'Sandakan-Ranau Death Marches Reward Mission. At the latter end of 1946, a military mission in ...

'Sandakan-Ranau Death Marches Reward Mission. At the latter end of 1946, a military mission in charge of Major H W S Jackson, representing the Australian Government, and Major R K Dyce, representing the British Government, was sent to British North Borneo to repay and reward the natives who aided and succoured the Australian prisoners of war during the infamous Sandakan-Ranau death marches. In addition to other military personnel, Mr C Simpson went as writer for the ABC and BBC, and Mr W MacFarlane as recording technician. The Mission retraced stretches of the actual Death March track, and in all travelled 185 miles on foot.' Paginatan village, twenty six miles on the Sandakan side of Ranau, was a Japanese food dump during Japanese occupancy of the area. It was from here that Australian and British prisoners of war were forced to carry heavy loads of rice over the mountains to Ranau. As a result of these marches there were only six survivors out of a total of 2400 Australian and British prisoners of war.