New Zealand. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX10694 Gunner William Heyworth, 2/15th ...

Accession Number P02467.066
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Film copy negative
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

New Zealand. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX10694 Gunner William Heyworth, 2/15th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery. He was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of B Force. The 1494 POW's that made up B Force, were transported from Changi on 7 July 1942 on board the tramp ship Ubi Maru, arriving in Sandakan Harbour on 18 July 1942. Gunner Heyworth, aged 36, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 19 April 1945. He was the son of James Atherton Heyworth and Alice Maude Heyworth, of Waikato, New Zealand. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 4. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)