Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of VX52128 Gunner (Gnr) Albert Neil Cleary, 2/15th Field ...

Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of VX52128 Gunner (Gnr) Albert Neil Cleary, 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. Gnr Cleary, aged 22, escaped from the camp with Gnr Wally Crease on 1 March 1945 and were recaptured by some natives who handed them over to the Japanese for a reward. Both were tortured and beaten, and Gnr Crease was shot by the Japanese guards on 14 March 1945 after he stumbled into a gully and tried to escape again. Gnr Cleary was tied up and beaten again for many days before he was finally released and died on 20 March 1945. A memorial now stands on the spot where Gnr Cleary died. He was the son of James Ross Cleary and Iris Teck Cleary, of East Geelong, Vic. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 4.