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VX35154
Private
Gordon Basil Cowling
Known as Mouse
1921/12/09 - Born Victoria, Australia
Son of Basil Cecil and Ellen, called Helen (nee Hastie) Cowling
Father Basil was a farmer.
Brother to Jack, who enlisted into the Air Force, and Ron (Born 1928) who enlisted into the Navy in 1946 with his father’s permission.
When Gordon enlisted, they lived at Diggers Rest, Victoria, Australia
1940/11/29 - Enlisted (as he was under age, he lied about his age)
2/29th Battalion
HQ 27th Brigade, 8th Division,
Australian Imperial Forces
Boys from the Bush
by Dianne Cowling (Daughter)
Gordon was known to his fellow brothers in arms as ‘Mouse’, not because he liked cheese, but he was a scrounger.
A country boy whose father had fought in WWI, and left the impression that going off to war was an adventure. So, like many others, when WWII broke out, he was eager to embark on his own adventure, lied about his age, and be accepted into the Army.
The boys from the bush volunteered in droves, keen to prove their mettle and fight for the freedoms we enjoy today.
The training was hard, but soon they were off by ship to sail across the waters to the Middle East to fight the enemy on the other side of the world, only to find once out in the ocean, they were to change direction and head to Singapore Island to fight the new enemy, the Japanese.
The ship carrying the 2/29th, part of the 8th Division, arrived in Singapore in August 1941, where, due to the foresight of Major Colonel Bennet, they were put to work immediately, training hard in the jungles of Malaysia.
On December 8, 1941, under the command of General Yamashita, the entire Japanese Southern Army landed in northern Malaysia, marking the beginning of the War with Japan. Intel was poor; the true strength of the enemy, the allies were soon to face, was unknown.
Japanese Landings at Singora and Patini, Thailand and Kota Bharu, Malaya.
The 2/29th were selected to quell ‘a small skirmish’ in Muar Province. The troops were told they would meet about 200 short, ape-like men on bicycles, wearing thick glasses, poorly trained and sharing one old rifle between two; so only 600 of the 2/29th were sent to rout the enemy.
On 18th January ’42, at the Battle of Bakri, not only saw their beloved Commander in Chief, Col. Robertson, killed, but they faced fifteen thousand of the battle-hardened Emperor’s Elite Guard, six feet tall, well equipped, and accompanied by two tank divisions. Again, because of Bennet’s foresight, our boys were supported by 2/4th Anti-tank guns that destroyed both tank divisions, and together were the first allies to stop the Japanese advance. A temporary reprieve but their heroic effort was noted by General Yamashita, who later commented, ‘he had never met fighting men like them’. Yamashita had a commemorative board erected on site, which is still there today.
The ‘Trial by Fire saw heroic fighting trying to win insurmountable odds surrounded by thousands of enemy, advancing through the jungle trails, cutting them off from reinforcements of Col Anderson’s 2/19th.
The position eventually so untenable that Col Anderson finally ordered ‘it’s everyman for themselves’.
The untold story of heroism amongst the 2/29th saw so many perish, but many were taken captive and sent to Padu Prison in Kuala Lumpur, many did make it back to Singapore, but a small group even made it all the way back to Australia, unaware of the surrender on the 15th February ’42 and so initially they were arrested for disobeying orders and thrown in the brig. One such 2/29th hero was a neighbour of ours, Harry Grey.
Headlines back home read ‘The Lost Battalion’ of 2/29th.
One term of the surrender was that the Allied Armies would remain intact, taking orders from their own officers. Hence, the survivors of the AIF were marched to Selerang Barracks in Changi Provence, the previous home of 800 Gordon Highlanders, now home to 15,000 AIF. If the men thought the conditions were bad, they were soon to get a lot worse.
The Japanese plan to build a railroad from Thailand to Burma necessitated workers, resulting in forced labour by the POWs. With promises of better conditions ‘more like a recreational camps’ men were sent to slave ‘On the Line’.
