Original cross marking the grave of NX49021 Private (Pte) John Roger (Jack) Hill, of Chiltern, ...

Original cross marking the grave of NX49021 Private (Pte) John Roger (Jack) Hill, of Chiltern, Vic, who enlisted in 2/20 Battalion on 10 October 1941. Whilst in Singapore he transferred to 2/19 Battalion and was taken prisoner of war (POW) of the Japanese. Pte Hill was in a group of prisoners moved to Japan in December 1943, where he worked at ship building company in Kobe. He was sent to the camp hospital with pulmonary tuberculosis in May 1945. Whilst there the hospital was damaged in an air raid and Hill suffered severe burns. Pte Hill died on 20 July 1945, aged 34. It is inscribed with 2/20 Battalion (his original battalion). A later plaque at the British Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, Yokohama, was inscribed with 2/19 Battalion.

• Group portrait of members of the Hill family of Germantown (later renamed Holbrook), NSW. Back ...