Warrington Police officer captured by Japanese

Although the second world war in Europe ended on 8^th May 1945 it was to be over 3 months later before the Japanese surrender on 15^th August 1945.  

In December 1941 the Japanese had invaded the Malay peninsula and took Singapore in February 1942 and after a swift offensive, the British surrendered on 15^th February marking the largest military surrender in British history. Over the next three and a half years thousands of British and Commonwealth troops fought it out with the Japanese in the jungles of Burma and elsewhere in the far east and many were captured by the enemy to be held in brutal conditions until repatriation, thousands died in captivity from malnutrition and tropical diseases as well as those who were worked to death.

Captured by the Japanese

One captive William Edward Bailey later joined the Warrington Borough Police. He was born in December 1923 at Walsall in the West Midlands and on 12^th September 1939 aged just 15 ½ joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Seaman. He trained as a telegraphist at HMS Ganges then the boys’ shore training establishment at Shotley near Ipswich. On completion of his training, he was drafted to the Cruiser HMS Exeter on 10^th March 1941. The Exeter will be remembered for its part in the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939 which ended with the scuttling of the German Pocket Battleship Graf Spee off Montevideo. Exeter had been severely damaged during the action with Graf Spee and lost sixty one crew killed and twenty three wounded. The ship returned to the UK for repairs after which she joined the Home fleet for a spell before sailing to join the Eastern fleet with Bill aboard.

Ship sunk by a torpedo

On 27/28^th February 1942 sailing as part of a combined striking force comprising American, British, Dutch and Australian warships which were intending to challenge a Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, Exeter was hit in the boiler room during an engagement with the enemy in the Java Sea east of Java and her speed was greatly reduced. Exeter attempted to escape to Colombo and the following day 1^st March she fought a 90-minute battle with four enemy cruisers and three destroyers but was sunk by a torpedo, sixty-two of the crew lost their lives, the rest of the crew approximately 600 men survived and were picked up by a Japanese Destroyer.

Cruel and inhuman treatment

The survivors were taken to Macassar the capital of the Celebes, a tropical island now called Sulawesi and then had to walk some miles to the camp over a hot road surface, many of the survivors had abandoned ship without footwear so suffered severe blisters. When they arrived at the camp there was nothing there and they had to sleep on the concrete floor for over a month before they were given bed boards but no bedding. For the next three and a half years conditions were extremely harsh with little food, working long days at manual labour building roads, working in a rock quarry and later some working in a nickel mine, they were brutally treated by the sadistic guards who subjected their prisoners to constant beatings using canes, baseball bats and even a thick metal crowbar wielded by one notorious guard. Virtually every prisoner became sick and all men who could stand and some that could not were forced out of the camp to join the work parties

There were also other Royal Navy survivors from other ships together with American and Dutch prisoners in the camp. Over one hundred and fifty crew members of HMS Exeter died whilst in captivity and for those who did survive the physical and mental scars stayed with them for the rest of their lives. Bill would never speak about his period as a POW even to his family and if the subject was brought up, he would comment ‘that box is closed’ so his personal experiences are unknown.

Liberation and repatriation

Following the Japanese surrender the camp was liberated by the Australian navy and whilst awaiting repatriation Bill wrote a letter to his mother which he handed to an American serviceman to post, the American  was being flown out but sadly the aircraft carrying him crashed and he was killed but the letter was retrieved from the wreckage and after several weeks was eventually  delivered to his mother’s address.

The Exeter survivors were repatriated on 12^th September 1945 to Australia aboard HMS Maidstone and landed at Perth. During their stay in Perth men were fitted out with new clothes and those with ailments were treated at a local hospital. They remained in Australia recuperating for 6 weeks and then sailed to the UK aboard HMS Maidstone. On return Bill was posted to HMS Blackcap a shore base at Appleton, Warrington and it was whilst stationed there that he met his future wife Janet. He remained in the Royal Navy serving at sea and spending a period stationed in South Africa accompanied by his family.

Service as a police officer

He was discharged from the Navy in January 1954 and immediately joined the Warrington Borough Police as PC 90. He served in uniform and was promoted to Sergeant collar No 15 in 1964. He became a member of the Cheshire Constabulary on 1^st April 1974 and was promoted to Inspector in September 1974 and initially posted to Ellesmere Port but returned to Warrington in January 1975 and retired from the force on 13^th January 1980. Sadly, Bill died on 1^st February 2003 aged 79 years.

 

Article compiled by Will Brown, Museum Researcher who is indebted to Bill’s son Mike Bailey for help in providing background information and photographs.

Note: The accounts of conditions in the camp have been taken from the book titled ‘No Surrender’ by W E Johns & R A Kelly first published in 1969 which reveals the full reality of life at the POW camp at Macassar.