Britner-Raymond

To honour those who served their country

“In this their finest hour”

1351981

Aircraftman

Raymond Britner

Known as Ray

1922/10/08 - Born Manchester

Son of William James and Amelia Britner, Ancoats, Manchester

Royal Air Force

242 Squadron

Service

The 242 Squadron flew from British bases in operations over France in May 1940 and moved to Chateadun Airfield in France in June, helping in the evacuation of St. Nazaire and Nantes.

After moving back to Coltishall in Norfolk the squadron took part in the Battle of Britain from June to October 1940.

Moving to North Wales in December 1940 the squadron flew escort for bombers over France until September 1941. In December 1941 the squadron was prepared for a move to the Far East.

The 242 planes were joined into the 126 squadron in Malta but the ground crew carried onto Singapore, arriving in January 1942. They merged with 232 and 605 squadrons to service Hurricanes. Before the Japanese attacked Singapore they were withdrawn to Sumatra and later Java. Heavy losses occurred in March and the squadron was dispersed.

1942/03/08 - Java surrendered to the Japanese

26th March 1943 - Manchester Evening News

Japanese PoW

1942/03/08 - Captured Tasikmalaya

PoW No. J-1847

Japanese Index Card - Side One

Japanese Index Card - Side Two

1942, May - Transported to Surabaya

1943, April - Before leaving Sarabaya Camp the PoW were examined, well they walked past the doctor in single file, that was the examination, everyone was passed fit.

1943/04/17 - The morning of the transport Squadron Leader Pitts was without warning badly beaten in front of the assembled PoWs. it went on for about 15 minutes the assailant was Sergeant Mori who was trying to impress the 2,060 British and Dutch awaiting transport.

The holds of the two ships Cho Saki Maru (1,030 PoWs) and Amagi Maru (1,030 PoWs) were very cramped with just enough room for the PoWs to lie down, head to toe with those next to them. The latrines were two buckets with holes in them suspended over the side of the ships. The ships remained in Sarabaya harbour for days and dysentery broke out due to cramped and unhygienic conditions on board. Eventually the ships got under way in convoy.

1943/05/05 - The ships arrived at Haruku in the Spice Islands. No deaths on voyage but many with illness.

The huts were of bamboo and made by the Haruku natives but many did not have any atap roof and the PoWs were faced with heavy rain on arrival. Some latrine pits had been dug for the native workmen’s use, but with the heavy rain they were overflowing. The camp was situated on a slop and the huts were lower than the latrines so their contents flowed into the camp and the huts.

Walking in this mess caused infection to spread quickly and dysentery spread, as there were no bunks in the huts the PoWs had to sleep on the floor and it developed into an dysentery epidemic.

The Japanese decided the illness was caused by flies and gave orders that each PoW had to catch 100 flies per day.

Dysentery was not the only illness the men suffered, the symptoms of another illness was a burning sensation in the feet. This was caused by a lack of vitamin B. The men called it ‘Happy Feet’ and most of the camp suffered from it. At night there were many walking up and down the huts as this was the only way to relieve the burning pain in their feet.

May and June was a nightmare for the doctors with little medicine to cope with the epidemic, it reached it’s peak in July with 350 deaths mainly from Bacterial Dysentery.

The work was strenuous as it involved hard labour flattening the top of a vilcano and building a runway. Food was important to keep the PoWs fit, but food on Haruku was a big problem as the rations supplied by the Japanese were insufficient. It was found that the Japanese were selling the rice supplied for the PoWs to the local natives so the PoWs only received 400-600 grams rice a day, green vegetables 10-30 grams daily and meat 30 grams weekly. The polished white rice had very few vitamins and without meat would lead to vitamin deficiency disease. The meat supplied was water buffalo and sometimes a dog, so the PoW sought to supplement their diet, after a few months the leaves off bushes and plants had disappeared but the grass kept growing and was added to the rice by the PoWs, but was of very little nutritive help.

The working PoWs received 15 cents a day and was spent in the Camp shop to but vegetables, the shop was run by Japanese guard Moyo who was also in charge of the work parties, so the money was given by one hand and taken back with the other.

To the PoWs it was obvious the Japanese were puling back towards Java as the ships at the harbour became less and less, it was now their turn to move out.

1944/08 - The PoWs were split into two groups, one group of 500 boarded the Maros Maru, an old steamship, and the other 150 were in the 150 group onboard the the Kaiysu Maru.

The Kaiysu Maru was sunk on-route by a Liberator with 138 survivors. The Maros Maru stopped at Raha and picked them up on an already crowded ship.

Conditions onboard the Maros Maru were very bad as the PoWs were kept on deck and it was stormy weather. Illness soon broke out on a starvation diet. After 14 days the PoWs were dying in large numbers, about 15 a day.

The engine was giving plenty of trouble and slowed the voyage down to Makasar in the Celebes. After reaching Makasar the PoWs were kept on the ship while the repairs were carried out, this took days and the PoWs wre still dying.

Repairs completed the ship got underway to Java but 370 PoWs died during the 60 day voyage from Ambon to Java.

1945/10/27 - Liberated Batavia, Java

Liberation Questionnaire written by Raymond