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2078632
Driver
Geoffrey Leonard Woodrow
1919/11/14 - Born Norwich
Son of Ivy Annie (nee Stageman) Woodrow
Occupation Printer
Next of Kin Mother, Mrs I.A. Woodrow, Ethel Road, Norwich
Royal Engineers
HQ 18th Division
Service
1939/05/12 - Enlisted
The Royal Engineers, who were part of the 18th Division, were transported to Liverpool and sailed from Great Britain on the 30th October 1941 with Convoy CT.5.
1941/11/08 - At Halifax the 287 Field Company personnel were transferred to American liners.
1941/11/10 - Left Halifax with Convoy William Sail 12X, destination unknown, believed to be Middle East.
Above Photo of Convoy William Sail 12X supplied by the late Maurice Rooney
Vought SB 2U Vindicator Scout Bomber - USS Ranger which was flying an Anti Submarine patrol over the convoy.
Front Line Top to Bottom:-
USS West Point - USS Mount Vernon - USS Wakefield - USS Quincy (Heavy Cruiser)
Back Row Top To Bottom:-
USAT Leonard Wood - USS Vincennes (Heavy Cruiser) - USS Joseph T Dickman
(USS Orizaba Ap-24 also sailed with Convoy though not pictured in photo)
1942/11/25 - Arrived Trinidad
1941/11/26 - Departed Trinidad
1941/12/09 - Arrived Cape Town, South Africa.
1941/12/08 - Japan had entered the war by bombing Pearl Harbour and invading Hond Kong and Malaya. The 18th Division were now diverted from the Middle East, to sail to Singapore.
1941/12/08 - Japanese troops land on the Malayan border with Thailand at Kota Bharu (Malaya), Singora and Patani (Thailand).
As the Japanese had taken the airfield at Kota Bharu, the Allied troops had very little air cover, and by the 31st of January 1942, Allied Troops were pushed back to Singapore. The causeway joining Singapore to Malaya was blown to stop the Japanese advance.
On the 9th February the Japanese attacked the North West coast of Singapore. General Percival had set his main defence, which included the troops from the 18th Division, on the North East coast line, and the Japanese quickly gained the advantage.
By the 15th February the Japanese were in danger of taking control of the water supply at the reservoirs, which would endanger the Singapore City water supply. General Percival had no alternative but to surrender.
1942/02/15 - Singapore surrendered to the Japanese
1942/04/08 - WO 417/41, Casualty List No. 792. Reported ‘Missing’.
1943/06/17 - WO 417/62, Casualty List No. 1163. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 792 as Missing, 15/02/1942. Now reported a ‘Prisoner of War’.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
Changi Camp
Camp Leader Colonel E.B. Holmes
PoW No. i-6716
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1943/05/09 - Transported overland to Thailand with ‘H’ Force, train 4.
Commander Lt-Col. Humphries, 77 H.A.A. Regiment, RA
1943 - Geoffrey was on the Kannyu ‘H’ Force Roll in Thailand
Working at Tampii South and probably Hellfire Pass.
He was evacuated to Chungkai Hospital September 1943 then to ‘F’ and ‘H’ Forces Hospital at Kanchanaburi.
1943/10/25 - The Thailand and Burma rail lines were joined near Konkoita, Thailand
1944, May - Transported back to Changi, Singapore where he suffered from recurring Malaria.
New PoW No. 11613
1945 - Geoffrey worked on the Funk Holes of Singapore with work party X10. These tunnels are believed to have two uses, the defence of Singapore and also, following the orders from Tokyo, if the Allies landed in Singapore the PoWs should be disposed of in the tunnels - Killed.
1945/09/05 - On Changi Roll
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 as filled in by Geoffrey after being liberated
1945/11/27 - WO417/99, Casualty List No. 1917. Previously reported on Casualty List No. 1163 as Prisoner of War now Not Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya.
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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
1949 - Geoffrey married Janette Cairns Munro, in Norwich
Geoffrey passed away in Norwich aged 35, on the 5th June 1955
Information
Stephen Woodrow - Nephew
Andrew Snow - Thailand Burma Railway Centre
Convoy William Sail 12X
Fall of Malaya and Singapore
Japanese Transports
Thailand Burma Railway
Funk Holes of Singapore
KEW Files:- WO 345/57, WO 361/1948, WO 361/2191, WO 392/26, WO 361/2229, WO 361/2233, WO 367/3, WO 361/2065, WO 361/2070, WO 361/2233,
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