Accession Number | P02467.677 |
---|---|
Collection type | Photograph |
Object type | Black & white - Film copy negative |
Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain |
NSW. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX55051 Private Arthur Robert Steele, 2/20th ...
NSW. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of NX55051 Private Arthur Robert Steele, 2/20th Battalion, Australian Infantry. 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. Private Steele, aged 41, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 10 May 1945. He was the son of Mr and Mrs G. R. Steele, and the husband of Kathleen Steele, of Hurstville Grove, NSW. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 14. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)