Australian Military Forces [AMF] Prisoner of War and Missing, Far East and South West Pacific Islands
AMF Prisoners of War and Missing, Far East and South West Pacific Islands contains details of approximately 23,000 names of AMF prisoners of war and missing personnel from operations in the Far East and South West Pacific Islands, as known at 30 June 1944.
Background
The Official Records series AWM232, Records of 2nd Echelon, Land Headquarters - Australian Military Forces prisoners of war and missing, Far East and South West Pacific Islands was created by 2nd Echelon, Land Headquarters and was transferred to the Australian War Memorial in 1952. It consists of several volumes listing the names of prisoners of war and missing as at 30 June 1944.
Item 1 which is the alphabetical listing of all names by theatre of war has been digitised and is attached to the relevant entries in AMF Prisoners of War and Missing, Far East and South West Pacific Islands. The series also contains two volumes of photographs which can be viewed in the Memorial's Research Centre. Many of these photographs are also available for viewing on the Collections Search.
Coverage and Content
Records cover the Far East and South West Pacific Islands area during the Second World War and were originally arranged by the following theatres of war:
- Malaya
- Java
- Timor
- Ambon
- Rabaul
- New Guinea and Papua
- No 1 Independent Company and South West Pacific Islands
Each entry contains the following information where known: initials, surname, service number, rank, unit, casualty, location of camp, source (where the information came from), theatre of war and notes.
Abbreviations
The original records contain many abbreviations, the majority of which can be foundin the AWM 232 alphabetical list by theatres of war (PDF).
Search Tip
For many names, searching by surname is the most effective search. If this approach produces too long a list of names, try searching using the person’s first initial and surname e.g. A Jones.
Further information
Enquiries relating to information contained in the AMF Prisoners of War and Missing, Far East and South West Pacific Islands should be directed to the Research Centre.

