Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

Five: Leading Stoker H. S. Hanwell, Royal Navy

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (KX. 77874 L. Sto., H.M.S. Sultan), good very fine or better (5) £250-300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the collection of Angela and the late Douglas Bertram.

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H.M.S. Sultan was the depot ship at Singapore.

Hanwell was murdered by the Japanese at Macassar on the Island of Celebes on 14 March 1945, having endured captivity since being taken P.O.W. in the “Battle of Java Sea” in late February 1942, a disastrous engagement in which the Allied Pacific fleet was all but wiped out - Hanwell’s ship, the destroyer H.M.S. Encounter, was among those sunk (see A Dictionary of Disasters at Sea for further details).

Quite a few accounts survive of the horrendous conditions endured by the R.N. and R.M. personnel who were interned at Macassar, not least Never Forget, Nor Forgive, by Captain G. T. Cooper, R.N. Indeed such was the scale of the atrocities carried out by the Japanese at this camp that a number of eye-witness accounts were taken down for possible use at subsequent war crimes tribunals. Some of these are recounted in Lord Russell of Liverpool’s The Knights of Bushido, A Short History of Japanese War Crimes (326pp.), including the story of a Stoker, R.N. who was given more than 200 strokes - possibly from a pick-axe handle - but who managed to stand to attention immediately afterwards for two hours. The same source also recounts the events of 14 March 1945:

‘Day in and day out this terrible round of tortures and beatings went on unceasingly, and by this time the physique of the prisoners was deteriorating rapidly and their ability to endure such ill-treatment was diminishing. The prime mover of it all was Yoshida, who clearly enjoyed himself, for he was never absent from these torture sessions and was, more often than not, an active participant.

On 14 March 1945, however, his sadism reached, perhaps, its peak. He ordered all the patients in the Q, P, O and ‘No work’ blocks of what were known as the ‘sick barracks’ to parade outside. Q Block contained all the diagnosed cases of dysentery and beri-beri. In P Block were suspected cases of dysentery and other infectious or contagious diseases, O was the convalescent block for patients who had been in blocks Q and P, and the ‘No work’ block was for those temporarily incapacitated from working on account of injuries or bouts of malaria. Many of the patients in these blocks were, of course, unable to stand, let alone walk.

Nevertheless, although it was pouring with rain all the patients without exception were taken outside. Captain Dieudonne, a Dutch officer who was the senior prisoner of war in the camp, tried to prevent some of the more seriously ill patients being lifted from their beds, and was beaten.

All the patients were then marched to the camp gate, those unable to walk being carried by their friends. The distance to the gate was about one hundred and fifty yards and the rain was pouring down in torrents. Most of them had nothing on but the clothing they wore in bed and were soaked through in no time. Yoshida kept the parade waiting in the rain, after it had reached the gate, for at least a quarter of an hour, after which he dismissed it. As a result of their exposure a number of prisoners died, and the conditions of many others were aggravated.’

In common with several hundred R.N. and R.M. personnel who were interred in the camp cemetery, Hanwell’s remains were moved to the Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia after the War.