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1807181
Gunner
George Thomas Housego
MBE
1921/03/04 - Born Bayswater, London
Son of William and Mary Housago
Royal Artillery
79/22 Light Anti Aircraft Regiment
Japanese PoW
1942/03/08 - Captured Java
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1944/05/19 - Transported from Java to Singapore in Kiska Maru with Java Party 20
Total party of 800 PoWs
1944/05/21 - Arrived Singapore
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Arrived Singapore
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Departed Singapore
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Remained Changi
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Offrs.
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O.R.
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Total
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Offrs.
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O.R.
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Total
|
|
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Army
|
2
|
121
|
123
|
2
|
121
|
123
|
0
|
|
Royal Navy
|
2
|
3
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
5
|
0
|
|
Royal Air Force
|
3
|
59
|
62
|
3
|
59
|
62
|
0
|
|
Civilians
|
|
|
4
|
|
|
4
|
0
|
|
A.I.F.
|
4
|
235
|
239
|
4
|
235
|
239
|
0
|
|
R.A.N.
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
|
R.A.A.F.
|
|
17
|
17
|
|
16
|
16
|
1
|
|
Americans
|
|
42
|
42
|
|
42
|
42
|
0
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|
Dutch ?
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|
|
306
|
|
|
302
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4
|
|
|
11
|
479
|
800
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11
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478
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795
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5
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Japan Party 1 was formed in convoy HO-02 consisting of twelve ships including four escorts. It was also known as the Bauxite Convoy.
Four of the cargo ships carried PoWs:-
Miyo Maru (795 Pows from Java Party 20)
Hozan Maru (451 PoWs also carried bauxite)
Hiyoki Maru (450 PoWs also carried bauxite)
Kokusei Maru (456 PoWs holds contained bauxite)
1944/06/03 - HO-02 sailed from Singapore to Japan via Philippines
Japan Party 20 were in the Miyo Maru
1944/06/06 - 160 miles E.S.E of Cape St. Jacques, Indo-China, USS Raton (SS-270) attacked the convoy. At 2225 hours an escort was sunk and USS Raton received damage.
1944/ 06/11 - Arrived Manila, the Tamahoko Maru loaded 7,500 tons of copper ore into her holds and joined the convoy
1944/06/14 - Sailed from Manila in a convoy of six ships
1944/06/15 - The convoy ran into a typhoon which caused damage to the Miyo Maru
1944/06/18 - Reached Takao, Taiwan.
PoW’s from the Miyo Maru were transferred from the Miyo Maru into two holds in the Tamahoko Maru
1944/06/20 - HO-02 convoy sailed out of Takao, Taiwan, accompanied by escorts.
1944/06/21 - Stopped over at Keeling, the convoy then headed for Japan.
1944/06/24 - Three US submarines, Tang, Tinosa, and Shark II attacked the convoy off the Japanese coast, 40 miles S.W. of Nagasaki. The Tamahoko Maru was hit and sank with the loss of 560 POWs out of the 772 PoWs on board.
1944/06/25 - George arrived with 200 more survivors of the sinking at Fukuoka 14B
1945/06/30 - Transferred to Fukuoka 5B
PoW No. 6360 in both camps
1945/09/13 - Liberated Fukuoka 5B
Died
March 2015
Family pays tribute to West Wickham prisoner of war survivor George Housego
Published in ‘News Shopper’
by
Hatty Collier
George Housego with his partner June Elkington in November 2012.
A West Wickham ex-prisoner of war, who survived the 1945 Nagasaki bombing in a twist of fate, has died aged 93.
George Housego, of Birch Tree Avenue, was captured in Java in March 1941 and eventually moved to Nagasaki in Japan to work in a factory.
He had been deployed to protect Dutch forces from the advancing enemy but was forced to surrender as the Japanese overran the island.
The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki destroyed the factory he had been working in just weeks after he was transferred to work at an Omine coal pit.
Mr Housego, who joined the army, aged 19, having never travelled further than Brighton, died in hospital last Wednesday (February 25) after suffering from a blood disorder.
The grandfather-of-four had spent his twilight years travelling the world with his partner June Elkington and members of The London Far East Prisoner of War Remembrance Social Club.
Ms Elkington, aged 81, who met Mr Housego in 1979, told News Shopper: He was always helping people. Everybody loved him. He was so well liked.
He was a bit debonair when I first met him. He was very smart. Whenever we went out he’d say, ‘I must have that shirt to go with that tie.’
He always used to look good. Even when he was in and out of hospital, he would say, ‘Bring something nice for me to wear.’
Retired property surveyor Mr Housego fathered a son and two daughters in a previous marriage and also brought up Ms Elkington’s three sons as his own.
Ms Elkington and Mr Housego attending a Royal Garden Party
Former civil servant, Ms Elkington said her husband did not tell her about his prisoner of war experiences until years after they met when he took her to the Union Jack Club in Waterloo.
She added: ‘All these happy men were there enjoying an evening together exchanging stories, dancing and playing bingo.’
In 1943, the ship Mr Housego travelled on to Nagasaki sank after it was torpedoed by the US Navy, killing more than 500 prisoners of war onboard.
Mr Housego spent what he described as ‘12 hours of freedom’ clinging on to a piece of wood in the China Sea before a Japanese shipping boat picked him up.
When he returned home after the war ended, he weighed just six stone as he had been worked to the bone in the prison camps.
Mr Housego marching in a remembrance parade at the Cenotaph in 2012
The veteran went on to meet the Royal Family several times at remembrance ceremonies and was awarded an MBE in 1999 for his services to The London Far East Prisoners of War Association.
Ms Elkington added: ‘We had lots of funny times together and lots of friends. He was the kind of man, who only thought of others.’
Information
Java Index
Hell Ships
KEW Files:- WO 361/1742, WO 361/1742, WO 361/1742, WO 345/26, WO 361/2009, WO 361/1254, WO 392/24, WO 361/2220
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