Name
Douglas Thornton Saywood
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
04/10/1943
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Bombardier
922748
Royal Artillery
135 (The Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regt.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHUNGKAI WAR CEMETERY
1. H. 2.
Thailand
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born in Essex but at the time he enlisted was resident in Hertfordshire. His Service Number was 922748 and he was a Territorial in 344 Battery of the 135th (Herts Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. This was part of the 18th (Eastern) Division which was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore in February 1942.
344 Battery was equipped with 8 x 4.5 howitzers and the Regiment sailed from Gourloch at the end of October 1941 for Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were transferred to the S.S. ‘Mount Vernon’ and went to Cape Town heading for the Middle East. On the way they were diverted to Singapore and arrived during an air attack on the 13th January 1942. After disembarking, the Battery was despatched to the west coast of Johore and was in action before withdrawing to Singapore Island by the 31st January 1942. They fought vigorously on the island until ordered to destroy their equipment and surrender on the 15th February 1942.
Following the surrender they were moved to Changi and in May 1942 moved to Bukit Timah, both on the Island of Singapore. Late in 1942 about 500 of the Regiment were at Tamarkan building the bridge on the River Kwai which was completed in April 1943. They then continued in various work camps in Thailand and Malaya where they were starved and ill-treated.
He died as a prisoner and was buried in Plot 1, Row H, Grave 2 in the Chungkai War Cemetery, Thailand
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Paul Johnson - local historian
