No.648111, Leading Aircraftsman, Charles Joseph DRIVER
Aged 24
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Charles Joseph Driver was born on 25th February 1919 (Newmarket Q2-1919 3B:616) the son of George William [13-2-1883] and Ellen DRIVER [1-10-1880] (née SCOTT),
of Hills Farm, High Street, Burwell. They were still there in 1939, father's occupation, a farmer. |
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Charles was taken prisoner on 8th March 1942. Quite possibly he was one of the 2,000 men (mainly RAF personnel) who were assembled in Sourabaya, Java
in April 1943 and shipped on the "Matsukawa Maru" and "Amagi Maru" via Ambon to the small island of Haruku. Here they were used as slave labour to
level, by hand tools only, a coral outcrop for an airstrip. Conditions were appalling and dysentery claimed the lives of nearly 400 of the
men.
The reverse of his Japanese PoW card records "bacterial dysentery". He was originally buried at Kario Village, Cape Marakee, Haroekoe Island and moved to Ambon in February 1947.
photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
