In 1942 and 1943, Filipino and Indonesian labourers were imported from Java and Southern Philippines, along with local native Bajau, Bugis, and orang Sungai labourers from the vicinity of Sandakan to construct a military airstrip and prisoner of war camp in the outskirts of old town Sandakan.

They were joined by the first batch of Australian prisoners of war (POWs) in July 1942, were shipped in batch’s to Jesselton (modern day Kota Kinabalu) and Kuching before being re-routed to Sandakan Code named “B” Force, and totalling 1,496, they were brought to Sandakan by the Japanese to work on building the airfield. [1]

A second group of 750 British POWs, who had initially worked at the Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu) airfield, were moved to Sandakan in April 1943. [1]

In the same month, a third force comprising 503 Australian POWs, code-named “E” Force, arrived at Berhala Island, off the coast of Sandakan. [1]

Prisoners were treated harshly and in some cases brutally by the occupying force, with the Formosan guards being infamous for their treatment of the hapless prisoners, who were given insufficient food, medical attention or medicines and worked long hours under the hot, brutal Borneo sun.[1]

The occupying force for one reason or another, decided in August 1943 to relocate the vast majority of the senior officers from the camp and had them transferred by sea to Kuching.[1]

Why this happened is still unknown though it has been pointed out in some historical books that this was to ensure morale declined with a lack of leadership or presence of senior officers to protest the treatment of prisoners.[1]

The presence of the Allied POWs, however, brought out the best in the locals of Sandakan who not only felt sorry for the POWs’ plights and sorry state of physical being, but also realised that the POWs were supposed to be on the same side with the people of North Borneo, until recently a British Protectorate. [1]

Clandestine activities began as the locals tried to link up with the POWs. Apart from secretly supplying the POWs with much-needed food and medicine, the locals also passed on news from outside world to the POWs. [1]

Among those who were involved were former members of the Volunteer Force, members of the Armed Constabulary (Police) now serving under Japanese Command, hospital staff, members of the electricity board, as well as ordinary folks who came forward to offer their help. [1]

These gestures of kindness were offered at the peril of being arrested by the Japanese and with the knowledge that the punishments would be severe, perhaps even fatal. Somehow, these men and women believed they were doing the right thing, not just because of their loyalty to the Allied cause, but also from a humanitarian point of view. [1]

Through their efforts, they were able to smuggle eight Australian escapees to the Sulu islands where they joined anti-Japanese guerrillas there. [1]

Other forms of material assistance helped to bolster the health and morale of the POWs, providing them with a ray of hope, knowing that the world had not abandoned them. The most daring feat by the locals was perhaps the supplying of radio parts as well as side arms and ammunitions to the POWs. [1]

The radio, constructed from the parts provided, was in operation from early part of 1943 to October when it was discovered after the underground network was betrayed to the Japanese (by local spies).[1]

When the radio was discovered, the Japanese began to arrest those suspected of assisting the POWs. A total of about 53 people were arrested. The implicated civilians included: the Funk brothers (Johnny, Paddy and Alexander), Dr. James Taylor, Sergeant Abin, Police Constable Mohd. Tahir Matusin, Matusap bin Lungau (a Dusun watchman of the former Agriculture Experimental Station), Maginal (a Dusun clerk at the same station), Peter Lai Kuei Fu (a dresser at the Sandakan Hospital), A. E. Philips, (manager of the North Borneo Trading company), Alfred Stevens and G. F. Mavar (both Englishmen and engineers at the power station), Chien Pei, Wu Kokuang (both technicians at the Power Station). The POWs rounded up were Captain Lionel Matthews, Lieutenant Roderick Graham Wells, and Privates McMillan and Roffey.[1]

All those arrested were first interned at Sandakan gaol before being transferred to Kuching for trial. At the trials, the Japanese military tribunal presided by Chief Judge Egami Sobei found Capt Lionel Matthews and seven others guilty and were ordered to be executed. The seven were Jemedar Ujagah Singh, the head of the constabulary on Berhala Island, Sergeant Abin, Detective Ernesto Lagan, Alex Funk, Heng Ju Ming, a geologist from Miri, and his father-in-law, Wong Mu Sing, who was a trader and a Lieutenant in the American-Filipino guerrillas, Felix Azcona, son of a Filipino radio mechanic. [1]

They were beheaded in mid 1943.

