Studio portrait of NX26728 Bombardier (Bdr) Colin Haldon Pring, 17 Anti Tank Battery. A law ...

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Accession Number P10370.001
Collection type Photograph
Object type Colour - Toned black & white print
Date made c 1940
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Studio portrait of NX26728 Bombardier (Bdr) Colin Haldon Pring, 17 Anti Tank Battery. A law student from Sydney in civilian life, Bdr Pring enlisted on 20 June 1940 served in New Britain. Following the Japanese invasion of January 1942, he was taken prisoner of war (POW) and held at Rabaul. On 22 June 1942 Bdr Pring, aged 22, was one of an estimated 845 POWs and 209 civilians who embarked from Rabaul aboard the Japanese transport ship MV Montevideo Maru. The POWs were members of 17 Anti Tank Battery, No. 1 Independent Company, 2/22 Battalion, and other units of Lark Force. Civilians included officials of the New Guinea Administration and missionaries. The ship sailed unescorted for Hainan Island. On 1 July 1942 all the prisoners died when the Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by a US Navy submarine, USS Sturgeon, off the coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines.