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910575
Gunner
Bertram George Bardwell
1921/05/05 - Born Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Son of Bertram Charles and Ruth (nee Downs) Bardwell
Occupation Salesman
Next of Kin - Parents, B and R Bardwell, South Avenue, Thorpe St Andrews, Monmouthshire
Royal Artillery
118 Field Regiment
55 Infantry Brigade
18th Division
Service
The 118 Field Regiment were transported to Liverpool
1941/10/30 - Left Britain with Convoy CT.5 from Liverpool to Halifax
Final Destination Unknown
1941/11/08 - Arrived Halifax
1941/11/10 - Transferred to USS West Point with the 55th Infantry Brigade. Departed Halifax in Convoy William Sail 12X.
Convoy William Sail 12X continued with six American troopships, two cruisers, eight destroyers and the aircraft carrier Ranger, the Convoy William Sail 12X was under way, destination still unknown.
The convoy passed through the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and St Domingo.
1941/11/17 - Arrived at Trinidad in glorious sunshine so troops changed to tropical kit, but no shore-leave, left Trinidad after two days of taking on supplies.
1941/11/24 - The equator was crossed, there was a crossing the line ceremony.
After a month the convoy arrived at Cape Town, South Africa. By this time the Americans were in the war as the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbour and attacked Malaya and the rumours were that they were heading for the Far East and not the Middle East as first thought.
1941/12/08 - Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and Malaya
1941/12/13 - The convoy left Cape Town and sailed along the coast of East Africa past Madagascar and into the Indian Ocean heading for Bombay.
1941/12/27 - After 17,011 miles at sea Bombay was reached.
1942/01/18 - The convoy sailed with a British escort, the H.M.S. Exeter and H.M.S. Glasgow with British and Australian destroyers. Destination was the Far East. Passing Colombo, (Ceylon), crossing the equator for the third time, the convoy passed through the Sundra Straits between Java and Sumatra and then the Banka Straits. The convoy was then bombed by Japanese Planes, there was no damage.
1942/01/29 - The convoy reached the safety of Keppel Harbour, Singapore. Ships were ablaze in the harbour, clouds of smoke drifted across the sky and the smell of fumes was overpowering, this was not the best of greetings. The Japanese had taken most of Malaya in the last three weeks and were only thirty miles away from Singapore.
The day after the 118 Field Regiment arrived the causeway over the Strait of Jahore which linked Singapore to Malaya was destroyed. This did not delay the Japanese who landed at the North West of Singapore Island on the 8th February.
1942/02/15 - Singapore Surrendered
1942/03/30 - WO 417/40, Casualty List No. 784. Reported ‘Missing’.
1943/05/17 - WO 417/60, Casualty List No. 1136. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 784 as Missing, now reported Prisoner of War. (Previously shown with Rank as Lance Corporal).
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1942/10/18 - Transported overland to Thailand with Sime Road Party, train 2
14th train to Thailand
Work Group 4, ‘A’ Battalion
PoW No. 16889
Died at Kinsiayok Main Camp
New PoW No. 2456
1945/11/28 - WO417/99, Casualty List No. 1922. Previously reported on Casualty List No. 1136 as Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya. Reported ‘Died’.
Died
Age 21
1942/12/10
Buried Kinsiayok British Cemetery, Grave No. 006
Cause of death Catarrh of the Intestine
After the war Bertram’s body was moved to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
Loved Ones
Son of Bertram Charles and Ruth Bardwell, of Lowestoft, Suffolk
Memorial
8. G. 64.
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Post War
Bertram has a memorial plaque at Magdalen Way Cemetery, Gorleston which has been restored.
The memorial tablet was sadly a total mess but the Project Nova Past & Present Programme volunteers set about cleaning it and in March 2023 they returned to complete the job on 27th April, 2023.
A magnificent job well done, rest in peace Bertram.
Information
Martin Swanny Swann
Convoy William Sail 12X
Fall of Malaya and Singapore
Japanese Transports
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
KEW Files:- WO 345/3, WO 392/23, WO 361/2169, WO 361/2058, WO 361/2184, WO 361/1987, WO 361/1623, WO 361/2172, WO 361/241, WO 361/1624/1, WO 361/1979, WO 361/1954, WO 361/2235,
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