LOOKING FOR RAF POW JAVA

Hi guys is there anyone here that could help to find my uncle x RAF dont know sqn he was taken prisoner in java we think would love to find anything out about him he survived and then was killed two weeks later on a motor cycle accident when he got home so tragic really

his name was BELLAMY. Reginald Henry - 652017 - Unit unknown - Held Java, Moluccas (Ambon), Java. DEVON exeter

any help will be fantastic

si

 

Hello,

My guess is that your uncle was one of the hapless British/RAF POWs captured on Java later taken along with Dutch prisoners by the Japanese to the Moluccas/Ambon/Haruku in April 1943 aboard the Amagi Maru. This was bad enough, but the return trip in late 1944 from Ambon to Surabaja, Java on a true hellship was even more nightmarish. The trip should not have taken more than two weeks at most, but instead lasted 67 days. Some figures show that of the 650 POWs returning from the Moluccas, as many as 307 died & were buried at sea.

Many of these POWs were held initially on Java in the huge Jaarmarkt POW camp at Surabaja. A number had surrendered in the Tjilatjap area in March 1942, I believe. Some were then sent to repair airfields & facilities near Jogjakarta which they had previously sabotaged to deny them to the Japanese!

HTH

 

Hello,

Here is an excellent link to a website with much information on the Allied POWs sent to the Moluccas.

COFEPOW - South East Asia Under Japanese Occupation - Death in the Spice Islands

I hope this helps!