Qld. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of QX13600 Private Sydney Roberts, 2/26th ...

Accession Number P02468.027
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

Qld. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of QX13600 Private Sydney Roberts, 2/26th 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 Roberts, aged 42, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 21 May 1945. He was the son of Francis Edward and Annie Mildred Roberts, and the husband of Maud Emma Roberts, of Red Hill, Qld. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 15. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)