JEEP ISLAND OFF SINGAPORE AUG-SEPT 1944

Many Australians who worked on the Burma Railway and who were selected for slave labour in Japan were first sent to River Valley Road Camp Singapore where they waited for transports to Japan.

In August 1944 several hundred of these prisoners were sent to an Island camp christened Jeep Island after the brutal guard in charge, some 400 yards off the main island of Singapore. Adjacent to the island was a Dry Dock under construction which was the work to which the prisoners were to be used, the map shown below was supplied by Tony Carter, author of Mick McCarthy’s diary.

Red Star marks position of Island where we worked on the construction of a Dry Dock for the Japanese

In Rowley Richard’s book "A Doctor’s War" he covers the period we worked on the Dry Dock, and the brutality of the Jeep, his diary was hidden in the grave of Corporal Gorlic who died on the island.

The first group of these Australians were on the Rakuyo Maru which was torpedoed in the China Sea on the 12 September 1944, of these 543 lost their lives, 83 were rescued by the Japanese 92 by US submarines. In December 1944 I was one of the 525 remaining in River Valley Road camp that were shipped on the AWA Maru, the last Hell Ship to safely make the journey to Japan.

Neil MacPherson