262088 Pte. James Howe Australian Imperial Force 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion from:Claremont My uncle James Howe was actually William Howe from Hemel, Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Following a row with his mother in the early 1930s, Bill emigrated to Australia without informing his family. There, he worked as a tractor driver.
At the outbreak of war, he volunteered to serve, but he used a different Christian name and gave his birthplace as Victoria. He was assigned to a machine-gun unit, and the unit was posted to Singapore, where he was captured at the fall of the island. We have Japanese Army postcards from him to say he was in POW Camp Niki Niki in Thailand and a further card from a POW Camp in Moulmein, Burma. I believe that these cards were the first contact his family had from him since he left the UK. He survived the ordeal, and we have a telegram saying that he was safe in British hands and a further letter from the Australian Military saying that he is believed safe but not confirmed.
He lived out the rest of his life in Australia, starting a quarrying business with a fellow POW and using the knowledge gained cutting rock on the Death Railway. He returned to meet family in the UK in 1976 and was visited by his sister at Coffs Harbour in 1980. He passed away peacefully in the mid 1980s.
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