William Kirby and Brenda McMahon have submitted the following:-
Fred was born on May 14th 1915 at Cassop the son of Fred and Elizabeth Ellen (nee Scott).
Fred fought with the Field Artillery in the Malaya Theatre of War.
Between 12 and 18 September 1944, Allied forces sank three Japanese steamships that were carrying supplies to support the Japanese war effort. But unknown to the Allies at the time, these ships were also carrying Allied prisoners of war and Javanese slave labourers (romushas). The Allies sank other POW transport ships during September 1944, but the sinking of the Kachidoki Maru and the Rakuyo Maru on 12 September led to the first eyewitness accounts being given by former POWs to Allied administrations about conditions in camps on the Thailand-Burma railway, whilst the sinking of the Junyo Maru on 18 September was one of the deadliest maritime disasters of the Second World War. The two sinkings, only six days apart, resulted in the deaths of over 7,000 men.
More than 1,300 Prisoners of War were packed on board the Rakuyo Maru and a further 900 onto the Kachidoki Maru at the docks at Keppel Habour, Singapore, on 6 September 1944. These men had laboured on the Thailand-Burma railway- a 250-mile construction project upon which the prisoners of war had been forced to work since June 1942.
The steam ships set sail on September 6th 1944 as part of a convoy bound for Japan. As well as the prisoners of war, the ships were carrying important supplies for the Japanese was effort including oil, rubber and bauxite.
At 10.40pm on September 12th 1944 USS Pamponita torpedoed the Kachidoki Maru which sank within minutes rather than hours. The 900 men aboard had to jump into the sea into the dark of night suffering horrible injuries and drowning. The oil and the burning of the sea around the men took their toll. Over 400 men lost their lives in the sinking of the ship that night. Japanese ships returned the following morning to pick up the survivors. Along with over 500 other Prisoners of War the rescued men would continue their journey to Japan where they remained in captivity until the end of the war.
Fred Barlow was later listed as ‘missing believed drowned’
Singapore Memorial stands in the Kranji War Cemetery. It bears the names of more than 24,000 casualties of the land and air forces of the Commonwealth who died during the campaigns in Malaya and Indonesia or in subsequent captivity and have no known grave. The memorial also commemorates airmen who died during operations over the whole of southern and eastern Asia and the surrounding seas and oceans.
Sharon Addleton adds:
"This is my great uncle Fred. He was from Cassop, Co Durham. He rode a motor bike and had been to Dunkirk & North Africa and was mentioned in dispatches twice. The family then heard he was a prisoner of war in Singapore. He was being transported by ship when the Americans torpedoed it, not knowing the allies were on it."
Fred Barlow is remembered at Shildon on S122.02
