Studio portrait of 205622 Warrant Officer John William Kinder, No 1 Squadron RAAF. WO Kinder of ...

Studio portrait of 205622 Warrant Officer John William Kinder, No 1 Squadron RAAF. WO Kinder of Richmond, Vic, enlisted on 3 September 1935. He was one of 2400 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo until 1945. When the Japanese started to realise that the war may have been lost, the emaciated prisoners were force marched, in three separate marches, to the village of Ranau, 250 km away.The march route was through virgin jungle and some of the prisoners had no boots. Rations were less than minimal and prisoners who were unable to walk were shot. Of the 2400 prisoners who were held at Sandakan, 1047 were sent on death marches and only six men survived the death march. On 10 June 1945 WO Kinder died as a POW at Ranau, aged 28 years.

• 205622 Warrant Officer John William Kinder, No 1 Squadron RAAF training at Kota Bahru. WO Kinder ...
• 205622 Warrant Officer John William Kinder, No 1 Squadron RAAF being interviewed on Radio Malaya, ...