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T/235183
Driver
Douglas Kenneth Ford Butler
1920/02/17 - Born Bath, Somerset
Son of Charles James and Mary Ellen Butler
Occupation Photo Printer
Next of kin, C J Butler, Brook Road, Bath, Somerset
Royal Army Service Corps
18th Division
Service
1940/11/28 - Enlisted
The Royal Army Service Corps, who were part of the 18th Division, were transported to Liverpool and sailed from Great Britain on the 30th October 1941 with Convoy CT.5.
1941/11/08 - At Halifax the personnel were transferred to American liners.
1941/11/10 - Left Halifax with Convoy William Sail 12X, destination unknown, believed to be Middle East.
Above Photo of Convoy William Sail 12X supplied by the late Maurice Rooney
Vought SB 2U Vindicator Scout Bomber - USS Ranger which was flying an Anti Submarine patrol over the convoy.
Front Line Top to Bottom:-
USS West Point - USS Mount Vernon - USS Wakefield - USS Quincy (Heavy Cruiser)
Back Row Top To Bottom:-
USAT Leonard Wood - USS Vincennes (Heavy Cruiser) - USS Joseph T Dickman
(USS Orizaba Ap-24 also sailed with Convoy though not pictured in photo)
1942/11/25 - Arrived Trinidad
1941/11/26 - Departed Trinidad
1941/12/09 - Arrived Cape Town, South Africa.
1941/12/08 - Japan had entered the war by bombing Pearl Harbour and invading Hong Kong and Malaya. The 18th Division were now diverted from the Middle East, to sail to Singapore.
1941/12/08 - Japanese troops land on the Malayan border with Thailand at Kota Bharu (Malaya), Singora and Patani (Thailand).
As the Japanese had taken the airfield at Kota Bharu, the Allied troops had very little air cover, and by the 31st of January 1942, Allied Troops were pushed back to Singapore. The causeway joining Singapore to Malaya was blown to stop the Japanese advance.
On the 9th February the Japanese attacked the North West coast of Singapore. General Percival had set his main defence, which included the troops from the 18th Division, on the North East coast line, and the Japanese quickly gained the advantage.
By the 15th February the Japanese were in danger of taking control of the water supply at the reservoirs, which would endanger the Singapore City water supply. General Percival had no alternative but to surrender.
1942/02/15 - Singapore surrendered to the Japanese
1942/03/23 - WO 417/40, Casualty List No. 778. Reported ‘Missing’.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
Changi Camp
PoW No. 1767
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1943/05/09 - Transported overland to Thailand with ‘H’ Force, train 4
Lt-Col. Lieutenant R.R. Humphries, 77 H.A.A. Regiment, RA
Wan Yai, 125 km from Nong Pladuk
Working at:-
Tampii South, 147 km from Nong Pladuk
Malay Hamlet (Hellfire Pass), 153 km from Nong Pladuk
1943/10/25 - The lines from Thailand and Burma were joined near Konkoita
Then back to Kanchanaburi before being transported back to Singapore
New PoW No. 2616
1943/11/28 - Sime Road Camp
The Service Personnel at Sime Road were transported to Changi Jail and the civilians in the jail were then taken to Sime Road.
1944/04/26 - Changi Jail
1945/05/20 - Kranji Camp
1945/08/15 - The Japanese Emperor gave a radio speech acknowledging the Japanese surrender.
1945/11/02 - The Japanese Index Card date of Liberation, is incorrect, as the surrender of Singapore was accepted by Lord Mountbatten in the Municipal Building on the 12th September 1945. General Seishiro Itagaki, Japanese Commander of Singapore, would not accept the surrender. Plus it gave him time to cover up all Japanese Atrocities in Singapore. The allied naval landing force 'Operation Tiderace' were delayed as it was still understood the Japanese would dispose of all the PoWs in Singapore if they landed. Mountbatten ordered British paratroopers into Singapore to protect the camps. To many of the PoWs in Singapore, those red berets of the paratroopers were the first signs that the war had ended. All this delayed organising the PoWs. It wasn't till the 12th September that Lord Mountbatten accepted the Japanese surrender at the Municipal Building. Hospital cases were the first to leave Singapore 1945/09/10 on the HMHS Koroa. They were soon followed by Repatriation ships which started reaching the UK about the 15th of October 1945. Why many of the liberated PoWs on these ships had November on their Japanese Index cards, I don't know as in other areas of the Far East, PoWs were marked as Liberated at their PoW camps with the correct date. Unless General Seishiro Itagaki did not make the cards available when the camps were liberated.
Liberation Questionnaire filled in by Douglas after he was liberated
1945/12/07 - WO417/100, Casualty List No. 1930. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 1139 as reported Prisoner of War now Not Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya.
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Far East Medals
Post War
1946/06/24 - Douglas married Lilian Amelia Seal at St Luke's in Bath.
They were blessed with three children, Chris, Diana and Simon.
Douglas working life, both before and after the war, was spent at Stothert and Pitt an Engineering company in Bath where he was a Photographic Printer.
Douglas passed away in Bath on 28th December 1992
Information
Steve Trim
Andrew Snow - Thailand Burma Railway Centre
Convoy William Sail 12X
Fall of Malaya and Singapore
Thailand Burma Railway
KEW Files, WO 361/1946, WO 345/8, WO 392/23, WO 361/2233, WO 361/1946, WO 367/2,
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