give more information about which part of the railroad the D party were sent to. Good luck on the beginning of your onward search. Mike . .
I wonder if searles and sanger would have spoken about where they lived. They only lived within a short distance of each other. I was born wherebthey came from and know both streets. There are afew streets on that list that I know. Would be interested to see the complete list and see how many men lived near each other.
I found this site which helps too. Details of groups moved into Death Railway and death statistics Carolyn
I am tracing the POW years of A/B JOHNSON Ronald Arthur. Does he appear on this nominal roll? His POW index card shows capture in May 1942 on Sinkep .. he left in "J" Force in May 1943 and spent rest of the war in Hakodate Camps in Japan Robin
Uncle Jack, The nominal roll for 2nd Battalion East Surreys was prepared by the POW run organisation called The Bureau of Record and Enquiry. A full explanation is given by one of the leading members Captain David Nelson in his book "The Story of Changi." The BRE prepared Nominal rolls, Pilot Rolls, Master Rolls, lists of "parties" ( meaning groups of POWs sent away from Changi to Thailand, Java, Japan etc.). The nominal roll photograph in this thread is of a page of the roll now found at file WO361/2114 at The National Archives at Kew, and only deals with 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment. An advanced search in Discovery at Kew for "Navy" and "WO361" does not lead to the BRE rolls for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The Royal Navy Historical Branch, or whatever it is titled, may know where the rolls are. BRE Rolls only emerged for public gaze at Kew in April 2011. In a schedule to his book David Nelson listed the rolls kept. Some of the files in WO361 refer to the original numbering. The expert on the rolls is Keith Andrew who is connected to Cofepow. The United States of America were responsible for prosecuting "minor" war crimes trials and they ran several cases involving Hakodate. The easiest way to find summaries of their trials is to go to a website run by the University of Marburg. Put " Marburg War Crimes" in your search engine and click on "Dokumente" at the link at the bottom of the column on the left hand side. On the next page click on "Yokohama."Summaries of the trials can be downloaded. However, they are listed under the names of defendants and not places. Case No 4 ( T04) deals with Hakodate, but there are others. See my post on "Hakodate Main Camp Apan."
Hello, I would kindly suggest to have a look on Richard Kandler's book, cited in this similar topic, http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/47113-any-ideas-for-ghanm-and-chanli-from-my-grandfathers-pow-questionnaire/ Good luck with your research!, and thanks indeed for sharing. Marco
