Informal portrait of VX52128 Gunner (Gnr) Albert Neil Cleary, 2/15th Field Regiment, Royal ...

Informal portrait 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. By March 1945 the first of the POWs forced to march through the jungle had reached Ranau. Gnr Cleary, aged 22, escaped from Ranau with NX38584 Gnr Wally Crease on 1 March 1945. They 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 Japanese guards on 14 March 1945 after he stumbled into a gully and tried to escape again. The Japanese guards made an example of Gnr Cleary; he was beaten and tied to a log. For eleven days guards beat him, spat and urinated on him. Finally when close to death he was released into the care of the other POWs who took him to a creek, washed him and placed him in a hut, where he died. A memorial now stands on the spot where Cnr Cleary died. He was the son of James Ross Cleary and Iris Teck Cleary, of East Geelong, Vic. He has no known grave; he is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 4.