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974224
Leading Aircraftman
Thomas Francis Davin
Known as Tom
1914/10/12 - Born Ireland
Son of Morris and Mary Davin
Occupation Auctioneer
Royal Airforce
62 Squadron - Alor Star, Malaya
Japanese PoW
1942/03/20 Captured
PoW No. 1277
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1942/03/24 - Boei Glodak - Camp Leader Captain Noble
1943, January - Tandjong Priok - Camp Leader Colonel Dobbin
1943, April - Cycle Camp - Camp Leader W.C Nichols
1943, May - Boei Glodak - Camp Leader W.C Alexander
1944, January - Cycle Camp - Camp Leader W.C Nichols
1944/05/14 - Transported oversea from Java to Singapore then onto Pakanbaroe, Sumatra to work on the Sumatra Railway.
New PoW No. 5191
About 5,000 Allied military personnel, mainly Dutch and English, but including a little over 200 Australians and 15 Americans, were held as prisoners of war, working on the railway by the Japanese. They were engaged in the building of a narrow-gauge railway across the central portion of the island of Sumatra, in what is now known as Indonesia.
1944, May - Sumatra Camp 1 and 2 - Camp Leader W.C Davis
1944, July - Sumatra Camp 3 - Captain Armstrong
The northern terminal of the railway was the city of Pekanbaru (new spelling), therefore the project became known as the Pekanbaru Rail Line, Sumatra Railway.
The PoWs were overworked, underfed, provided with little medicine, and subjected to constant physical and mental abuse by our Japanese overseers.
Over 700 perished building the railway, which until the 1990’s was not recognised by governments.
In the photo on the cover of ‘Sumatra Fittest’ - Tom is at the back on the left
1945/08/15 - On Pakanbaroe roll
1945/11/02 - Tom was liberated at Singapore
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, was over inked as faded, by Russell Small
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Information
Russell Small - Son-in-Law
Sumatra Railway
‘Life and Death on the Death Railway Through the Jungle of Sumatra’ by George Duffy
‘PoW on the Sumatra Railway’ by John Geoffrey Lee
‘Sumatras Fittest’ by David Spero
KEW Files:- WO 392/23, WO 361/2006, WO 345/14, WO 361/2002, WO 361/1946,
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