Others, including Dr. Taylor, Lt Gordon Weynton and Lt Roderick Wells were also found guilty but were given lesser sentences. These three were imprisoned at the Outram Road Jail in Singapore, while Johnny Funk, Paddy Funk and Peter Lai were sentenced to nine years in the Kuching jail. [1]

The funk brothers Johnny and Paddy were severely tortured and needed specialist medical treatment in Singapore for a length of time after the war before retiring back to Sandakan.

In January 1945, with only 1,900 prisoners still alive, the advancing American’s bombing Sandakan and the airstrip consistently now and the anticipated allied landings in Kalimantan, the camp commandant Captain Hoshijima Susumu decided to move the remaining prisoners westward into the mountains to the town of Ranau, a distance of approximately 250 kilometres. He claimed that this was an order of Lt Gen Masao Baba, commanding officer of the 37th Japanese Army in Borneo.[1]

Cutting the Trail: The Shock

The Japanese in mid 1944 examined the possibilities of moving supplies inland and across to the West Coast of North Borneo once it became obvious their supply ships were being sunk by American and Australian submarines and their cargo aircraft shot down by P-38 American lightnings and Aussie Bristol Beaufighters on a regular basis now that the allied forces were moving closer towards Kalimantan and North Borneo and preparing for the invasion of Borneo and the Philippines.

As such, the district officer at Telupid, a Mr.Moore Willie and a well known village head were tasked with cutting a trail for the march from Sandakan all the way to Ranau. The Japanese, unaware of the village trails and routes, wholly depended on Moore Willie and the native village chief to complete the task under guard. The two locals assumed the route was to be used exclusively by the Japanese forces.
They selected the most difficult terrain possible along the entire stretch of the route through mangrove swamps and thick jungle and across the wider parts of major rivers thinking this would slow the Japanese forces and impede the movement of troops and equipment.

To their horror, they discovered later the route they were tasked to cut for the movement of Japanese forces and supplies were actually for the prisoners of war in Sandakan to carry the heavy loads to Ranau.

The First March

The first party of 455 Australian and British prisoners, was split into nine groups, which, in turn left between 29th January and 6th February. They were told there was to be food for everyone at Ranau but for now they had only four days of rations, per man, for the journey. Overladen with rice sacks and supplies of ammunition they started off through the swamp land hindered by heavy rain. The natives had already cut a path using wooden walk ways across swamp land. In bare feet and mud covered planking, the walk ways were impossible to navigate, the prisoners had to wade through the swamps. Group three took 17 days to reach Ranau and out of the 50 men that started 37 only survived the march. The unfortunate who fell behind were bayoneted to death or shot. [2]

After the final group, Lieutenant Abe Kazuo was ordered to clear up any stragglers by disposing of them, a Japanese soldier gave evidence to this to war crimes investigators after the war.[2]

Groups 1 to 5 were to lose 70 out of 265 men on the journey to Ranau.[2]

Group 6 to 9 were taken to Paginatan, near Ranau, out of the 138 POW’s who reached there, only 68 were left after one month, being starved to death. At the end of March those who survived were marched on to Ranau, only 46 survived the march.[2]

At the end of April another 89 prisoners had died at Ranau and another 21 died carrying rice back to Paginatan for the future parties of prisoners leaving Sandakan.The insinuatory and crowded huts of Ranau did nothing to help the conditions the POW’s had to suffer, every morning the dead were buried.[2]

By 26th June only six out of the 455 prisoners that left Sandakan in late January were alive.

