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936552 (934592)
Leading Aircraftman
William Griffin
Born 1909/06/18, Manchester
Son of Patrick and Mary Griffin
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
No. 81 Repair and Salvage Unit
Japanese PoW
1942/03/08 - Captured Java
PoW No. III 1582
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1943/11/18 - Transported oversea from Ambon in the Suez Maru
In November 1943, the Japanese decided to ship the sick in Ambon back to Java. A total of 640 men, including a number of Japanese sick patients, were taken on board the 4,645-ton passenger-cargo ship Suez Maru. In two holds, 422 sick British (including 221 RAF servicemen) and 127 sick Dutch prisoners, including up to twenty stretcher cases, were accommodated. The Japanese patients filled the other two holds.
Escorted by a minesweeper W-12, the Suez Maru set sail from Port Amboina but while entering the Java Sea and about 327 kilometers east of Surabaya, Java, Netherlands East Indies, the vessel was torpedoed by the American submarine USS Bonefish commanded by Cdr. Tom Hogan. The ship started to list as water poured into the holds drowning hundreds, many managed to escape the holds and swam away from the sinking ship. The Japanese mine sweeper W-12 picked up the Japanese survivors, leaving between 200 and 250 men in the sea. At 14.50, the minesweeper, W-12, under orders from Captain Kawano, opened fire, using a machine gun and rifles. Rafts and lifeboats were then rammed and sunk by the W-12. The firing did not cease till all the prisoners were killed, the minesweeper then picked up speed and sped off towards Batavia (Jakarta) at 16.30 hours.
Sixty-nine Japanese had died during the attack, 93 Japanese soldiers and 205 Japanese sick patients were rescued by the Japanese. Of the 547 British and Dutch prisoners, there is reported to be one survivor, a British soldier, Kenneth Thomas, who was picked up twenty-four hours later by the Australian minesweeper HMAS Ballarat, this has not been confirmed.
Died
1943/11/29
Died at sea when the Suez Maru was attacked and sunk
Memorial
Column 427.
Singapore Memorial
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Information
Lily A. Humphries - Granddaughter
Hell Ships - Suez Maru
Commonwealth War Grave Commission
KEW Files:- WO 392/24, WO 345/21, WO 361/1945, WO 361/2008, WO 361/1222, WO 361/1742, WO 361/1616,
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