Born in Gloucester on the 24th of April 1912 to Thomas and Alice (nee Brims), John (known as Fred) was the 11th of the large brood of 13 children.
Working as a labourer, Fred enlisted in Newcastle on the 28th of August 1940, giving his father of Bretti, via Gloucester as his next of kin. After the preliminaries of enlistment, he was taken on strength 1st Infantry Training Battalion at Tamworth and 22nd of September he was transferred to the 4th Infantry Training Battalion, joining them the next day.
The 2/30th Infantry Battalion was formed in November 1940 at Tamworth and was part of the 8th Division’s 27th Brigade, the last AIF infantry brigade raised for service during the Second World War. On the 12th of November, Fred was taken on strength with the 2/30th. Whilst their initial training was at Tamworth, the battalion moved to Bathurst in early 1941 to complete their training, which was focused upon preparing the battalion for warfare in the Middle East, as it was believed that the 8th Division would ultimately join the other 2nd AIF divisions in the desert. Between the 29th of December and the 6th of January, before the move to Bathurst Jack was granted sick leave. While at Bathurst he also suffered a fracture on the 17th of May. Between the 8th and the 19th of July, he was also given ‘leave without pay’ which would be pre-embarkation leave.
With growing concerns about Japanese involvement in the war, on the 29th of July 1941 the battalion embarked Sydney aboard the Dutch ship ‘Johan Van Oldenbarnevelt’, as part of the convey carrying the 27th Brigade to Singapore, where they disembarked on the 18th of August. On arrival the battalion carried out garrison duties along with the rest of the 27th Brigade, where it joined the 22nd Brigade, which had been dispatched from Australia earlier in the year.
Just before midnight on the 7th of December, Japanese forces landed at Singora and Patani in Thailand, and Kota Bahru in northern Malaya. They fought against British and Indian troops, until the 2/30th B Company ambushed the Japanese at Gemencheh Bridge, shortly before 4 pm on the 14th of January 1942. The remainder of the battalion located 4 miles to the rear of this position on the Gemas-Tampin road, engaged the Japanese the next day. It was a brilliant ambush and the first AIF attack against the Japanese. The 2/30th suffered 20 killed or missing believed dead and 58 wounded. The Japanese casualties were thought to be about 1,000. The battalion had fulfilled its task of acting “as a shock-absorber” inflicting as many casualties as possible before falling back. After Gemas, the 2/30th fought at Ayer Hitam and then in the defence of Singapore Island. However, they could not stop the Japanese and on the 15th of February the British commander on Singapore surrendered. It was the next day that Fred was reported missing.
The movement of POWs northward from Changi Prison in Singapore and other prison camps in Southeast Asia began in May 1942 to build the Burma-Siam railway. During its construction, 12,619 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway line. Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line and work began on 16 September 1942. The line, 415 kilometres long, was completed by 25 October 1943. Thanbyuzayat became a prisoner of war administration headquarters and base camp in September 1942 and in January 1943 a base hospital was organised for the sick.
Fred ‘Died of Illness’- Colitis, a debilitating intestinal disorder in Thailand on the 25th of June 1943, aged 31 years. The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma-Siam railway (except for the Americans, whose remains were repatriated) were transferred from camp burial grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar. It was not until 3 months after his death that on the 27th of September 1943, Fred was reported as a POW.