The Second March

The prisoners that had stayed at Sandakan were not fairing any better, starvation diets, and disease had taken their toll, 885 British and Australian prisoners had perished.[2]

In April the Japanese decided to move the remanding POW’s to Ranau and after a sea bombardment on 27th May the Japanese evacuated the 800 POW’s which were left and burnt all the huts in the camp except one. 530 of these prisoners were then sent on another march to Ranau.[2]

This second march was even worse then the first with the prisoner too weak to withstand the long trek. At the beginning of the march, three Chinese reported these killings.[2]

Chinese peasants:- About the end of May or it may have been early June 1945, a large number of Australians and other allied servicemen were being marched along the Labuk road from the prisoner of war camp at Sandakan.[2]
They arrived at the fifteen milepost at approximately 11am. They stopped there and had a meal. At about 2pm four allied planes came over and the party scattered. About 5pm the Japanese guards ordered the prisoners to up and fall in. All obeyed except seven who were too ill to walk and had arrived hobbling on sticks. Two Japanese guards and one Malay soldier remained behind when the others started off. The guards then started to urge the seven men along, kicking them and hitting them with their own sticks. Although they were very weak the Japanese guards succeeded in beating them along for about thirty yards. The two Japanese guards then took the rifle from the Malay soldier, and driving the prisoners off the road started shooting them in the back.[2]

They were just behind Chin Kin’s house. Four of the prisoners were instantaneously killed, and the two others were wounded. One managed to get away and hid a little further up the road. The two Japanese guards, together with their Malayan comrade, carried on in the direction of Ranau with out waiting to examine the prisoners who, presumably, they believed to be dead. The prisoner who ran further up the road and gone into hiding was found by one of the Kempei Tai on the following afternoon.[2]

This soldier first went into his house next door, brought his rifle, and shot the other two men, who were still alive, through the head.[2]

The shooting of these men took place as the three of us were digging a grave for the four who had been shot the previous evening. The Kempei Tai soldier then left the spot where we were going to bury the six prisoners, and started looking around. We then heard a shot fired, but were afraid to go and look in the direction whence it came, and continued to dig the garden as though we heard nothing. When we had finished burying the six dead prisoners we went to look for the seventh, the one who had tried to hide. We went in the direction from which we had heard the shot fired and there we found him lying dead. He had been shot in the stomach.[2]

The story from the Chinese was corroborated after the war.[2]

Private Botterill, an Australian reported: - At one time the only food that forty of us had was six cucumbers. When we were about a week away from Ranau we crossed a large mountain, and while we were making the crossing two Australians, Private Humphries and a corporal whose name I cannot remember, fell out. They were suffering from beri-beri, malaria and dysentery and just could not continue any further. A Japanese private shot the corporal, and a Japanese sergeant shot Humphries. Altogether we lost five men on that hill. As we were going along men would fall out as they became too weak to carry on. We would march on and then, shortly afterwards, hear shots ring out and the sound of men screaming. When this occurred there was always a Japanese guard who had stayed behind to “take care” of the stragglers.[2]

Group Two had lost 12 of the 50 in the first day with stragglers being dealt with in the same manner as before.[2]
Ryoichi Nakano, Japanese Guard: - During the march many prisoners fell out and were left behind at camps. In the rear of the march there was a special three guard section commanded by Sergeant Major Tsuji and I took my turn in this party three or four times. I guarded prisoners who fell out while the other POWs went past and then handed them over to Tsuji's party who disposed of them.[2]

I saw five POWs being taken away into the jungle after which I heard shots. When we reached camp that night the guards were talking about the killings and about the guards who had carried them out. Guards were forced to kill under the orders of Lieutenant Wantanabe and Sergeant Major Tsuji.[2]

Nelson Short noted:
And if the blokes just couldn’t go on, we shook hands with them, and said, you know, hope everything’s all right. But they knew what was going to happen. There was nothing you could do. You just had to keep yourself going. More or less survival of the fittest.[2]

During this march there were two escape attempts. The first, Gunner Owen Campbell of the 2/10th Field Regiment escaped with five others. Campbell looked after one of these, Ted Skinner, as he was very ill, Skinner later died. It is believed Skinner cut his own throat, to give Campbell a chance to survive. When Campbell caught up with the remaining four, they tried to get help from a (passing sampan that contained Japanese troops). A Japanese soldier shot and killed two more, Webber and Emmett. Three days later Costin died. Campbell went on alone until he was helped by (a village chief and his son) who delivered him to a local guerrilla leader. In time he was taken to a (Z Force special forces team up the coast who treated him for malaria before he was evacuated by Catalina to the light American carrier USS Pocomoke for urgent medical treatment.)[2]

Read Owen Campbell’s statement (Adapted from Statement by Gunner Campbell, 2/10th Field Regiment, 21 August 1945, 1010/4/27, AWM 54): HYPERLINK "http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/activities/sandakan/evid_escapee.html"; http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/activities/sandakan/evid_escapee.html

Owen Campbell owed his life to the local villagers in Muanad who not only rescued him from extensive Japanese patrols in the vicinity but also fed and clothed him for 10 days whilst he recovered to better health with no less than 100 Japanese troops camped out nearby.

