No.1653632, Lance Bombardier, Frederick James FULLER
Aged 33
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Frederick James Fuller was born in Portsmouth on 9th February 1911,(Portsmouth Q1-1911 2b:501), baptised in Portsmouth on 19th August 1911 (father's Army records), son of George Scott and Carmella FULLER (née ZAHRA),
His mother was Maltese by birth, marrying his father when George was in the Army serving in Malta. At one time Fred played in goal for Burwell Swifts Football Club. In Q3-1933, in Burwell, he married Iris Christine Vera Louise ELMER, [11-9-1913] daughter of John ELMER, a postman, of Newmarket. They lived at 21 Ness Road, Burwell. They were still at 21 Ness Road for the 1939 register, Frederick was a brick setter at the brickworks. There are 4 closed records (their children ?). Iris married Alfred HARDY in 1946. |
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William was taken prisoner on 20th March 1942. On May 9th 1944 a draft draft was formed at Adek Camp, Batavia totalling 41 officers and 737 men (197 English).
Sailing from Tanjong Priok (the port for Batavia, now Jakarta) aboard the 3,500 ton "Kiska Maru", they arrived in Singapore on 22nd May,and taken to Havelock Camp. Then they were shipped on a slightly larger ship, via Manila Bay to Takao, Taiwan. Then they boarded the 6,700 ton "Tamahoko Maru" (KA-18) and left Formosa on the 20th June 1944. At 23:50 on 24th they were woken by the explosion of another ship being torpedoed and almost immediately their own ship was hit by another torpedo.. The ship sank in under 2 minutes. Some 211 survivors were picked up by Japanese vessels, but 560 prisoners died. The ship had been sunk by the USS "Tang" in the Koshiki Strait, 40 miles south west of Nagasaki. Sinkings by US and British submarines and aircraft were not uncommon since the Allies had broken the Japanese naval codes and knew of most of the convoy schedules. The "Hell Ships" carried no markings to signify they were carrying prisoners. http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/fukuoka/fuk-14-nagasaki/tamahoku_maru.html was the source and this website can provided a great deal of detail about Far East prisoners of war. |
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