|
3528299
Private
Fred Crowther
1915/01/02 - Born Hatfield, Derbyshire
Son of Irvine and (nee Bray) Crowther
(Birth registered High Peak, Hayfield, Derbyshire Registrars Birth Index
Next of kin:- Father, Irvine Crowther, 77 Kershaw Street, Glossop, Derbyshire
Manchester Regiment
1st Battalion
Service
At the outbreak of the Second World War the 1st Battalion Manchester Regiment were assigned to a beach defence role, which entailed setting up of Machine gun posts, searchlights and ant-ship, and landing craft obstacles.
In November 1937 the battalion had become a machine gun unit and in January 1938 with a strength of 980 officers and men the 1st Battalion were transported to Palestine as Jewish Community protectorates. They were housed in Tiberius at ‘The Central’ and ‘Elizabethan’ Hotels. A B C and D companies occupied trouble spots at Mielia, Safad, Sarafand Jerusalem and along the Jordan border
Under orders on 4th October 1938, the 1st Battalion sailed in the ‘Dilwara’ for the Far East and Singapore. At Port Suez they had a few days in the Western Desert while peace talks took place between Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler. Then back on the ship, arriving in Singapore on the 20th October 1938. As part of the 2nd Malaya Infantry Brigade, they saw action during the Japanese invasion of Singapore island in February 1942.
1942/02/15 - Singapore surrendered to the Japanese.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
PoW No. M-1984
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
Excerpts are from a letter sent after the war from Arthur Lane:-
‘The Japanese told us we were going to a health resort. We were delighted. They told us to take pianos and gramophone records. They would supply the gramophones. We were overjoyed and we took them. Dwindling rations and a heavy toll of sickness were beginning to play on our fraying nerves and emaciated bodies. It all seemed like a bolt from the tedium of life behind barbed wire in Changi, Singapore. They said: “Send the sick, it will do them good.” And we believed them, and so we took them all.’
1942/10/27 - Transported overland to Thailand with ‘V’ Letter Party, train 3
21st Train to Singapore
89 Officers and 555 Ordinary Ranks
Lt-Col. J.H. Stitt, 2nd Gordon Highlanders
Group 2
New PoW No. II 3346
‘The first stage of the journey to this new found Japanese Paradise was not quite so promising. Yes, they took our kit and they took our bodies, the whole lot, in metal goods wagons, 35 men per truck through Malaya’s beating, relentless sun for 5 days and 5 nights to Thailand, the land of the free. For food, we had a small amount of rice and some “hogwash” called stew. We sat and sweated, fainted and hoped.
Then at Ban Pong station in Thailand they said, “All men go, Marche, Marche !”
We said “What! We’re coming for a holiday.”
They just laughed and in that spiteful, derisive, scornful laugh which only a prisoner of war in Japanese hands can understand, we knew that here was another piece of Japanese bushido — deceit.
Thailand Camps:-
Chungkai, 60km from Nong Pladuk
Ban Khao, 87.93km form Nong Pladuk
Wang Pho, 111.50km from Nong Pladuk
New PoW No. II 5267
Tha Khanun, 217km from Nong Pladuk
1943/09/29 - Admitted to Tha Khanum Base Camp Hospital
1943/10/08 - From Beri-beri and general debility at Tha Khanum
1945/08/22 - Casualty List No. 1838. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 1301 as reported Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya. Reported ‘Died’.
1950/04/18 - WO100/504, Clasp awarded Palistine
Died
Age 28
1943/10/08
Cause of death Beri-beri and Dysentery
1945/12/27 - Probate Glossip, Nottingham
Memorial
2. O. 1.
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
|
|
|
|
|
Pacific Star
|
War Medal
|
1939-1945 Star
|
|
|
|
Information
Maria Depiazzi
Andrew Snow - Thailand Burma Railway Centre
Japanese Transports
Thailand-Burma Railway
Arthur Lane - Musician to the Dead
KEW Files:- WO 361/1526, WO 361/2172, WO 361/2053, WO 392/23, WO 345/13, WO 361/1954, WO 361/1979, WO 361/2167, WO 361/2058,
|