Dad went up with 'H' Force in June ’43, as he was too ill to go with F Force, which had left in April. The unimaginable horror of that time saw many die; those who survived returned to Changi Provence as mere skeletons of their former selves.
The residue of AIF was finally transferred to Changi gaol, in Changi Provence, in 1944.
Near the end of the war, my father was in Kranji gaol, established next to the hospital, once they were deemed ‘well enough’, a subjective description given their true condition.
Dad was in Kranji gaol on Liberation Day, 80 years ago on 15th August 1945, when the men woke to find that their Japanese prison guards had all disappeared.
They finally walked free, and some, including my father, made the day’s journey on foot down to Singapore City, where they ‘lived it up’ until their ships arrived to take them ‘home’.
Misunderstood by the Army back home, the men were left to enter civilian life totally unprepared for the battle ahead.
Still suffering with bouts of Malaria, tropical ulcers, and the unknown, then, post-traumatic stress disorder, my father struggled to adapt.
It was their strong ‘mate-ship’ that saw the AIF survive the 1267 days as POWs, and it was this continued strong ‘mate-ship’ that saw my father through the years as his health deteriorated and he continued to struggle with the nightmares.
As a family, I don’t know how we would have survived without the support of his POW mates, the exPOWs of Victoria, Legacy, the Carry on Club, and the RSL.
I never saw my Dad as a hero, but his ‘pommy mate’ in England, Joe Higgins, spoke humbly of my father as one and said ‘without Mouse I would not have made it home’, still treasuring the quoit my father gave him when they parted in 1945.
In our ignorance, we never saw Dad as a hero. I have since learned that they were all heroes, including my father, with his feet of clay.
Riddled with cancer, he lost the final battle in April 1991. He was just 69. He did NOT go peacefully in the night – he fought the cancer with the same determination as his time in captivity.
I dedicate this to all the men from the bush who enlisted and fought to make a difference.
LEST WE FORGET
1942/02/15 - Surrender of Singapore by Leo Rawlings
1942/08/27 - Reported ‘Missing’
1943/08/28 - Reported a ‘Japanese Prisoner of War’
Japanese PoW
PoW No. I 10250
Gordon was in hospital with Dengi fever when the majority of his mates were transported with ‘F’ Force to Thailand
1943/05/08 - Out of hospital, Gordon was transported overland to Thailand with ‘H’ Force, train 3
Commander Lt-Col. R.R. Humphries, 77 H.A.A., RA
New PoW No. 13619
On ‘H’ Force roll at Kannyu Camp, Thailand
1943/05/08 - Sent to Malay Hamlet camp at Hellfire Pass
1943/10/25 - The rail tracks from Thailand and Burma joined near Konkoita, Thailand
Transported back to Singapore
1945/09/05 - On Changi Roll
1945/09/20 - Reported alive at Kranji Camp, Singapore
Repatriation
1945/09/22 - Sailed in the Esperance Bay from Singapore
With 960 PoWs to Australia
1945/10/08 - Arrived Sydney, Australia
Australian Service Notes
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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
Post War
1946/07/21 - Gordon married Roma Elizabeth Caudwell at Holy Trinity High Church of England
(Roma was born 1927/04/17, died 2020/10/06)
They were blessed with C Dianne Cowling (born 1947/06/22)
B Wayne Bental Cowling (born 1949/05/25, died 1994/06/06)
Judith Ann Cowling (now married) (born 1955/01/15)
G Mark Bental Cowling ( born 1958/01/15, died 2024/07/31)
Gordon passed away aged 69 on the 3rd April 1991
Buried Cheltenham Memorial Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Information
Andrew Snow - Thailand Burma Railway Centre
Fall of Malaya and Singapore
Japanese Transports
Thailand Burma Railway
Repatriation Transport List
KEW Files:- WO 361/1951, WO 361/2233, WO 361/2229,
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