Japanese Index Cards of Allied POWs and Internees and Liberated POW Questionnaires
http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/research_japanese_index_cards.htm#questionnaires
http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/changi_research.html
Who would have believed it! I always search with google – but other search engines exist.
http://www.powtaiwan.org/The%20Men/men_list.php?page=94
| LINSELL | ERNEST | PTE. | 4TH BTN. SUFFOLK REG’T. | (TK) |
TK is the camp code for TAKAO
TAKAO POW CAMP
Camp Opened: 09/07/42 – Camp Closed: 02/15/45
Takao Camp was first opened in the early fall of 1942 to house POWs who were being transported through Taiwan to Japan. It was set up in several warehouses near the docks and the men were mostly engaged in stevedore work – loading and unoading ships and handling cargo. Not much is known about the camp or the conditions the men endured there, as there are no records extant, but it appears there were never any deaths at this camp.
Later in 1944 as more hellships were being sent from the Philippines to Japan, and were being torpedoed and sunk, POWs were temporarily held in this camp awaiting transfer to other ships. Perhaps the largest number came off the Hofuku Maru. These men were mostly all sent on to Fukuoka Camp 17 in January 1945 and shortly thereafter it appears that Takao Camp was closed.
http://www.powtaiwan.org/The%20Camps/camps_detail.php?Takao-POW-Camp-4&name=Takao
The 4th and 5th Battalions were raised as a prelude to this war and were assigned to the 18th Division sent to guard Singapore when Japan entered the war.
Ernie was in the 18th Infantry Division. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18th_Infantry_Division_(United_Kingdom)
54th Infantry Brigade (consisting of the following battalions) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/54th_Infantry_Brigade_(United_Kingdom)
- Brigadier E.K.W.Backhouse
- 4th Battalion, The Royal Norfolk Regiment
- 4th Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment
- 5th Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment
4th Suffolk Regiment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Suffolk_RegimentThe 4th and 5th (Territorial Army) Battalions of the Suffolk Regiment fought briefly in the defence of Singapore, with the 18th East Anglian Division, before British Commonwealth forces on that island surrendered on 15 February 1942. Men from the two battalions suffered great hardship as prisoners of war and only a few would survive the war.
Surrendering troops of the Suffolk Regiment held at gunpoint by Japanese infantry.
File:Bosbritsurrendergroup.jpg – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
| Surname: | LINSELL |
|---|---|
| First Name(s): | Ernest F |
| Rank: | Pte. |
| Service No: | 5833038 |
| Service: | A |
| Date of Capture: | 12/02/1942 |
More than nine lives
MORE THAN NINE LIVES
The true World War II story of Ernest Frederick Linsell, painter decorator, typically quiet, good citizen of Aldeburgh, who died recently, aged 80, after a long illness, is astonishing. The gazette is indebted to John Whatley-Smith, a former President of the British Legion, Aldeburgh branch, for being able to publish it.
Ernest Linsell was born in Aldeburgh and lived as a boy in a flat over Smiths the bakers. An accomplished footballer, he was one of Aldeburgh Town’s stars. He joined the Territorial Army, and in 1942 was with the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment in Malaysia. Came the Japanese invasion and the tragic retreat of the British troops, the remnants reaching Singapore to face surrender and capture. As a prisoner of war Linsell was put on a Japanese warship , soon sunk by American bombers. One of the few survivors, he was picked up by another ship, in turn sunk, by an aerial torpedo. Again a rare survivor, he was rescued by a Japanese fishing vessel. Arrived in Japan, he was sent to work in the mines of Hiroshima, target of the first atomic bomb.
Back home at last, in due time to earn the epitaph ‘a very respected figure in Aldeburgh town’, in the best tradition of the British Army he was known to his friends as ‘Darkie’ – because of his white hair.
Thanks to John Whatley-Smith and the Aldeburgh Gazette
