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6137347
Private
Edward John Joyce
1908/10/25 - Born Bermondsey, London
Son of Michael William and Louisa Ellen Joyce
Brother to Michael James, Thomas William, Ernest James and Ernest Francis
Occupation - Post Office Engineering Department
1936 - Married Mary Reardon in Camberwell
Childhood friends living in Peckham, after marriage they moved to East Dulwich
Next of kin Wife, Mary, Upland Road, London, SE22
1926/06/07 - Enlisted
East Surrey Regiment
2nd Battalion
Service
Edward in Uniform at 18 years old
1926/06/07 - Enlisted with the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment.
In June 1926 the 1st Battalion were sent to India, where they remained for nine years and Edward became a first class cook. Girlfriend Mary, wrote to him the whole time he was in India.
Edward returned to England in 1936 and married Mary on the 26th December 1936. Then being a reservist, Edward got a job with the General Post Office .
In 1939, Britain declared war on Germany and Edward was called up when the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, were sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force. After extensive fighting, in 1940 they were pushed back by the Germans to Dunkirk, taken off the beaches and back to the UK by small craft.
As the 1st Battalion had heavy losses in France, Edward was placed into the 2nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment.
In August 1940 the 2nd East Surrey Regiment were transported to Singapore for training in jungle warfare as Japan were becoming a threat. After six months of training the 2nd battalion was moved to Sunei Patini, Malaya.
Japan entered the war on the 8th December 1941 by bombing Pearl Harbour and attacking Hong Kong and Malaya. The 2nd Battalion were then positioned at Jitra, Malaya.
By the 11th of December the battalion was confronted by the Japanese commanded by Saeki who decided to attack the troops at Jitra during the night of the 11th and in doing so suffered heavy losses by the allied positioning of their machine guns. Saeki then decided to throw everything he had at the centre of the British defences and succeeded in driving a deep wedge into their positions before he came up against the Leicestershires and the 2/2nd Gurkhas who stopped the Japanese attack, the 2nd East Surreys then counter-attacked to help the Leicesters. By the 12th December Major-general Kawamura commanding the 9th Infantry arrived at Jitra and sent his 41st Regiment down the eastern side of the main road and the 40th Regiment down the western side to assist Saeki who was still being held by the Leicesters. Murray-Lyons ordered the Leicesters to withdraw behind a stream called the Sungei Jitra, the Leicesters had fought bravely and their good positions were argued but they had to obey the order.
At a meeting just south of Gurun on the 14th December, Murray-Lyon told General Heath that his troops were not in condition to withstand another retreat but if they had to a strong defensive position should be chosen and a concentrated defines should be planned, with transportation for his troops. General Heath agreed that the 11th Division should hold Gurun and the 12th Brigade would hold the Japanese to the east at Kroh and Grik. After a conversation on the phone that night with Percival, Heath got his way and it was agreed that the 11th would retreat a further sixty mile to a defensive position beyond the Perak River delaying the Japanese as long as possible so Penang could be evacuated.
That night the Japanese attacked in numbers and drove a gap in the Punjabi defences and reached the 2nd East Surrey headquarters and then the 6th Brigade headquarters, killing everyone there, when Murray-Lyon saw the damage he immediately ordered a seven mile withdrawal, but finding the numbers of troops left, sent more orders to withdraw behind the Muda River. The remaining troops had some luck as the Japanese had been hit hard as well and they did not follow up on the action giving the remains of the 11th Division time to fall back, giving the British time to evacuate Penang.
The British started evacuating on the 13th but the orders included only British born personnel and civilians, this caused a feeling of despair among the Asiatic population, and anger towards the British for leaving them to fend for themselves at a time when they wanted leadership.
On the 17th December the Kobayashi Battalion of the Japanese 5th Division landed on Penang from small boats and the island was theirs.
Fearing his troops would be cut off by the Japanese troops from Kroh, Percival tried to use the natural obstacle of the Perak River as a defines against the Japanese tanks.
The 2nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment and 1st Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment were amalgamated to form the ‘British Battalion’ . The two battalions suffered had heavy losses and were amalgamated on 20th December 1941 as the ‘British Battalion’ under the command of Lieut. Col. C.E. Morrison, D.S.O., M.C., of The Royal Leicestershire Regiment.
Yamashita read the situation well and on the 26th December the 4th Guards Regiment crossed the Perak River to the north of Kuala Kangsar through thick jungle and then headed south for Ipoh, trying to outflank the British, they would then proceed to Kuala Lumpur. The British front had now been joined by the 12th Indian Brigade and the badly cut up 6th Brigade had merged into the 15th Brigade, they had now retreated by the 31st December to a strong defensible sight at Kampar where the artillery for once had a clear sighting of the ground between them and the advancing Japanese.
