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Killed in Action
Cambridgeshire Regiment
2nd Battalion
History
Compiled by Ron Taylor
In Memory of David Langton
Into Captivity Singapore
15th February 1942 - 15th August 1945
By David Langton
When the shadows closed in on the city of Singapore, the survivors of the two battalions, united for the first time since that last camp of 1939, were cut off from the world for three and a half bitter years. The history of those years was written in the jungles of Siam, on the infamous Burma Railway, on the airfields of New Guinea, in the mines of Japan and in the packed holds of prison ships. It is a tale of disease, degradation, cruelty and death, and much of it is best forgotten * NB1.
But it also brought forth some things that should never be forgotten, cheerfulness, comradeship, unselfishness and bravery, and such are the qualities that a regiment may be proud to find in its members, whether in victory or in ruin. Though it was not for us to win laurels on the battlefields of the world, yet perhaps after all we won a victory of our own, for each man overcame selfishness and brought out the good that lay in him for the benefit of his comrades in misfortune. Wherever fate led them, Cambridgeshire men stuck together and the strong did their utmost for the sick and dying. They also learned a loyalty which was not limited to their own Regiment alone; many took it upon themselves to suffer that others might have better treatment, and of these the name of LT.Col. E.L.V. Mapey, O.B.E., T.D. will be remembered.
Until the end of 1943 a large number of survivors of the Regiment managed to keep together in two of the main working parties; one of these Cambridgeshire parties while working in Singapore contrived to build a wireless set and obtain regular news from the outside world. When moved to Siam they smuggled with them a large store of radio components out of which a certain officer of the Royal Corps of Signals, encountered in Chungkai , was able to construct five secret sets for distribution to various camps along the river. One of these sets was retained and worked by this Cambridgeshire party , No. 5 working party, from Chungkai to Takanun and assisted greatly in maintaining morale at a high level. On one occasion at Wan Tai Kien an officious guard discovered the existence of the instrument, but was fortunately in need of a wrist watch, so those responsible for working it escaped the usual fate of discovered radio operators and were able to preserve the set into the bargain.
When the Japanese commenced the sending of parties of prisoners overseas to Japan and Formosa the splitting up of the men of the Regiment began, and from 1943 onwards they were scattered all over the Pacific. Some of the prison ships were torpedoed on their way, and most of their human freight met death at the hands of our own people; in one such sinking one officer and 90 men of the 2nd Battalion alone were lost. Among those left in Siam there were soon casualties from Allied bombing attacks on the railway.
Throughout the captivity accurate records of all deaths and burials were constantly kept, although such things were of course forbidden. Whenever a party containing Cambridgeshire men left for some remote or unknown destination , the senior officer, N.C.O. or private made himself responsible for recording the fate of his party; if he died, the next senior took over the job, and so it went on. Lists of casualties were buried in tins, hidden inside bibles and sewn in shirts, and miraculously all these records survived, though many of the authors did not. In this way the fate of almost every man of the Regiment was known as soon as these documents came back to England at the end of the war.
There are many who deserve to be remembered for their work in those days of misery, but special mention should be made of the medical staffs of the two battalions, in particular Sgt. Easingwood for his work in the cholera epidemic at Takanun at a time when was himself a sick man. Nor shall we forget Noel Duckworth, the Padre of the 2nd Battalion, of whom it has been well said that he was a true servant of his Master.
Death Roll
Singapore PoWs
15th February 1942 - 15th August 1945
Please click on the  next to each date below to extend information
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Date
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Name
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Service/No
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1942/02/16
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White, Charles Samuel
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5831128
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1942/02/22
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Kingfisher, Cyril
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5824746
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1942/02/22
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Burbridge, James William
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5933569
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|
1942/03/05
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Stiff, Charles Kitchener
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5831241
|
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1942/03/10
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Worsley, Paul Reginald Carmichael
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164487
|
|
1942/03/16
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Vennell, Victor Henry
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5827690
|
|
1942/03/28
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Bruce, George James
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5833526
|
|
1942/04/01
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Welham, Jack
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5933625
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|
1942/05/11
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Wadlow, Jack Raymond
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5932302
|
|
1942/05/25
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Foster, Thomas
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5829955
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1942/06/01-1942/06/30
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Maloney, Edward
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6026975
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1942/08/08
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Bishop, William Edward Thomas
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6018965
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|
1942/10/15
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Mews, Sidney
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5933741
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|
1942/10/20
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Hobbs, Owen Charles
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5932988
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|
1942/11/13
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Sells, Ernest
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5931331
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1943/12/26
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Smith, Stanley
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5830623
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1944/08/25
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Dawson, Ronald Ash
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5933817
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1944/12/24
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Green, James William
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5831199
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