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EDWARDS, Herbert

Number:

VX27881

27 Brigade Coy, Australian Army Service Corps

Melbourne 25 September 1920

Beatrice Edwards his mother Son of Ernest and Beatrice Amy Edwards, of Frankston, Victoria.

27 June 1940 at Caulfield

Meeniyan

Motor mechanic

12 September 1944 in the sinking of the Rakuyo Maru in the Luzon Strait, South China Sea. He was aged 24.

He is remembered on the Labuan Memorial and the Leongatha Memorial.

He was from Meeniyan


In September 1944 the Ruyuko Maru was transporting 1317 Australian and British POWs from Singapore to Formosa (Taiwan). The soldiers were survivors of the Thai Burma railway had recently returned to Singapore from Burma and Thailand. On 12 September the vessel was attacked by three US submarines. It was sunk by the USS Sealion. Some of the POWs survived on rafts and were rescued a few days later. In all 1159 POWs, including Herbert, died.

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Gippsland bush undergrowth and tree ferns

The Leongatha & District Historical Society acknowledges the Bunurong & Gunaikurnai people as the Traditional Custodians of this land and their continued connection to land, sea, and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past & present.

© Leongatha & District Historical Society Inc. 1985 - 2023

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