On the 2nd January the Japanese Guards Division tried landing troops at Kuala Selengor and Port Swettenham but were held off till the 4th when they achieved a landing just north of Kuala Selengor and moved inland at Battalion strength. Percival asked the Perak Flotilla to stop any more landings but it had been bombed continuously and was down to only two motor launches. While the landings were taking place 11th Division had retreated to the Slim River with very thick jungle on either side it was thought the Japanese could not outflank the defenders and the road defences would stop the tanks.
The long retreat down Malaya was now on, pursued and outflanked by the Japanese who were more suitably equipped and prepared for jungle warfare.
The ‘British Battalion’ fought as one till Malaya and Singapore fell to the Japanese on the 15th February 1942.
1942/03/14 - WO 417/40, Casualty List No. 771. Reported ‘Missing’.
1942/05/02 - WO 417/43, Correction to entry on Casualty List No. 771. Unit should read East Surrey Regiment, 2nd Battalion.
1943/07/31 - WO 417/64, Casualty List No 1201. Previously reported on Casualty List No 771 (Corrected by List No 835) as Missing. Now reported a ‘Prisoner of War’.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
PoW No. M-6773
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1942/11/04 - Transported overland with Letter Party ‘N’, train 11
Commander Lt-Col. L.C. Scott, 2/17 Dogra Regiment
Work Group 2
New PoW No. II 6405
Thailand Camps:-
1942/11/15 - Wang Lan, 68.59 Km from Nong Pladuk
1943/03/31 - Chungkai, 60 Km from Nong Pladuk
1943/10/25 - Rail lines from Burma and Thailand joined near Konkoita, Thailand
New PoW No. II 9594
Harbour Bangkok
1945/08/29 - Liberated Bangkok, Thailand
After Liberation
Liberation Questionnaire filled in by Edward
1945/09/18 - WO417/97_1, Casualty List No. 1861. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 1201 as reported Prisoner of War now Not Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya.
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Far East Medals
Post War
by Maureen Levy (Edward’s Daughter)
Edward was not liberated until the 29th August 1946. With another 3 months added as he was hospitalised. Later when returning, he was seven stone in weight.
He was met at Waterloo Station by his boisterous family. Even in his weakened state he was really only interested in his family, showing the strength of character- which he certainly had to survive nearly four years as a prisoner. I believe it was the thought of my mother and sister which helped him to endure. My sister who was then 6 years old had only previously seen him as a six month old baby when he returned from the beaches of Dunkirk and on the little boats in 1940. She hid behind our mother as she was frightened - something she never really got over - of this strange, skeletal man and they never really achieved an easy relationship. After a while, he went back to his job as an Inspector with the GPO which had been held open for him. He did not have a good war.
He rarely spoke of his years of captivity but he was never a well man with very poor sight and 100% war disability pension. He did not have a hair on his legs, which were full of scars, where he had gone into the river to scrub the poison out of the ulcers which he got in the jungles. Years later, in the late 1970s, when I got a job at the Croydon Advertiser, I met Arthur Stiby, who had also been a prisoner of the Japanese. He walked with a stick due to ulceration of his legs still being unhealed. Ted was back and forth to Roehampton Tropical Diseases Hospital several times a year for years. He only had an eighth of his stomach. I picked up some of his story in dribs and drabs over the years and also the research I and my grandson have done.
12 years after the war ended, the marriage failed and 13 years later, after he had a stroke, he came to live with me and my family, first in Thornton Heath and then in Coulsdon, as he could no longer live alone. Some of you may have tasted the cakes I bake and this is due to his teaching.
During this time, we were taking in foreign students and were offered Japanese students which I was going to refuse as I did not want to upset Dad. He heard, and I was astonished to hear him say ‘take them Maureen, it was the parents and not the children’s’ fault’. He was not a forgiving man and I was amazed at his forgiveness. He lived with us for nine years and then he went to Queen Alexandra Hospital Home for ex-servicemen in Worthing for the last three years of his life. He died aged 75 on Easter Sunday 1984 and is buried in the military section of Worthing Cemetery.
By Maureen (nee Joyce) Levy
Information
Maureen Levy - Daughter
Fall of Malaya and Singapore
British Battalion Roll
Thailand Burma Railway
KEW Files:- WO 392/24, WO 361/2069, WO 361/2167, WO 361/1955, WO 345/29, WO 361/2196, WO 361/2172,
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