Vic. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of VX42365 Sapper Eric Robert Short, 2/10th Field ...

Accession Number P02468.455
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

Vic. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of VX42365 Sapper Eric Robert Short, 2/10th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers. 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. Sapper Short, aged 32, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 26 April 1945. He was the son of Edmond and Amy Short, and the husband of Phyllis Ethel Short, of Benalla, Vic. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 5. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)