Tommy McDonald
The son of John George and Ada McDonald, of New Coundon, Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham.
Helen McDonald Pearson has submitted the following:-
My relative T MacDonald is remembered at Coundon. The spelling of the surname depends on the registrar and will appear with and without the "a" on different documents and some siblings will be MacDonald, some McDonald and some just plain Donald. Thomas was brother to my paternal Grandfather and he died before I was born. My father remembers him vividly.
I have done some research into his life and enclose a copy of what I have so far and hope it may be of some interest:
Thomas (Tommy) McDonald (MacDonald) was born on 17 Sep 1920. His birth was registered in the Auckland Registration District during 1920. Thomas's mother's maiden name was recorded as Forster.
In the 1939 Register: Thomas was recorded as a member of John George McDonald's household at 26 Park View Terrace, New Coundon, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham on 29 September 1939. His date of birth was given as 17 September 1920 and his occupation was "Unemployed Iron Foundry Labourer". No relationships are given on the register.
During WWII he was a Gunner in the Royal Artillery 15/6 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment. His service number was 1738087.
On Sumatra, 6th HAA Rgt was sent to guard two airfields known as P1 and P2, and the Pladjoe and Soengei Gerong oil refineries and tank farm situated in dense jungle at Palembang. The journey involved ferry crossings and a combined road and rail lift of equipment. On arrival the batteries had six 3.7-inch guns with them, but no instruments or communication equipment. Much ammunition had been lost when one of the ships was sunk by Japanese bombers. Another 10 x 3.7-inch guns were aboard SS Subadar when she was attacked and damaged, but the guns were landed. 15 HAA Bty deployed with eight guns of at P1, while 12 HAA Bty had four at P2 and two each at Pladjoe and Soengei Gerong. Each HAA site also had a few LAA guns from 78 and 89 LAA Btys of 35th LAA Rgt.
The batteries were in position by 3 Feb 1942, with RHQ alongside that of the RAF commander.
The Japanese attack on Sumatra began with air raids on P1: low-level Strafing attacks by Mitsubishi Zero fighters were an impossible HAA target, while without instruments the gunners could only put up barrage fire against high level bombers, and had no success. Palembang was also raided. On the same day that Singapore fell (14 February) the Japanese launched their invasion of Sumatra. This began with a paratroop drop at P1 and Pladjoe – until the actual drop the approaching Kawasaki Ki-56 transports were thought to be friendly Lockheed Hudsons (both aircraft were developed from the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra). Once the paratroop drop began, the AA batteries opened fire, shooting down one aircraft, causing another to force-land and others to veer off course (including the fighters and bombers that accompanied the transports, 15 HAA Bty shot down three aircraft). The transports gained height to avoid the gunfire, and the paratroops dropped from too high, making them vulnerable to airburst fire. However, the drop was successful, and the paratroops began working through the jungle to the installations. One 3.7-inch Troop was rescued by a party of RAF pilots and ground crew with a Vickers machine gun and rifles, who cleared a drop zone. A 3.7-inch shell fired with minimum fuse over open sights cleared a nest of snipers from a tree, while another destroyed a captured Bofors LAA gun.
As the airfield was overrun, the gunners attempted to pull back to Palembang, but there were only two serviceable AEC Matador gun tractors left. The remaining guns were disabled and a convoy of gunners and RAF personnel attempted to retreat. The road was under fire and the convoy ran into a road block, so the HAA and LAA gunners and RAF men made their way in small parties to Palembang, having taken heavy casualties along the way. Only one 3.7-inch gun was recovered, which was sited at the ferry site at Palembang.
Once the last aircraft had flown out of P2, the decision was made to evacuate southern Sumatra. The force retreated to Oosthaven by road and rail, destroying the remaining AA guns which could not negotiate the bridges on the route. From Oosthaven the surviving RAF personnel and AA gunners were shipped to Java.
By mid-February, Java was the only part of the Dutch East Indies holding out. Brigadier H.D.W. Sitwell of 16 AA Bde was promoted to command all British troops on the island, of which his brigade represented the majority. It was not in good shape, the units having arrived piecemeal, some without their equipment: 12 and 15 Btys of 6 HAA Rgt from Sumatra had no guns and were employed as infantry to defend the airfields.
Tommy was wrongly listed as "Missing" on 15 February 1942 in Malaya.
The Japanese invasion of Java began on 1 March 1942 with the airfields as their primary target. The survivors of 12 HAA Bty, with some RAF defence troops and Bofors gunners, and some light Dutch armoured vehicles, defended Kalidjati airfield, while 15 HAA Bty were deployed to Tjililitan and other airfields.
The survivors of 12 HAA Bty joined 15 HAA Bty, which had been under air but not ground attack. Major-General Sitwell relieved the regiment's CO, Lt-Col Baillie, of his command and sent him back to Ceylon.[b] 'Blackforce', a mixed force of Australians and British commanded by Brig Arthur Blackburn, VC, kept up an active defence for several days, but the Dutch commander ordered his units to cease fire on 8 March, and the remnants of 16 AA Bde including 6th HAA Rgt surrendered on 12 March
Tommy was captured on 8 March 1942.
In May 1942, the Japanese began transferring its captured Prisoners of War by sea. Similar to the treatment of prisoners on the Bataan Death March, prisoners were often crammed into cargo holds with little air, ventilation and food or water, for journeys that would last weeks. Many died due to asphyxia, starvation or dysentery. Some POWs became delirious and unresponsive in their environment of heat, humidity and lack of oxygen, food, and water. These transports carried a mix of POWs and regular Japanese troops and cargo, and thus were not eligible to be marked as non-combatants and could be attacked by Allied submarines and aircraft meaning they were at risk of being sunk before they even reached their destination.The PoWs from the regiment on Java were moved around various camps until October 1942 when they were transported by sea to Singapore and then on to Japan: 65 men of 6th HAA Rgt died aboard ship or shortly afterwards. In Japan they were set to work in the coal mines, docks and ironworks at Ube. Others were sent to Borneo to construct airfields and died in the infamous Sandakan Death Marches, and at least 20 men of 6th HAA Rgt were killed in the Balalae Island massacre
On 29 October 1942 Tommy was transferred from Singapore to one of the PoW camps in Fukuoka, Japan. The researcher has not been able to identify the ship on which he sailed but conditions aboard the ships was horrendous so it is not surprising that he arrived in Japan already terminally ill.
He became ill with Acute Colitis on 19 November 1942.
He died as a Prisoner of War on 14 December 1942 in Japan. The record of his death states that he died from acute colitis at 13:00 and the death was witnessed by Toshi Yoshida a Probational Medical Officer at Moji POW Camp..
Tommy is one of the people whose ashes are contained within an urn at Yokohama Cremation Memorial in Japan.
As late as 1 February 1943 Thomas was still listed as missing as part of the Expeditionary Forces in Nederlands East Indies and later reported as a PoW. We know that he had been captured and had died in a Japanese PoW camp late in 1942.
This shows just how difficult communication and recording must have been at this date and place during the war.
The list was further updated in 1944 to show that Tommy had died but that the date of death was unknown although this was later corrected to add the date of 14.12.42.
Thomas (Tommy) MacDonald is remembered at Coundon on C117.01
