Military Chat

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Quick Search

Single word search

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Looking for my great uncle Japanese POW

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

kathy

kathy Report 30 Jan 2024 13:26

Hi I am looking for some info on my great Uncle Jims
millitary History

He was a japanese proisoner of war ww2
I have hes birth and death but just cannot get any further find his wife or son or any record on the militaryn sites

any Advice would be very welcome
he was my Favourite Great Uncle as a child always telling us funny stories from his time as POW
He had a son gary born 1947 poplar
But his wife died young so I never met her or know her name

what I know
Have a photo in his uniform

James Payne born in Poplar tower hamlets , East london in 1918
Father Henry Payne 1881-1835 Poplar tower hamlets , East london
Mother Florence Hatcher 1882-1973 Poplar tower hamlets , East london
son gary born 1947 Poplar tower hamlets , East london
I think garys wife was Faye or Joy they had 2 boys
James Payne died in 1988 in a Hospice in Hackney east london from cancer

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 30 Jan 2024 13:50

Welcome to the boards, Kathy.

Unfortunately, WW2 service records are not online.

If you have the right bits of information (including a copy of his death cert), you can order a copy of his service record.

Instructions and info here:
https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-records-of-service



You can find out Gary's mother's maiden name by looking up his birth on:
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Then, also on FreeBMD, look for a marriage between James Payne and a woman with that surname.
When you find the record, click on the number in blue to see the wife's full name.

The marriage was in 1946 in Hackney.
James's wife's first name was Doris.

I won't post her surname here in case Gary is still living.

kathy

kathy Report 30 Jan 2024 15:06

wow Thank you so Much I have just ordered a birth certificate for Jimmy
and have now located doris and Gary
You are a Genius !

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 30 Jan 2024 17:25

You're welcome!
It's easy when you know how.

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 30 Jan 2024 17:27

DoB 30/06/1918

Home address:54 Appian Road, Bow, E3

Civilian Occupation General Builders’ Labourer

Captured in Singapore
Service Number 5828850
2 Cambs

Held prisoner in Thailand


Index card is on FindMyPast

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 30 Jan 2024 17:31

Have just re-read your post properly, noticed mention of POW, and therefore found this (on Ancestry), which gives his service number, which will help if you're ordering his service record:

James Payne
in the UK, World War II Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945
Name James Payne
Nationality British
Rank Private
Birth Date 30 Jun 1918
Birth Place 54, Appian Road, Bow, E.3
Military Date 1939-1945
Military Place Singapore
Regiment 2 Cambs, Army
Service Number 5828850
Mother Florence
Description 40: Japanese Index Cards of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees, World War II: Parsons-Peyton

Captured in Singapore.
Occupation: General builder's labourer

Date of capture: 17/2/15 - but that's in Japanese dating system.

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 30 Jan 2024 17:36

Also this, although it gives a different DOB:

James Payne
in the UK and Allied Countries, World War II Liberated Prisoner of War Questionnaires, 1945-1946
Name James Payne
Rank Lance Corporal
Birth Date 31 May 1918
Enlistment Date 18 Jan 1940
Capture Date 15 Feb
Capture Place Singapore
Imprisonment Force Japan
Service Number 5828850
Unit 2rd Combo 18th Div
War WWII


He was in Changi camp, 51/2/42 - 29/10/42;
Chunghai 29/10/42 - 15//2/45;
Tamuan 15/2//45 - 25/6/45;
Takuri 25/6/45 - 16/8/45


He doesn't seem to have answered anything in the questionnaire.

kathy

kathy Report 30 Jan 2024 17:58

This is all so wonderful
I’m
Amazed !! And delighted
He was in the military hospital in Woolwich
With depression my mum said which always baffles me as he was such a funny happy guy I used to visit him there regular and he was writing his memoirs
But somehow they went missing in the hospital
Or so he told us
He had a hole well large indent in his front and back
And he would tell us he was stabbed with a bayonet
And it went straight through him
He would never eat rice. As he said that’s all he got in the camp
He had so many funny stories like
Aun the army they ate green sausages before he was captured
And getting pooed on by an elephant in the camps
They was starved and beaten
Horrible

