Britten-Victor-Verdun

To honour those who served their country

“In this their finest hour”

990297

Gunner

Victor Verdun Britten

1916/02/28 - Born Barking, Essex

Son of Albert and Betsy Britten

Occupation Clark

1941 - Married Reenie Kelly at Ilford, Essex

1940/07/08 - Enlisted

Next of Kin- Wife: 26 Coverdale Road, Barking, Essex

Royal Artillery

118 Field Regiment

18th Division

55th Infantry Brigade

Service

The 118 Field Regiment were assigned to the 55th Infantry Brigade, 18th Infantry Division.

1941/10/30 - The 118 Field Regiment 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 and 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.

(Above Photo supplied by the late Maurice Rooney)

Vought SB 2U Vindicator Scout Bomber - USS Ranger which was flying an Anti Submarine patrol over the convoy.

Ships Front Line Top to Bottom

USS West Point - USS Mount Vernon - USS Wakefield - USS Quincy (Heavy Cruiser)

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 1941/12/08 - 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.

1941/12/13 - 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.

1942/02/15 - Singapore Surrendered

1942/03/30 - WO 417/40, Casualty List No. 784. Reported ‘Missing’.

1943/05/13 - WO 417/60, Casualty List No. 1133. Previously posted Missing, 15/02/1942, Casualty List No. 784. Now reported a ‘Prisoner of War’.

Japanese PoW

1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore

1942/02/17 - Changi Camp

PoW No. I 1601

Japanese Index Card - Side One

Japanese Index Card - Side Two

1942/03/ - Tower Road Camp

1942/06/ - Roberts Hospital, Changi

1942/10/ - Changi Camp

1945/03/ - Kranji Working Camp

New PoW No. 2323

Worked on Singapore Funk Tunnel, Changi X2

By 1944 the Japanese authorities once again looked to improve the defenses of Singapore in anticipation of the Allied invasion.

Plans were also drawn up for the construction of a series of fortifications in the hinterland of the island. The Japanese plan was in line with the defence of the home islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, where the enemy forces would be given relatively easy access to the beaches but would have to fight tooth and nail for the heart of the island through a string of pillboxes, gun emplacements and fieldworks.

The POWs in Changi were assigned to work parties starting in the spring of 1945 and, in the coming months, groups designated as the ‘X Parties’ made their way to various camps around the island to work on the Funk Holes.

The Funk Holes had a more sinister use, the disposal of the PoWs if Allied forces landed on Singapore soil.

1945/11/02 - Liberated

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

1945/12/08 - WO417/100, Casualty List No. 1931. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 1133 as reported Prisoner of War now Not Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya.