VX24734

2/22nd Infantry Battalion

Leongatha 13 April 1913.

Ruby Broadbent, his mother. His father Fred Broadbent died before he enlisted.

11 June 1940 at Caulfield

Leongatha

Baker

1 July 1942 South China Sea aged 29

He is on the Rabaul Memorial, the Leongatha Memorial and in the Leongatha Cemetery.

Fred grew up in Leongatha and attended Leongatha State School.


Fred was placed in the 2/22nd Battalion and trained at Mt Martha before going to Trawool near Seymour. The battalion then marched on foot from Trawool to Bonegilla near Albury for further training. Fred was in A Company with many other men from Leongatha and district and his commanding officer was Major Bill Owen.

Soldiers of the 2/22nd Battalion were given a few days leave to see their families and friends before returning to Bonegilla and going away to the war. The men embarked from Sydney and sailed into Rabaul Harbour on Anzac Day 1941.

The men continued training waiting to see what would happen next. Would the Japanese attack? Bombing started in late 1941 and the situation became very serious. The undermanned force was in serious trouble. The Japanese landed with a large force and quickly over ran Rabaul on 23 January 1942. Fred was captured and imprisoned in Rabaul. The prisoners were badly treated. They were forced out to work and given little to eat.

The overcrowded conditions at the camp and the lack of sanitation led to increased disease. The men�s health declined rapidly.

The Japanese decided to move over 1000 enlisted POWs and civilian detainees. Fred and the other men were woken in the barracks before dawn on 22 June and assembled on the parade ground.

The men assembling that morning were in very poor condition. The soldiers, including the sick, were marched out. Some had to be supported by their mates or were carried on makeshift stretchers. There were in all 1057 men. They were loaded onto the Montevideo Maru and forced down into the holds. They must have thought they were in a hell ship. The plan was for the ship to go to Hainan Island in the South China Sea. Lack of fresh air and filthy conditions would certainly have caused many to die in the Montevideo Maru's holds. Sadly, this plan never came to fruition. The Montevideo Maru was sunk by the USS Sturgeon at 02.29. While some of the Japanese crew survived by launching three life boats, it is believed all of the prisoners drowned in the holds. The Japanese vessel had no markings to show it was carrying POWs. This was the worst maritime disaster in Australian history.
He became a baker and was a well- known local jockey. He was a mate of Jack Howard from the Commercial Hotel. Fred's father had originally come to Leongatha to play football and had been a barman at both local hotels. Mrs. Ruby Broadbent, Fred's mother, was a cook at the Commercial Hotel. Fred as a jockey had great success at race meetings at Leongatha and Stony Creek. His father died in 1940 and one of the last things Fred said to Mr. Howard Snr was "look after my Mum". Ruby Broadbent remained a dear friend of the Howard family for the rest of her life. She was called Broady, and was treated like a member of the family. She had no other family, as Fred had been her only child. Ruby Broadbent had a small house in Hassett St Leongatha and eventually sold that and lived at the Commercial Hotel before moving to live in a bungalow at the rear of the home of Joe Howard (Jack Howard's brother). She suffered from mental illness and probably had dementia. Unfortunately, her final years were spent alone in an asylum in Ararat. No doubt the loss of her son had an enormous impact on her life.

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