POW,s Rangoon Central Jail

Thank you for the information, i have replied to your message via the email address you gave me...


Natalie

 

Hi, all,

Earlier this year my good pal/fellow Rangoon Jail curiosity seeker Steve "Bamboo" Fogden had told me about Carol, the daughter of Robert Viney, and how she had found her father's signature on the 5 rupee note, but I'd completely forgotten about it. I only stumbled upon the message thread today, and I'm delighted -- as I am the one who had posted the 5 rupee note on-line as a pdf file on my friend Robert Quirk's website. The link again:

http://www.rquirk.com/poole/Signed_5_rupee_note,RangoonJail,_Ver_10.pdf

I can now edit my biographical info on Robert Viney to include the new details (like his first name, and date/place of capture) posted in the message string.

Steve had said in his first reply to Carol's original question that Robert was one of the men force-marched out of Rangoon, but he is mistaken (a rarity for the lad). Documents found by Steve at the National Archives at Kew (and generously shared with me) prove this.

Robert was among the POWs left behind by the Japanese when, on 25 April 1945, they abandoned Rangoon with over 400 of the more able-bodies POWs. He and those still within the jail were liberated on 3 May. On 4 May they were taken to the Rangoon docks and shuttled out to the hospital ship HMHS Karapara, which then transported them to Calcutta. The Karapara docked at Calcutta in the afternoon of 9 May -- to great fanfare. I believe that all of the identified signatures on the 5 rupee note were aboard the Karapara; there is only one unidentified scribble.

Attached is Robert's name ("R. Viney") right of center on a cropped segment of the 5 rupee note. This Japanese occupation money belonged to J.133930 W/O Richard "Dick" Corbett, an RCAF Hurricane pilot from Toronto who had been shot down by Japanese fighters on 5 Feb 1944 and sent to Rangoon Jail. His daughter, Lynne Davidson, had sent me the scan, and I was very pleased to be able to ID all but the one name.

Also attached is the page from a Block 6 prisoner list compiled by 4612658 Lance Corporal Bill Matthews, who had attended to the sick and dying in his compound (and who survived his imprisonment). The list came into my possession a few years ago, via another Rangoon Jail POW, and I donated it to the Imperial War Museum. You can see Robert Viney's name in Bill's list.

Posting #13 in the message thread was from the nephew of Richard Brooks, an American B-29 pilot captured in Dec 1945. I have a ton of info on Brooks and his crewmates who survived the loss of the aircraft and were also captured. Karnig Thomasian, one of the gunners, wrote and published his war memoir, "Then There Were Six" in 2004 (found via bookfinder.com). Karnig and "Brooksie" remained close friends until Brooksie's death a few years ago (he had Alzheimer's). [EDIT, 9 Dec 2012: I think I'm confusing Norman Larson (from the Thomasian & Brooks crew) with Brooks. I now believe it was Larson who had Alzheimer's. Sorry...]

Amazingly, I found Japanese newsreel footage of their bomber burning on the ground in Rangoon (with the serial number clear as can be -- providing proof of the identity), as well as page one coverage (with a photo) in the Japanese propaganda newspaper "Greater Asia", printed in Rangoon. No time to organize this info at the moment for posting, but I intend to!

The power of the internet...

Cheers for now,

Matt

 

Hi Steve

Sorry its been a while getting back to you..after receiving your email I decided to go to the library to try and get some literature on the Chindits... I have just finished reading Wingates Lost Brigade by Phil Chinnery. It gave me quite an insight into what took place out there with all the witness statements etc and also what happened to column 7.

I am currently awaiting a photo of Wilfred Toms and will pass it on to you as soon as i receive it.

Again thank you very much for your help

Natalie

 

Hi Steve

Sorry its been a while getting back to you..after receiving your email I decided to go to the library to try and get some literature on the Chindits... I have just finished reading Wingates Lost Brigade by Phil Chinnery. It gave me quite an insight into what took place out there with all the witness statements etc and also what happened to column 7.

I am currently awaiting a photo of Wilfred Toms and will pass it on to you as soon as i receive it.

Again thank you very much for your help

Natalie

Hi Natalie,

Glad to hear you received my email ok and that you've done some reading already. I've just come back from the Remembrance service at the Chindit Memorial in London, where I was fortunate enough to meet another new family with Longcloth connections, so it's been a very good last few days.

I look forward to seeing the photo of Wilfred and hopefully adding it to the Column 7 Gallery on the website.

Many thanks.

 

Hi Steve,

Sorry to be a pain but i was just going through the records you sent me again...why would there be no cause of death recorded for Wilfred?....it makes me wonder whether something untoward happened to him.

Thanks

 

Hi Steve,

Sorry to be a pain but i was just going through the records you sent me again...why would there be no cause of death recorded for Wilfred?....it makes me wonder whether something untoward happened to him.

Thanks

Hi Natalie,

On the Block 6 lists, no cause of death was recorded until roughly April 1944, these lists are only guides I'm afraid. He does not appear to have a Japanese index card either, many of the Chindits do not have one. This would have told us how he perished, in my experience most of the Chindits died of exhaustion and disease within the first 6 months of being held in Rangoon.

Steve

 

As an update for this thread, I picked up probably my best ever buy on Ebay this week. Good quality scans of a diary kept on the back of some family photo postcards by one POW held in Rangoon Jail.

These simple hand written pages tell me so much about the death of two other Chindits and give me further evidence towards my investigation into medical experimentation on several Chindit men by Japanese doctors.

Very very chuffed indeed.

 

Do we know what unit this bloke belonged to ? - Lt J. Fullarton of Bridge of Weir, Scotland


or how Company Sergeant Major Finnerty, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers ended up in Rangoon jail??



