John Edward Shelley is born in COOTAMUNDRA on 16 Feb 1916, the third of five children born to Frank Edward Shelley and Lydia née Chandler who married in 1910 in CANTURBURY. His siblings are Estelle M (born 1910 in BURWOOD), Millicent J (born 1913 in SUTHERLAND), younger brother Frank Lewis (born 1918 in BURWOOD) who also served in WW2 and Winifred L (born 1922 in YOUNG).

He enlists in the 2nd AIF on 13 Jul 1940 as Jack Edward Shelley but doesn't commence full-time duty until 7 Jan 1941.

It is most likely that as the Japanese Army threat became more pressing, the rush to enlist men outstripped the Australian ability to house, manage and train them, and there was a period of 'registration' followed by a later call-up to commence training. Other records over the same period show similar gaps between enlistment and training.

He gives his birth details as above and his occupation as labourer. His NOK is his father who now lives in ARNECLIFFE.

On enlistment he records 5 years service with the 7th Light Horse, which at that time was a Home Defence Force or Citizens Military Force unit. In 1942 it was converted and redesignated the 7th Australian Motor Regiment and disbanded in 1943.

The Service and Casualty Form B.103 used to record occurences gives his hair colour as black, eyes brown, an appendix scar and a scar across the bridge of his nose. His medical record would normally record this, as well as the condition of his teeth, height, weight and chest expansion.

He is assigned to the 27th Brigade Australian Army Service Corps as a driver and disembarks in SINGAPORE on 23 Aug 1941 and gets involved in a fracas in the Malacca Club on 4 Nov 1941 which costs him a fine of £2/0/0.

The 27th Brigade is assigned to the west of the Malay Peninsular and together with several British and Indian units is involved in the Battle of GEMAA and the Battle of MUAR as the Allies were pushed down the peninsular. The AASC drivers were heavily involved and were crucial in a number of cases where their vehicles were used to reposition and withdraw troops from the front line.

After being driven back by the Japanese, the brigade was then heavily involved in the Defence of SINGAPORE. The Commonwealth troops surrendered on 15 Feb 1942. Jack Shelley is reported as missing on 16 Feb 1942 and confirmed as captured on 26 Aug 1943.

As for what happened while he was a POW, his currently available digitised record shows no detail other than his capture, presence in CHANGI, recovery in FUKUOKA in JAPAN and repatriation from MANILA to AUSTRALIA.

The actions of various units and the men of those units are, however, quite well documented, and we can extrapolate quite a deal. I have done as much of that as I can.

Anecdotally, the family was told that after capture he worked for the Japanese as a driver for a period, but somehow blotted his copybook and was sent back into the general pool of labourers.

Other evidence at mansell.com [© Roger Mansell] puts him in A Force (see sidebar below) on the THAI/BURMA Railroad, boarding the AWA MARU from River Valley Road Camp and sailing on Boxing Day 1944 to MOJI, where they disembarked on 15 Jan 1945 in mid-winter. 150 of the group (which did NOT include Jack) travelled to SENRYU, EMUKAE, where they received training by Japanese miners and were put to work in a SUMIMOTO-owned coal mine. See picture of the SUMIMOTO mine below.

As he appears on the Roster for Camp 17, he would have been assigned to the MIKAWA Coal Mine in OMUTA, KYUSHU which appears, in a picture further down the page, to be much less safely reinforced.

It is generally accepted that over 1/3^rd of all Japanese prisoners: American; Australian; British; Burmese; Canadian; Chinese; Dutch; Filipino; Indian; Javanese; Korean; Malayan; New Zealander; Norwegian; South African; Thai and other civilians and military died in captivity, while many were murdered instead of being taken prisoner.

Further information concerning the FUKUOKA POW camp(s), as well as wider Japanese POW statistics can be found here.

The AWM advises over 22,000 Australians became prisoners of war in South East Asia.

On 13 Sep 1945 it is reported that he is a Prisoner of War released from imprisonment at FUKUOKA, JAPAN. The former POW were retained in Japan until their health and physique had improved, but there is no record of his travel from there to MANILA where he arrived on 26 Sep 1945.

On 4 Oct 1945 he embarks with more than 1,000 ex-PoWs from MANILA aboard British aircraft carrier HMS FORMIDABLE for SYDNEY, where he disembarks on 13 Oct 1945.

After processsing by the General Details Depot he is admitted to 101 Convalescent Depot on 14 Nov 1945. On the 8th of January 1946 he marches in to the General Duties Depot and is discharged on compassionate grounds on 9 Jan 1946.

Calculation of his service on discharge is as follows:

    WAR SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . .   212 DAYS
    ACTIVE SERVICE OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA . . . .  1529 DAYS
    ACTIVE SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA  . . . . . . 88 79 DAYS
    COMPUTED TO AND INCLUDING (DATE) . . . .31 DEC 1945
    ADD From . 1 Jan 1946 to 9 Jan 1946  . .     9 DAYS
    TOTAL EFFECTIVE SERVICE  . . . . . . . .  1929 DAYS

The plaque placed on his grave by his family records that whilst a POW he was held at CHANGI PRISON in SINGAPORE, worked on the THAI/BURMA railway - with all that this entailed - and was then transported to JAPAN and held captive there. These facts have been verified.

Display Jack Shelley's Service Record. [Does not include that part of the record which is closed,as noted in the chronological record] and while within the period where it can be released under the Archives Act 1983 it has not yet been examined.

See further information on the River Valley Road Camp, SINGAPORE from the 2/4th Machinegun Battalion site.

Display statement by Neil O. McPherson 2/2 Pioneer Battalion concerning survivors of A Force from the River Valley Road Camp as they sail to Japan on AWA MARU to FUKUOKA Camp 24 are put to work in the SUMIMOTO-owned coal mine and then the end of the war. 

Jack Shelley appears in the POW Rosters as being in OMUTA-FUKUOKA Camp 17 with number 7640 and this aligns with a typed entry on the Japanese POW Card which is "XVII 7640".  Display Prisoner of War Roster for Fukuoka Camp 17. The Roster gives US, British,Australian Dutch names in that sequence, with Jack Shelley as 17-7640 in the Australian Section about 3/4 of the way through what is quite a lengthy document.

Jack Shelley marries Ellen Emily Eccleston in 1947 at ROCKDALE and dies in YOUNG on 22 Feb 1956, six days short of his 40th birthday.

This record was compiled for Jack's nephew, Vietnam veteran 215882 Trevor Francis Shelley and his family by Clive Mitchell-Taylor October/November 2022.

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The original service record is amended only when the incident is reported which means that events are not necessarily recorded in in strict chronological sequence. This is the date shown on the left of the page of the original record, and also on the left in my transcription but readers should note that at times there may be no date of reporting at all, particularly when service personel are repatriated for discharge at the end of hostilities.

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