Ferguson-Robert-Alfred

To honour those who served their country

“In this their finest hour”

1623465

Gunner

Robert Alfred Ferguson

1910/07/10 - Born Bootle

Son of Robert Paterson and Elizabeth Ferguson

Occupation Civil Servant

1938 - Married Elizabeth Parry in Bootle, Lancashire

Next of Kin Wife, Mrs E. Ferguson, 77 Hurlingham Road, Liverpool

Royal Artillery

240 Bty. 77 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment

Service

The 77 H.A.A. Regiment was a Welsh TA Regiment, comprising of four Batteries, 239, 240, 241 and 242.

June, 1941 - The 77 H.A.A. were now down to three Batteries 239, 240 and 241.

The Territorial Chester area 21st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment together with the 48th L.A.A Regiment, 77 H.A.A. and 18 L.A.A. Regiments of the Royal Artillery left the Clyde for the Middle East in Convoy William Sail 14

1941/12/08 - Japan attacked Malaya entering the war against Britain.

1942/01/13 - By the time WS 14 had reached Durban, South Africa their destination had changed to the Singapore and they sailed in Convoy DM-2 (Durban Malaya -2).

1942/01/19 - Off Mombasa at 01.05 N, 91.28 E they merged with Convoy Bm-12 (Bombay Malaya -12) and were re-routed to Batavia, Java with their supplies.

1942/02/03 - Arrived Batavia in Empress of Australia.

The 48 L.A.A Regiment was formed in 1940 and comprised of 49, 95 and 242 Batteries.

48 LAA Regiment, Royal Artillery, on arrival in Batavia, deployed the 49 Battery around Kalidjati airfield, North of Bandoeng. The 95 Battery were deployed at Andir airfield, Bandoeng and HQ together with 242 Battery were in Batavia.

The 77 H.A.A Regiment less 239 Battery, were transported by train to Surabaya setting up their guns to defend Eastern Java against enemy aircraft. The 239 battery stayed in defence of Batavia.

1942/02/06 - At 0300 hrs a troop train carrying part of 77 HAA Regiment crashed into an ammunition train on a single track bridge just outside Surabaya, 30 were killed and 100 were injured.

1942/02/28 - A strong Japanese force landed on the North Coast of Java at Eretenwetan. Using tanks they soon reached Kalidjati airfield, destroying the 49th Battery of the 48 L.A.A. Regiment.

1942/03/04 - By this time the Dutch forces in Java were being severely hit by the Japanese advance. The 239 Battery, 77 H.A.A and the 242 Battery, 48 L.A.A were ordered to move and defend the Bandoeng area.

1942/03/08 - Java surrendered to the Japanese.

1943/03/16 - WO 417/58, Casualty List No. 1084. Reported ‘Missing’.

1943/05/12 - WO 417/60, Casualty List No. 1132. Previously reported Missing, 01/02/1943, Casualty List No. 1084. ‘Missing believed Prisoner of War’.

1943/07/10 - WO 417/63, Casualty List No.1183. Previously shown on Casualty List No.1132 as Missing believed Prisoner of War, 01/02/1943. Now reported a Prisoner of War

Japanese PoW

1942/03/08 - Captured Java

Japanese Index Card - Side One

Japanese Index Card - Side Two

Before leaving Surabaya Camp the PoWs 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 Surabaya 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 buy vegetables, the shop was run by Japanese Sergeant Moyo who was also in charge of the work parties, so the money was given by one hand and taken back with the other.

The PoWs health was slowly deteriorating.

In November 1943, the Japanese decided to ship the sick back to Java. A total of 640 men, including a number of Japanese sick patients, were taken on board the 4,645-ton passenger-cargo ship Suez Maru. In two holds, 422 sick British (including 221 RAF servicemen) and 127 sick Dutch prisoners, including up to twenty stretcher cases, were accommodated. The Japanese patients filled the other two holds.

Escorted by a minesweeper W-12, the Suez Maru set sail from Port Amboina but while entering the Java Sea and about 327 km east of Surabaya, Java, Netherlands East Indies, the vessel was torpedoed by the American submarine USS Bonefish commanded by Cdr. Tom Hogan. The ship started to list as water poured into the holds drowning hundreds, many managed to escape the holds and swam away from the sinking ship. The Japanese mine sweeper W-12 picked up the Japanese survivors, leaving between 200 and 250 men in the sea. At 14.50, the minesweeper, W-12, under orders from Captain Kawano, opened fire, using a machine gun and rifles. Rafts and lifeboats were then rammed and sunk by the W-12. The firing did not cease till all the prisoners were killed, the minesweeper then picked up speed and sped off towards Batavia (Jakarta) at 16.30 hours.

Sixty-nine Japanese had died during the attack, 93 Japanese soldiers and 205 Japanese sick patients were rescued by the Japanese. Of the 547 British and Dutch prisoners, there is reported to be one survivor, a British soldier, Kenneth Thomas, who was picked up twenty-four hours later by the Australian minesweeper HMAS Ballarat, this has not been confirmed.

Missing presume died in the sinking of the Suez Maru.

Died

Age 33

29th November 1943

In the sinking of the Suez Maru

Loved Ones

Son of Robert Paterson Ferguson and Elizabeth Ferguson

Husband of Elizabeth Ferguson, of Appley Bridge, Lancashire.

Memorial