SEA0244 | Australian War Memorial


Arakan, Burma. c. May 1945. Australian, New Zealand, British and American prisoners of war (POWs) liberated from Rangoon jail crowd into the doorway of the RAF Douglas C47 Dakota aircraft taking them back to civilisation and have their last look at Burma. On left, with beard, is the commanding officer of No. 82 (Mosquito) Squadron RAF, Wing Commander L. V. (Bill) Hudson, RAAF of Kingsford, NSW. Also shown: Flight Lieutenant Cliff Emeny, Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) of Te Kire, NZ; Pilot Officer Eric Osbaldstone, RNZAF of Karori, NZ; Sergeant N. J. Davis of Northampton, England; Lieutenant (Lt) Richard Moore, United States Army Air Corps of Des Moines, Iowa; Lt J. Fullarton of Bridge of Weir, Scotland; Company Sergeant Major Finnerty, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

 

It's a pity that the nominal roll of deaths in Rangoon jail as referred to in this document wasn't actually on the file.

Otherwise the only British death directly referred to is that of Brigadier Hobson

 

Hi Dave,

Although the link you posted doesn't work for me, I think I know the photograph it refers to. This group of men were basically the jail leaders by the time of liberation in early May 1945. 450 other POW's had left the jail with the remaining Japanese guards, they were bound for Siam led by Brigadier Hobson. They were released by their captors near Pegu, sadly Hobson was killed by 'friendly' fire when Allied planes mistook them for Japanese.

Hudson took command of all those left in the jail who could not make that march due to illness or infirmity, the other men in the photo were his management team.

The man facing Lionel Hudson is Lieut. John Kerr of the 13th Kings and was a 1943 Chindit.

Fullerton was with the Burma Frontier Force.

Finnerty wrote a book about his time in the Army, 'All Hell on the Irrawaddy'. Without going to the book, he was captured during the retreat sometime after the battle around the Yenanyuang oilfields in Burma.

Hope this helps.

 

Attached is my copy of the photo, signed by Lionel Hudson back in the 1990s.

From the war diary compiled by W/Cdr Lionel Hudson and his adjutant, Lt John Kerr, starting 29 April '45:


4th MAY 1945

0340 War Diary completed to date. Personnel remaining behind as Staff of C.O.

1. W/C L.V. HUDSON R.A.A.F. C.O.
2. Lt. J.M. KERR 13th KINGS Adj
3. 2/Lt. R.C. FULLARTON F.F.4. B.F.F. I.O.
4. W.O.2. J.J. FINNERTY Roy. Inniskilling Fus. QM.


Also the undermentioned party from MINGALADON.

1. F/O BELLENGER
2. F/Lt EMENY
3. Sgt DAVIS
4. 2/Lt. MOORE
5. P/O OSBOLDSTONE.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The latter party had volunteered to stay behind in order to oversee the patching up of the Mingaladon airfield's runway so that Allied aircraft could start landing there.

Sgt Norman Davis, at the bottom of the step, is near and dear to my heart. A flight engineer on a 159 Sqn Liberator, he was captured on 29 Feb '44 or soon thereafter after bailing out of his aircraft, BZ926 "Pegasus", over the Rangoon area. He was red headed and on the diminutive side, and the guards used to pick on him for both reasons. He was mock executed at least once, and on another occasion two guards had a contest to see who could stuff the most number of crumpled ricepaper balls into poor Norman nostrils. Norman harbored no bitterness toward his captives. He died young of a heart attack.

 

Rangoon Jail Search Results | CriticalPast.com: Page 1

 

Rangoon Jail Search Results | CriticalPast.com: Page 1


Nice links there, thanks Wills.

 

Wills,

Thank you very much indeed for pointing out the "Critical Past" site which I have searched and found a short filmed interview of a POW who was on the ss Hofuku Maru when it sank, and subsequently imprisoned at Cabantuan POW camp, Philipinne Islands. To find the interview search for "Cabantuan".

John

 

Wills,

Thank you very much indeed for pointing out the "Critical Past" site which I have searched and found a short filmed interview of a POW who was on the ss Hofuku Maru when it sank, and subsequently imprisoned at Cabantuan POW camp, Philipinne Islands. To find the interview search for "Cabantuan".

John

That's a sturdy looking sightscreen you have as your avatar John! The two at my work are falling apart. Great you got something from the Wills link.

 

Steve,

Sightscreen to be found at the Saffron Walden Cricket Club ground, aka the Anglo American Memorial Playing Fields, next door to the maze and Bridge End Gardens, aka Fry's Gardens. It does have another wheel, but this is an artist's "impression" by yours pretentiously,

John

 

Steve,

Sightscreen to be found at the Saffron Walden Cricket Club ground, aka the Anglo American Memorial Playing Fields, next door to the maze and Bridge End Gardens, aka Fry's Gardens. It does have another wheel, but this is an artist's "impression" by yours pretentiously,

John

Careful now John, this may start a trend!

 

Hello, my grandfather was a prisoner in Rangoon Jail, he never talked of the war and his time at Rangoon. I was wondering if you have any information about him. His name was Thomas Rayson I think he was in column 7 of operation longcloth. Many thanks Janet

 

Hi Janet,

Thank you for the pm. Yes, Thomas was with 7 Column on the first Chindit expedition. After they decided to return to India, he became part of a group of soldiers who were already sick or wounded, which tried unsuccessfully to re-cross the Irrawaddy River in April 1943.

Here is a link to an account of that group, led by Lieutenant Rex Walker of the 13th King's and its unfortunate time attempting to return to India.

I will pm you with more details.

http://www.chinditslongcloth1943.com/rex-walkers-dispersal-group-4.html

 

For the interest of those following this thread, here is the POW index card for Pte. Tom Rayson, showing his POW number of 328, his next of kin details and his date of capture, the 20th April 1943.