In the second attempt, Richard “Dick” Braithwaite, 2/15th Field Regiment was very sick with malaria, but had a lot of luck on his side. As he was very ill, he could not keep up on the second death march, so he hid until the column of prisoners had passed. He followed a river hoping it would come out at the sea, it eventually came out at the Labuk River, where he was helped by Abing, a local (orang sungai fisherman). Braithwaite was (canoed downstream and out to sea to Libaran Island where a guerrilla force with a radio arranged for him to be rescued by an American PT boat.) [2]

After 26 days the men reached Ranau with only 183 left, 142 Australian and 41 British.[2]

The Final March

The 288 POW’s left at the Sandakan Camp were very ill and sick. Leaving the very sick to care for themselves, 75 of the fittest started the third march to Ranau, most died within (50-60 kilometers from Sandakan). [2]

A Chinese, Wong Hiong, reported to the war crimes investigators, that it was about this time, Lt. Moritake killed a prisoner from (a punishment “cage”) by ‘crucifixion’. [2]

In July, 23 prisoners were taken out to the airfield, a Chinese worker said he then heard shots, the prisoners never returned. It was later described as a duck shoot by a Japanese guard.[2]

Yoshinori Nishikawa, Japanese Guard: - There was an order to send 23 more prisoners to Ranau. The truth, however, is that on 13 July we took them out to the airport to a deep air raid shelter. We lined them up and all of us fired at them. Any that were not killed by the first shot we fired at again until they were all dead. Then we dragged their bodies to a hole and covered it up.

As the last lot of prisoners died at the camp the Javanese came in and buried them. When all were dead we burnt everything and left.

Aftermath

Due to a combination of a lack of food and brutal treatment at the hands of the Japanese, there were only 38 prisoners left alive at Ranau by the end of July 1945. All were too unwell and weak to do any work, and it was ordered that any remaining survivors should be shot. They were killed by the guards during August 1945, and it has been argued, possibly up to 12 days after the end of the war on August 14.[2]

In total, only six Australians managed to escape. During the second marches, Gunner Owen Campbell and Bombardier Richard Braithwaite managed to escape into the jungle, where they were assisted by locals and eventually rescued by Allied units. During July, Private Nelson Short, Warrant Officer William Sticpewich, Private Keith Botterill and Lance Bombardier William Moxham managed to escape (at Paginatan near Ranau) and were also helped by the local (dusun villagers), who fed them and hid them from the Japanese until the end of the war. Of the six survivors, only three survived the lingering effects of their ordeal in order to give evidence at various war crimes trials. [2]

The prisoners were able to survive the whole episode thanks to the brave deeds and compassion shown by native Sabahans. Among those who provided help to the POWs were Dihil Bin Ambilid, Bariga, Kulang, Lap, Galunting, Abing, Balabiu and others.[1]

Captain Hoshijima was found guilty of war crimes and hanged on April 6 1946. Capt Takakuwa and his second-in-charge, Capt Watanabe Genzo, were found guilty of causing the murders and massacres of prisoners-of-war and were hanged and shot on 6 April 1946 and 16 March 1946 respectively.[2]

Remembering Gunner Cleary (2/15th Australian Field Regiment, 2nd AIF, of East Geelong, Victoria, Australia).
Albert Cleary survived the first march to Ranau. In March, Cleary, along with Gunner Wally Crease, escaped from Ranau. After four days on the run Cleary was recaptured and thrown into what was known as the ‘Guard House’. This was simply an empty area at the end of one of the huts used by the POWs. Cleary, who had clearly been beaten-up before his return to the camp, had his arms tied high up behind his back, and he was then made to kneel with a log tied behind his knees. In this position he was systematically kicked and punched all over his body by two guards. At times his head was held while his throat was punched and the guards also terrorised him by charging at him with fixed bayonets stopping only inches from his face. By jumping on the end of the log tied between Cleary’s legs, the guards were able to cause further suffering. To add to his pain, Cleary was made to stand on his feet every half-hour, causing the blood to rush back into his lower legs and inducing great pain. Beatings also occurred with rifle butts, sticks and anything else to hand. This treatment went on for three and a half hours and was witnessed by a number of POWs, including Keith Botterill who would eventually survive to tell of what he had seen of the depths of human cruelty in a jungle hut at Ranau. [3]

Next morning Cleary’s sufferings began afresh. Botterill, who had been away from the camp on a work party, returned at midday to find that the guards were still beating Cleary.

