Name
Wilfred Amos Sharp
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
12/09/1944
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
890847
Royal Artillery
135 (The Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regt.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
SINGAPORE MEMORIAL
Column 36.
Singapore
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. John's War Memorial, St. Mary's Church, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born in Hertfordshire and was resident there when he enlisted. His Service Number was 890847 and he was a Territorial in 344 Battery of the 135th (Herts Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.
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 was a prisoner-of-war on the Japanese Auxiliary ‘Hofoku Maru’ which was of 5825 tons, built in 1918 and probably on its way to Japan_ He died a few days before the ship was attacked and sunk by American carrier-based aircraft off the west coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines on the 21st September 1944. The men had been packed into the ship in dreadful conditions, with little food or water in the tropical heat and with no effective medical or toilet facilities.
He was buried at sea, and he is remembered on the Singapore Memorial to the Missing on Column 36.
He was the son of Mr and Mrs W. Sharp of Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Paul Johnson - local historian, ‘Dictionary of Disasters at Sea’ by C. Hocking, ‘History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery - Far East Theatre - 1941-1946’ by M. Farndale
