Accession Number | P03852.001 |
---|---|
Collection type | Photograph |
Object type | Negative |
Maker |
Unknown |
Place made | Australia: New South Wales |
Date made | c 1941 |
Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Studio portrait of NX33361 Private Richard Murray, 22nd Brigade Headquarters. He was one of over ...
Studio portrait of NX33361 Private Richard Murray, 22nd Brigade Headquarters. 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 POWs 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. In May 1945 Private Murray was one of only 30 POWs still alive at Ranau. He and Pte Keith Botterill stole rice from the Japanese to build up food stocks as they intended to escape. When the theft was discovered Pte Murray stepped forward to take responsibility, knowing he would be killed. He was bayonetted and his body thrown into a bomb crater at Ranau on 20 May 1945. Pte Murray sacrificed his life to save his friend. Pte Botterill did escape, he was one of only six survivors of the Sandakan death marches. Pte Murray was the son of Frank and Catherine Murray and the husband of Margaret Murray, of Hurstville, NSW. His body was recovered from Ranau and is now buried in the Labuan Cemetery Section 21, Row E, Plot 7. (Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)