researching pte stephen cooney 1st bn manchesters 3526890

[JAN 59]

hi everyone i am trying to get as  much info as i can  of my great uncle who went to singapore and ended up a pow in changi, on april 26 1943 was sent up to ban pong then forced marched to songkurai no2 camp
he died at this camp on the 23rd august 1943.i would love a picture of him, can anyone help me please
I have bits of info that i have collected from kew, surrey and from the mod in glasgow but they have no pictures. is there anywhere else i could try.
                                thanks jan

[themonsstar]

What bits of info do you have Cheers MS

[JAN 59]

i have sent for japanese p.o.w card and service papers
got a copy of the MRI/8/13 which tells me he left changi 24th april overland with F force
to songkurai and a copy of MR4/6/5/16  says died whilst pow thailand there are some
numbers and a date not to sure what they mean. wrote to the international red cross to find his pow papers, also have a roll of honour
                                                  jan

[Robert Bonner]

Jan.
To the best of my knowledge 3526890 Private S Cooney died of Beri-Beri in the camp at San Krai on 23 August 1943 . 

His body will have been cremated by a working party of his comrades as the Japanese were not allowing burials at that time because of the amount of cholera which was killing so many of the prisoners.

His Japanese number was 1.10668.

[JAN 59]

robert
did they rebury there ashes in the cemetry reseason why i am asking is i have a grave number which is
B4.G.13 THANBYUZAYAT and a cemetry plan
                                                                  jan

[themonsstar]

I have copies of his PoW card, GSM Palestine medal roll & a nominal roll of A company in 1938 moving to Singapore.


If you would like copies of them PM me with your e-mail.

[Robert Bonner]

Jan,

Apparently In San Krai camp at the top of a small hill was a second Japanese guardroom from where the sentries kept the two hospital huts and the cremation area under constant observation.  On the right of the guardroom was a cemetery, neatly laid out on the side of the hill.  The graves were small and measured only about 24 inches by 12 inches and in these were buried the pieces of bamboo which contained the ashes of the dead.

At the end of the war these bamboo caskets and those from the various camps along the northern sector of the railway were removed by the Army Burial Service for permanent burial in the cemetery at Thanbuzayat in Burma.  There are 3,149 British & Commonwealth soldiers buried there plus 621 Dutch.

[JAN 59]

robert
           i have sent off for his service papers/records, do they have a photograph attached
if not do you know where one might be held would love a picture of him.
                         
                                 jan

[rafboy]

Jan has asked me to update this thread for her bringing it to a close with the information she has gained through the Forum.  She has asked me to pass on her greatful thanks to all who have helped her.
Roy located Stephen Cooney's POW Record Card and with the help of Michael Hurst of the Taiwan POW Memorial Society I was able to obtain a reasonable translation. A copy of the card and translation are below.
Jan had hoped to travel to Thailand and tour the "Railway" this year but with the current economic climate she has had to postpone her trip.  To plan her trip Jan was using the help of the Thailand Burma Railway Centre (See: http://www.tbrconline.com/ ).  As a result of her contact with the TBRC she has been provided with a photograph of Stephen's grave which was taken recently by a visiting member of the CWGC.  The photo together with one of the Thanbyuzayat Cemetery is also below.
On behalf of Jan a great big thank you to you all.
Cliff

POW Record Card Translation

On the front - the card is the same as most others. The two characters under "camp" in top left corner say "Malaya" and the date of move to Thailand appears to be March 5th 1942. I think that the "Overland 20.4.43" refers to his move overland from Thailand to Burma. The red stamp along the right hand side is an official confirmation that the POW died.

On the back -
1943.4.20 - another reference to the move to Burma
1943.8.03 - became very sick with some kind of disease and also suffered from some foot /leg disease - maybe tropical ulcers. (Note: Cause of death confirmed as Beri Beri
1943.8.23 - prisoner died.
1943.5.30 - first became sick. The red box next to that is an official Jap stamp stating that this was entered at a later date. (All of the red writing and stamps have to do with info regarding his death.)
The bottom two lines in blue state that he died in Thailand at some?? Village and that the body was buried.