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 30 Jan 2024 19:59

1939 Register
54 Appian Road, Victoria Park, Hackney, Poplar, London, England
Henry Payne 19 May 1882 Male Docker Invalid Married 254 1
Florence Payne 02 Apr 1883 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 254 2
Jane Payne 31 May 1918 Female Builder's Labourer Single 254 3
Francis Payne 07 Jan 1920 Male Bricklayer Single 254 4
Thomas (C) Payne 21 Aug 1921 Male Builder's Labourer Single 254 5


1921 Census Of England & Wales
54, Appian Road, Bow, Poplar Borough, London & Middlesex, England
Henry Payne Head Male 1882 39 Bethnal Green, London, England Dock Labourer Tea Duckanan High St Wapping Out Of Work
Florence Payne Wife Female 1882 39 Bow, London, England - -
Florence Payne Daughter Female 1902 19 Bow, London, England Factory Hand Match Patent Light Mnfrs Palmers Old Ford Rd, Bow Out Of Work
Henry Payne Son Male 1904 17 Bow, London, England Factory Hand Achille Serres Harvey Wich Out Of Work
Emily Payne Daughter Female 1906 15 Bow, London, England Factory Han Ddyers & Cleaner Palmers Old Ford Rd, Bow
William Payne Son Male 1907 14 Bow, London, England - Out Of Work
Lilian Payne Daughter Female 1909 12 Bow, London, England - -
George Payne Son Male 1914 7 Bow, London, England - -
Frederick Payne Son Male 1915 5 Bow, London, England - -
Elizabeth Payne Daughter Female 1916 4 Bow, London, England - -
James Payne Son Male 1918 3 Bow, London, England - -
Francis Payne Son Male 1920 1 Bow, London, England -

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 30 Jan 2024 20:00


1911 Census For England & Wales
54 Appian Road Bow, Poplar Borough, London & Middlesex, England
Henry Payne Head Married Male 28 1883 Hawker Bethnal Green
Florence Payne Wife Married Female 29 1882 None Old Ford Bow
Florence Payne Daughter - Female 8 1903 School Old Ford Bow
Henry Payne Son - Male 6 1905 School Old Ford Bow E
Emily Payne Daughter - Female 5 1906 School Old Ford Bow E
William Payne Son - Male 4 1907 - Old Ford Bow E
Lillian Payne Daughter - Female 1 1910 - Old Ford Bow E

Jink20

Jink20 Report 30 Jan 2024 20:15

If you sign up to the National Archives the following POW records are available to view online under the respective WO numbers

Prisoners of War Information Bureau: Correspondence and Papers WO 307

Compensation requests WO 309

Liberated Prisoners Questionnaires WO 344

Japanese Index Cards of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees, WO 345

Allied Prisoners of War Hospitals, Thailand and Burma, WO 347.

Compensation requests FO 950- WO 309

Japanese Registers of Allied Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees held in
Camps in Singapore, WO 367

Camps FO 916, FO 939

There are also the following FEPOW (Far East Prisoners of War) websites

http://www.captivememories.org.uk/

http://www.fepow-community.org.uk/

http://www.cofepowdb.org.uk/cdb2/Index.jsp

http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/armedforces_raf1.htm

http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/

http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/other/haruku_island.html

http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/

http://www.mansell.com/pow-index.html

http://www.researchingfepowhistory.org.uk/

http://www.fepow-memorial.org.uk/The_FEPOW_Story.htm

http://thejavafepowclub42.org/

http://thejavafepowclub42.org/links.html

http://www.theprisonerlist.com/further-research.html

http://www.cofepowdb.org.uk/cdb2/Controller.jsp?action=simplesearch

kathy

kathy Report 31 Jan 2024 10:14

WOW Thank you all so much

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 31 Jan 2024 12:03

https://www.cofepow.org.uk/armed-forces-stories-list/2nd-battalion-cambs-regiment

Well worth reading......................................

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 4 Feb 2024 13:41

You might also read the article on the BBC News app about Ronald Searle and others as PoW's of the Japanese