NSW. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX39189 Staff Sergeant Cyril James Coughlin, ...

Accession Number P02467.374
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

NSW. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX39189 Staff Sergeant Cyril James Coughlin, 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. Staff Sergeant Coughlin, aged 30, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 16 April 1945. He was the son of Edward John and Caroline Coughlin, and the husband of Josephine Ruby Coughlin, of Merewether, NSW. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 3. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)