Sadly the last survivor of the WW2 Sandakan/Ranau Death Marches, Owen Cambell has passed away in Adelaide, aged 87 years. Of the 2,434 prisoners of the Japanese at Sandakan POW camp in Borneo, only six escapees on the death marches survived to tell the story of horror that was Sandakan. Campell was understandably bitter that a rescue attempt of the Sandakan prisoners was not made even though news of their plight had filtered through to our military & government leaders. Also the steps that were taken to suppress the truth of the events which he believed to be because of our country's interest in establishing trade with Japan after the war. It must have been extremely hard for him & the other handful of survivors to try to go on with their lives after such an experience, but at least they were able to help give closure to the families of those who did not return by eventually being able to have their story told. Sharon McBride Perth, Western Australia mailto:[email protected] Research Interests http://members.iinet.net.au/~mcbride/

Sharon I had a high school teacher in the early 1960's who said the 9th Div missed this march by a weeks because of an strike in Sydney getting supplies to PNG in time. Mike Boyd ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sharon McBride" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2003 8:24 PM Subject: Last Survivor of Sandakan/Ranau Death Marches Dies > Sadly the last survivor of the WW2 Sandakan/Ranau Death Marches, Owen > Cambell has passed away in Adelaide, aged 87 years. Of the 2,434 prisoners > of the Japanese at Sandakan POW camp in Borneo, only six escapees on the > death marches survived to tell the story of horror that was Sandakan. > > Campell was understandably bitter that a rescue attempt of the Sandakan > prisoners was not made even though news of their plight had filtered > through to our military & government leaders. Also the steps that were > taken to suppress the truth of the events which he believed to be because > of our country's interest in establishing trade with Japan after the war. > It must have been extremely hard for him & the other handful of survivors > to try to go on with their lives after such an experience, but at least > they were able to help give closure to the families of those who did not > return by eventually being able to have their story told. > > Sharon McBride > Perth, Western Australia > > mailto:[email protected] > Research Interests > http://members.iinet.net.au/~mcbride/ > > > ==== AUS-MILITARY Mailing List ==== > First AIF Order of Battle 1914-1918 > http://www.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/index.html > >

From: Sharon McBride [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, 06 July 2003 8:24 PM Sadly the last survivor of the WW2 Sandakan/Ranau Death Marches, Owen Cambell has passed away in Adelaide, aged 87 years. Of the 2,434 prisoners of the Japanese at Sandakan POW camp in Borneo, only six escapees on the death marches survived to tell the story of horror that was Sandakan. ... Also the steps that were taken to suppress the truth of the events which he believed to be because of our country's interest in establishing trade with Japan after the war. No steps were taken to suppress the truth. However the horrific story of the six survivors were vastly outnumbered by the thousands who came home with stories of the horror and death of the Burma-Thai Railway. Anthony