At that point, Crease, who had also been recaptured, was returned to camp. All that afternoon both men were given the same treatment and, although they continually begged the guards to stop, no mercy was shown to them. This time Botterill heard the bashings continuing throughout the night and they were most severe after the guard was changed. Next morning Crease managed to escape again into the jungle but he was subsequently shot.

Botterill was now sent away from Ranau for four days on a work detail but when he returned he found that Cleary was still alive. He had been tied by the neck to a tree, dressed only in a fundoshi (a small piece of cloth given to the POWs to cover their private parts). Cleary was filthy and covered in blood blisters and caked blood. Suffering from dysentery, he had also been left to lie in his own excreta. Days were hot at Ranau but, because of the altitude, nights were cold. Cleary’s terrible condition seemed to arouse no compassion in his captors who continued to hit him with fists and rifles. He remained for eleven or twelve days in this condition.

When the guards could see that Cleary was dying, he was thrown into the gutter beside the road. Eventually he was allowed to be taken away by his comrades. They carried him to a stream, washed him, and brought him back to be among them in one of the huts. On 20 March 1945, Gunner Albert Cleary, aged 22, died.[2]

A Final Comment from the Race Director

Credit must be given to the historical work and research of the people listed below in the credits section as being the pioneers of recording, researching and documenting much of the material that is available today to tell the story of the deathmarch. I do not claim any credit for any of the information on the deathmarch and bar any sentences in brackets from my own memory of what I have read and researched and leave it to the real hero’s listed below for dedicating valuable time and efforts over the many years that have passed in making it possible for my generation and generations to come to understand what transpired in North Borneo during the second world war and the contributions and deeds of local natives and non-natives of Borneo who’s names are neither recorded in school history books in Sabah nor are their stories told often enough for the generations to come to understand the great sacrifice made so many so that others would live.

Avtar S.Sandhu
Race Director

Bibiliography:

[1] “The Hero’s of Sandakan,” by Dr Danny Wong Tze Ken, The Star, 7th August 2005

Link: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2005/8/7/lifefocus/11588712&;sec=lifefocus

[2] Based on:Laden, Fevered, Starved - The POWs of Sandakan, North Borneo, 1945. Researched by Dr Richard Reid with assistance from Robert Pounds and Courtney Page
HYPERLINK "http://www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat/sandakan"; www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat/sandakan

[2] Excepts from:
Australian War Memorial - HYPERLINK "http://www.awm.gov.au/index.asp"; http://www.awm.gov.au
Kill the Prisoners by Don Wall
Knights of Bushido by Lord Russell
Sandakan - A Conspiracy of Silence by Lynette Ramsay Silver
For further reference, please visit:
HYPERLINK "http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/john_wanless/html/sandakan.htm"; http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/john_wanless/html/sandakan.htm

[3] 'If you escape the same thing will happen to you.’ The death of Gunner Albert Cleary, 20 March 1945. From Laden, Fevered, Starved. The POW’s of Sandakan, North Borneo 1945.
Link: http://www.dva.gov.au/aboutDVA/publications/commemorative/sandakan/Pages/sand08.aspx

Lynette Ramsay Silver, Sandakan--A Conspiracy of Silence,
Sydney, 1998.
Don Wall, Sandakan--The Last March, Sydney, 1988.
Don Wall, Kill the Prisoners, Sydney, 1997
Material not credited appropriately in this deathmarch story are from the Department of Veteran Affairs, Australia website. For a full and complete/detailed list, please visit:
List: http://www.dva.gov.au/aboutDVA/publications/commemorative/sandakan/Pages/sand11.aspx