A record of a new force for a new world: Australians serving with BCOF in Japan - Embarkation Rolls
The Memorial has digitised the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) Embarkation Rolls, which provide details about the Australians who served with the BCOF. As well as being available online, they will also later become searchable by name for the first time.
The British Commonwealth Occupation Force was formed after the surrender of Japan in August 1945, a multinational occupation force comprised of British, Australian, New Zealand and Indian military personnel whose role was to stabilise and demilitarise a damaged and defeated Japan. For Australian troops, the BCOF marked the new global reality of the British Commonwealth, replacing the Empire in which they had grown up.
The Australian contingent quickly became the leading force of the occupation. Daily operations were led by an Australian commanding officer, and Australia was the sole Commonwealth representative for the majority of the occupation. Australian Army troops were based in western Japan and headquartered at Kure, the Royal Australian Navy patrolled Japan’s coastal areas in Destroyer class ships, and Royal Australian Air Force units patrolled the skies in Mustang aircraft. New Zealand, British and Indian military units (known as Brindiv units) worked adjoining prefectures. American units were based further away.
Once the major demilitarisation efforts were underway, Australia’s BCOF work became more about guard duties and training, with responsibility for up to 20 million Japanese civilians at the peak operational times, and some 57,000 square kilometres of the country.
The embarkation rolls reveal that of approximately 16,000 Australian BCOF personnel, some 5,300 worked in the base units, undertaking a wide range of services to enable the services to operate, including food and water supplies, communication facilities, hygiene facilities, transport, mobile laundry, bakery, mobile decontamination units, entertainment companies, military police, heavy and high-speed wireless units, as well as various signalling units, post-office units, vehicle and ammunition parks, trade-based workshops, vehicle-repair units, military/civilian press liaison units, printing and distribution facilities, and pay offices.
Many Australian BCOF personnel had served in the Second World War. Serving with the BCOF, however, presented the opportunity for spouses and children to accompany personnel on their posting to Japan. BCOF’s operational resources included provision for the construction of schools, medical facilities, playgrounds, libraries, canteens, laundry blocks and civilian housing to accommodate service personnel and their family members.
This took some time, however, and Australians serving with BCOF initially endured inadequate amenities. Food and accommodation were poor, largely due to the post-war condition of Japan, which had been profoundly damaged by Allied bombing. Food was in acutely short supply, buildings were in ruins, roads were in disrepair, and many Japanese were homeless. Many serving Australians were suffering from malaria, skin disease, and the effects of prolonged military service. In late 1946, the Australian government acknowledged the unsatisfactory conditions and amenities, and the resulting impact on the physical and mental health of Australian service personnel. From 1947, the Australian government sought to improve conditions by building barracks, housing, schools and other amenities, in order to implement a family reunification program.
The BCOF Embarkation Nominal Roll records the names of all service personnel and details of their families who travelled on troopships to Japan. The passenger ship MV Duntroon was modified to carry approximately 1,000 personnel for each voyage. The digitised Embarkation Rolls index pages show handwritten notes about personnel arriving or departing on the ship, which made many return voyages between Japan and Australia from 1945 to 1949.
The embarkation rolls contain biographical information on those who served with the BCOF. They are held as Official Records Series AWM412, titled “Japan – Embarkation Nominal Roll, British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) 1946-51”, which consists of 36 binders containing general index forms. Each form contains the details of a service person, including name, army number, rank, unit, and particulars of transport embarkations or disembarkations, with space for handwritten notes by clerical staff and officers. These index pages were sorted and stored in alphabetical order, and later bound into the set of 36 volumes – approximately 18,000 pages of records – now held in the Memorial’s collection.
The BCOF Embarkation Rolls are unique, precious documents that record the personal details of those who served, and give an insight into the role of BCOF and the experiences of service in this transitional period, between the global upheaval of the Second World War to the post-1945 Commonwealth. The BCOF Embarkation Rolls are now available for viewing online here.