Arthurs Josep A 7599473 Pte

Captured in the Banka Strait 15.2.1942

Was onboard the ship pulo soegi .

Ø  ARTHURS – Private Joseph Albert Arthurs, # 7599473, RAOC born 1920 and captured 15.2.42 was a POW in Palembang and then in the ‘Japan Party 1942’ (Palembang POW list). He is quoted (‘Singapore’s Dunkirk’, Geoffrey Brooke, pp 172-173) as having told a Sergeant – Major Hosking, that he was on the ‘Paula Soegi’  and after a bombing attack on 14 February  when the vessel “ … came in for one bomb which failed to explode …’ the vessel was in the Banka Strait on the evening of 15 February when “ … a terrific explosion took place underneath him and he was partly lifted and thrown by the blast onto the hatchway beneath and fell on the lads who had been sleeping there, but had now jumped up, wondering what was happening. Another salvo hit the ship forward and Arthurs rolled off the hatchway and managed to get between the hatchway top and the engine room plating and in this position was sheltered on two sides…. [ the order to abandon ship was given] … Arthurs saw another set of flashes, so stayed under cover, and this salvo whistled over the ship and fell ‘plus’. He managed to find a steel helmet nearby and put this on and waited for some time, it seemed like hours to him, and lay watching the gun flashes every few seconds , and the shells would either hit the ship or go overhead and explode in the water, Arthurs felt a bit ‘shaky’ but felt safer in his position on the ship than being in the sea, although he was surrounded by men moaning and groaning, and to hear the screams of some of the wounded was a ghastly experience. There was a short pause in the shooting, so thinking the shelling had finished, Arthurs decided to go over the side. Just as he stood up another salvo hit the ship , and he seemed to be in the midst of hot wires and sparks flying all around him, and suddenly his left ankle felt as if someone had stuck a lot of red hot needles into it, then his right leg similarly, then something hit the side of the engine room plating, then his steel helmet. Arthurs dropped to the deck quickly and as he went to put his helmet back into position on his head he burnt four fingers. Examining his steel helmet later he found a shell splinter about four inches long had stuck into the helmet and had penetrated about half an inch. After this experience Arthurs waited again to ensure the firing had ceased – the pain in his legs making him feel sick. He heard someone call out to see there was anybody all right on the ship and Arthurs stood up and called back. By this time the ship was blazing furiously and small arms and Bofors ammunition started to explode through the heat. The man who had shouted came up and asked Arthurs if he could help with some of the wounded. They went up on deck, but one lifeboat was away and the other had a shell hole in it. They then went down below and found a stock of lifebelts, which they put on the wounded and through the latter over the side. This was a very unpleasant job as most of Arthurs’ friends were badly wounded by shrapnel and blast. And he found his own injuries were very slight compared to theirs. The ship was Listing badly by this time: they decided to leave before it was too late and going up on deck, staggering around the Bofors gun; in the light of the fire, Arthurs recognised him as Private Jack Fleming from Anson Road workshop, who explained that he was going to sit on a bench in the dark, pointing out over the water. Arthurs realised he was mentally affected by the blast etc and the three of them went over the side together, making their way to a raft about a hundred yards away. This was a Carley float designed for eight men and there were thirty hanging on to it, those outside holding the shoulders of those holding on to the raft. The sea was very rough and beating onto their faces with some force. Two men could be heard shouting for help in the distance and Major Marsh asked for any strong swimmers to volunteer to go to their assistance. Arthurs and another man eventually set off, guided by the shouts and found Privates Jock Kinney and Reggie Ballard, the latter being dangerously close to the blazing ship which was about to founder; Arthurs was conscious of the danger of the suction taking him down with the ship. They returned to the raft successfully. Land appeared to be only about five miles away and Major Marsh suggested that good swimmers should leave the raft to the weaker and non-swimmers; at which several man including Marsh set off independently, all wearing life jackets. [ Major Marsh in his account of the sinking makes the terrible observation that around this time there were terrible screams from men in the water and recorded “…I am afraid they were caused by sharks …”] …”. Private Arthurs account continues to tell us that during the next morning as he swam alone a Japanese cruiser circled him twice with the crew laughing but they did not pick him up. He considered trying to end his life by strangling himself with the cord on the identity discs around his neck but decided to persevere through the pain of ‘water bugs’ [ probably sea lice] and a terrific headache from the sun during the afternoon following the sinking. After another night in the sea he pulled himself ashore on Banka island [ this must have been the 17 February]and collapsed asleep – he was captured by two Japanese soldiers who stole his watch and the ring on his finger before bundling him into a small motor boat and delivering him to Muntok where he became a POW. The ‘postscript’ is that the nineteen men on the ‘Pulo Soegi’s ‘raft were picked up by a captured RAF launch and brought into Muntok.

Imprisond on Banka Island .

Transferred from Palembang to Changi, 18-20 July 1942.

Transported to Singapore then transported to Taiwan onboard the Fukkai Maru
In POW camp Heito
Then Taihoku camp

FEPOW Wall Placque from Dunston Hill Hospital , Gateshead (Now located in St Nicholas Church , Ellison Road , Dunston , Gateshead , Tyne ans Wear . Tel 0191 4609327 )

Close up of Joseph Alberts name plaque