75765
Major
William John Elliott
DADMS
1912/01/11 - Born Dearne Valley
Son of Conningsby Wylde and Helen Dora Phillips
Occupation Doctor
Married Eileen Green, Castle Alfreton, Derbyshire
1938/06 Enlisted
Royal Army Medical Corps
18th Division HQ
1942/04/11 - WO417/2, Casualty List No.795. Reported ‘Missing’.
Service
1941/10/30 - Left Liverpool for Halifax in Convoy CT.5.
1941/11/08 - At Halifax transferred to American liners
1941/11/10 - Left Halifax with Convoy William Sail 12X, destination unknown, believed to be Middle East.
Above Photo of Convoy William Sail 12X supplied by the late Maurice Rooney
Vought SB 2U Vindicator Scout Bomber - USS Ranger which was flying an Anti Submarine patrol over the convoy.
Front Line Top to Bottom:-
USS West Point - USS Mount Vernon - USS Wakefield - USS Quincy (Heavy Cruiser)
Back Row Top To Bottom:-
USAT Leonard Wood - USS Vincennes (Heavy Cruiser) - USS Joseph T Dickman
(USS Orizaba Ap-24 also sailed with Convoy though not pictured in photo)
1941/12/08 - Japan entered war by bombing Pearl Harbour and invading Malaya
18th Division diverted from Middle East and sent to Singapore
1942/02/15 - Singapore surrendered to Japanese
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
PoW No. I 480
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1943/04 - Overland with ‘F’ Force to Thailand
PoW No. 827
1943/04 - Nike, Thailand
1943/08 - Tanbaya, Thailand
1943/11 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand
1943/12 - Back to Changi
1945/11/02 - Liberated 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
1945/09/26 - WO417/9, Casualty List No. 1868. Previously reported on Casualty List No. 1009 as 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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Awards
Recommended for M.I.D
1946/09/12 - https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37720/supplement/4575
Information
Liberation Questionnaire - COFEPOW
KEW Files:- WO 345/41, WO 361/1946, WO 392/25, WO 361/2044, WO 361/2044, WO 361/2063, WO 361/2180, WO 361/2201, WO 361/2070, WO 361/2229,
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