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622722
Aircaraftman 1st Class
Norman James Brackenbury
1920/01/16 - Born Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Son of Bertie George and Ellen Amelia (nee Butt) Brackenbury
Brother to Victor Charles, Ronald William, Bertie Owen, Ellie Hannah, Robert Walter, Alan Harold and Stanley Terence
Occupation Decorator
Next of Kin father, Bertie George Brackenbury, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Royal Air Force
151 Maintenance Unit
Seletar, Singapore
Japanese PoW
1942/03/08 - Captured Tasikmalaja, Java
PoW No. J-16889
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1944/06/27 - Transported from Java to Singapore with Java Party 22.
1944/07/01 - Arrived Singapore.
1944/07/07 - Departed Singapore for Pakanbaru, Sumatra.
New PoW No. 2205
About 5,000 Allied military personnel, mainly Dutch and English, but including a little over 200 Australians and 15 Americans, were held as prisoners of war by the Japanese. They were engaged in the building of a narrow-gauge railway across the central portion of the island of Sumatra, in what is now known as Indonesia.
The northern terminal of the railway was the city of Pekanbaru (new spelling), therefore the project became known as the Pekanbaroe Rail Line.
The plan was to create a 138-mile connection between the town of Pekanbaru and an existing rail line which ran to the city of Padang on the Indian Ocean. Pekanbaru is located in the center of Sumatra. It was a small seaport, connected via the Siak River to the Strait of Malacca. Much of the surrounding terrain was swamp, with numerous interlaced waterways, creeks and bayous. It was a terrible area on which to build railbeds, bridges and to lay tracks.
Fifteen miles or so south of the town the ground was more stable, but the mangroves were replaced by a huge, dense, towering jungle, complete with wild tigers and elephants. Compounding the prisoners' problems was the extreme equatorial heat and the rains of the spring monsoon.
From May to September 1944 the Japanese threw into this inhospitable corner of the earth somewhat over 5,000 Allied prisoners who they had captured on Java two and a half years earlier.
The PoWs were overworked, underfed, provided with little medicine, and subjected to constant physical and mental abuse by their Japanese overseers.
A hospital for malaria, dysentery, pellagra, and beri-beri patients existed in name only. It was simply a dilapidated bamboo-framed, thatched roof barracks where the sick were placed to await their eventual death. Once in a while, a man recovered his health and returned to the daily camp routine.
All clergy had been left behind on Java when they sailed via Singapore to Sumatra, therefore the committal service for anyone was brief. The Lord's Prayer. The 23rd Psalm, read from a borrowed Bible.
1945/08/15 - Norman was on the roll working on the Sumatra Railway.
1945/10/15 - Liberation date as given on Index Card.
After liberation the surviving PoWs were transported back to Singapore.
Died
Age 25
11th November 1945
Cause of death Beri Beri
Place of death a Singapore Hospital
Loved Ones
Son of Bertie George and Ellen Amelia Brackenbury, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Memorial
15. B. 1.
Kranji War Cemetery
Singapore
IN HEART A SILENT SORROW,
IN MIND A CONSTANT THOUGHT.
LOVING MUM AND DAD
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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
Information
Norman Balls - Nephew
Sumatra Railway
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
KEW Files:- WO 392/23, WO 361/2006, WO 361/2002, WO 345/6, WO 361/1946, WO 361/2222, WO 361/1994, WO 361/2013,
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