Studio portrait of QX16802 Private (Pte) John William Gratton, 2/3 Reserve Motor Transport ...

Studio portrait of QX16802 Private (Pte) John William Gratton, 2/3 Reserve Motor Transport Company, AASC. A motor mechanic from Toowoomba, Queensland, Pte Gratton enlisted on 7 March 1941. He served in Malaya and was promoted to the rank of Corporal then Sergeant (Sgt). Whilst serving in Java in 1942 he was made prisoner of war (POW) of the Japanese. Sgt Gratton was later transferred to camps in Thailand and was one the approximately 700 Australian and 600 British POWs selected for a work party to be transported to Japan aboard the Rakuyo Maru. Sgt Gratton died on 12 September 1944 when the Rakuyo Maru was sunk in the South China Sea by the US Navy submarine USS Sealion. He was aged 39. The message to his son on the back of the photograph reads, "Dear Colin, Well Col how are you going. I have just heard that Bill Johnson has gone to hospital with a bad knee. I do not think it is too serious but it slips out of joint every now & then so I suppose Bill hopes it will slip out at the right time & get him another sea trip. I hope you are doing all you can for your Mother & I am depending on you a whole lot & you know if a person puts trust in you never let them down. Love from Dad." 'Bill Johnson is probably QX16796 Sgt William Benoni Johnson, also from Toowoomba and a member of 2/3 Reserve Motor Transport Company, who became a POW but survived the war.