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D/MX73329
Wireman
Kenneth Richard Hodder
Royal Navy
HMS Exeter
Service
HMS Exeter
On the entry of the Japan into the war in December 1941, Exeter formed part of the ABDACOM naval force which was intended to defend the Dutch East Indies from Japanese invasion.
On 27th February, 1942, she was badly damaged in the Battle of the Java Sea when she received a hit in the boiler room and was ordered to Surabaya. The destroyer HMS Electra was sunk covering her withdrawal. On 1st March while Exeter was attempting to reach the Sunda Straits, she was again engaged by the Japanese cruisers Nachi and Haguro. Exeter was soon badly damaged by gunfire and a torpedo from the destroyer Inazuma. Taking on water she began to list to starboard, by noon on the same day she sank. Her escorting destroyers, HMS Encounter and USS Pope were also lost in this engagement. About 800 Allied seamen, including the commander of Exeter, Captain O.L. Gordon., became prisoners of war.
Japanese PoW
1942/0/3/01 - Captured when HMS Exeter was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea
Celebes Camp
PoW No. J.M. 304
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index card - Side Two
1945/09/01 - Liberated
1945/09/29 - Repatriated
Died
Age 97
October 2017
Funeral at Weymouth on his 98th Birthday
Information
Alan Hodder - Son
KEW:- WO 345/25
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