Corporal Clifford Leslie Farlow 2/19th Battalion AIF, 8th Division Cliff Farlow was born on the 27th April 1922 and moved to Hay as a baby with his parents when they took up a block, Finally, in June ‘No 1 Japan Party’ under Brigadier Varley, left Saigon in steel railway trucks, 50 men to a truck, and arrived at River Valley Road Camp in Singapore. I thought at the time that Rosedale, on the Hay Irrigation Area to run a successful dairy. He attended the Hay Public and War Memorial High Schools. it was the biggest nightmare of a ride one could ever have made. The suffering troops generally went through had to be seen to be believed. There were no washing arrangements and food was He voluntarily enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on the 26th June 1940 at Wagga Wagga NSW, aged 18 years. He practically non-existent; dysentery and malaria were rife. The city had been ransacked by now and not much there except filthy rice and not much of it. How we stayed alive God only knows. trained at Walgrove, Ingleburn and Bathurst NSW army camps before leaving Sydney for overseas service on the passenger We worked on a dry dock until finally boarding the transport ship Rakuyo Maru on the 6th September 1944. liner RMS Queen Mary on the 4th February 1941. The Queen Mary had since been modified for the transport of troops and given the capacity of 16,000 men. She was fitted with small calibre guns but her greatest defence against enemy U-boats was her incredible speed. Japan here we come! What a hell ship this turned out to be. Protests by our officers concerning conditions were to no avail and we were herded down into the hold unbelievably jammed in like sardines. There was Destination Unknown no room to lie down, just sit side by side in the steaming heat – sick men, the lot together. With only a bowl of rotten rice a day, away we go.” After leaving Freemantle, the Queen Mary split from the main convoy in the Indian Ocean and sailed full steam for Singapore under the protective escort of a single warship. She docked in The Japanese Imperial Forces, having won their swift victory in the South West Pacific, had captured tens of thousands of POW’s. Many of these unfortunate people were brutally used as slave Singapore harbour on the 18th February 1941. Not long after Cliff’s embarkation, his unit boarded a northbound train for Seremban, Malaya, his first camp overseas. labour as Japan was not a signatory to the Geneva Convention. Moving POW’s around SE Asia was generally done by unmarked transport ships. As the war progressed, Japanese shipping of Cliff was personally never impressed by the country or the local people and disappointedly wondered why the 8th Division had been dumped in Malaya, now to be their home away from all kinds came under sustained and increasingly effective Allied attack by long range patrol aircraft and the American submarine fleet. home. Over the next nine months the Australians made every endeavor to put up with the place, the heat, humidity, rain, smells, the people and the food; at the same time having to be trained again for jungle warfare. Troops soon began experiencing the debilitating effects of tropical diseases such as malaria, bacterial and fungal itches and rashes too numerous to mention. The Sinking of the Rakuyo Maru There were other diseases that the medical staff were unfamiliar with but did their best to give some relief to sufferers. The following is the horrific account of the sinking of the Rakuyo Maru by the submarine USS Sealion II, related by Cliff Farlow many years after the event. Other American submarines sank Cliff mentioned that ‘itching’ was never ending and the scratching almost unbearable at times and wondered why they were here in Malaya – besides there was no war in this part of the many other ships as they hunted the convoy along its course. world! “Then an amazing, wonderful thing happened on the 12.9.44 – the Rakuyo Maru was hit by a torpedo. It was ‘wonderful’ because by this time we were all ready for anything – even death. Malayan Campaign I believe we were hit twice yet there was no sudden sinking. Within minutes the Japs were leaving the ship in panic, quite a few of them never making the water. I know one fellow (POW) who Suddenly and alarmingly this would change. On the 7th December 1941 the Japanese bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbour, forcing America to formally enter the war against stood at the bottom of the ship’s stairway knocking down many (Japs) with a blow to the head with an iron bar as they clambered down screaming and yelling – they were not worrying about Germany and Japan. Japanese troops boldly entered southern Thailand and Malaya the next day. us. Eventually, without panic and giving assistance to our weak and injured comrades, it was everyone into the water. A few had life-rafts but most didn’t have and full use was made of any floating object. Some prisoners were killed of course by the torpedo blasts but fortunately or unfortunately, not many. Various groups got together on whatever flotsam in the water and made Cliff said that the Malayan campaign was ‘fast and furious’. Fast as far as the Japs were concerned and furious for the Australian 8th Division. Many gallant deeds were performed during this every endeavor to steer clear of oil and fire breaking out on the ocean’s surface. short campaign. This included a determined bayonet charge led by Cliff with his platoon against seasoned enemy troops during the Battle of Muar for which he received a bayonet wound to the shoulder. However, the Australians were eventually overwhelmed by a determined enemy and most of the 8th Division became prisoners of war (POW’s) at the surrender of Singapore to A Jap destroyer came through some hours later and picked up the few Japanese that survived; quite a few of the enemy had been manhandled in the water by our boys and drowned. This de- the Japanese on the 15th February 1942. stroyer could have picked up many prisoners of war without much effort, but I sincerely believe they had no intention of doing so. Days went by with some troops drowning themselves, others just sliding off a raft or piece of wood, never to be seen again – sheer exhaustion but always a fight to the bitter end. Prisoners of War On the 15.9.44, our prayers were answered, the few of us who were left saw something in the distance; our first thoughts were that it was a mirage, but then as it appeared closer we heard a Changi, previously the British army’s principal base in Singapore, initially became the main camp for all British and Australian POW’s. thumping sound – probably a Jap sub, so what! But no, it was our salvation – a Yankie submarine, the USS Pampanito. The following is the continuation of Cliff’s personal story. Four days in the water clinging to a makeshift raft, our bodies covered in oil and in a weakened state of mind and limb, we hardly knew we were being taken on board. “First I must say that the Malays, Tamil Indians and any other race excluding the Chinese were I feel pro-Japanese and had little intention of giving support to the British whom they felt had Oh, what a wonderful miracle, free and safe at last!” done little if anything to improve their way of life. What shocks they were in for. The Japanese had no intention of improving their lot either, they were just pawns in the game. The USS Pampanito picked up 70 men alive before calling the search off. Of the 1,318 Australian and British prisoners of war aboard the Rakuyo Maru, only about 150 were rescued by Ameri- I left Changi camp in a work party and transferred to the Great World Amusement Park (transformed into a prison by the Japanese for Australian POW’s). From here we worked every day can submarines. A total of 1159 POW’s were killed in this incident. and half the night repairing the bomb-damaged Singapore wharves with little time for relaxation. However, due to sickness I was transported back to Changi at the end of April. The crew of USS Pampanito gave the survivors every comfort in their weakened state. Five days later on the 20.9.44, they arrived at Saipan and placed in an army hospital to be ‘royally’ cared A week later, sick or not, I was placed in ‘A’ force under the command of Lt-Col George Ernest Ramsay along with 1000 POW’s and left Singapore on the Celebes Marie for Burma. I arrived at for by wonderfully attentive American army nurses. a place called Mergui in southern Burma where the chosen work was breaking metal small enough to make runways for aircraft. We broke it with mallets, carrying it in cane baskets, two men to a pole style – again all day and half the night. We began losing men from starvation, disease etc. At this stage the food was just rice and the odd bit of bread. Homecoming I was not very long at this camp before Ramsay Force was made to walk to the town of Ye then to Tavoy, Burma, where we stayed a few months before being moved to 26 Kilo camp, Burma Railway on 20th December 1942.