Two prisoners of war with Kyneton family have been honoured in the 80th anniversary of their tragic deaths.
Civilian Harry Darley Holland and Sydney McGregor, Private 2/22nd Battalion, were among those to perish on board the unmarked Japanese transport freighter SS Montevideo Maru.
The freighter was torpedoed on July 1, 1942, off the coast of Luzon Island, in the Philippines, by the American submarine USS Sturgeon. Its attackers were unaware it was carrying allied prisoners.
Following the fall of Rabaul, New Guinea, Japanese invasion saw soldiers of the 2/22nd Battalion and civilians held prisoner.
There were about 1051 mostly Australian soldiers and civilians on board being transported to Hainan, off southern China. All prisoners on board died.
Deaths on the Montevideo Maru were not fully revealed in Australia until after the end of the war.
Kyneton branch of the Country Women’s Association held a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the tragedy.
Harry’s great nephew Rob Hamilton and Sydney’s daughter Helen Forsyth shared their family stories and laid wreaths at the Kyneton cenotaph last Friday.
Sydney McGregor, Private, 2/22nd Battalion
Private Sydney McGregor, 2/22 Battalion, of McKinnon, enlisted in June, 1940, and served in New Britain.
Sydney was the youngest of nine children and felt it was his duty to serve as his brothers had done so in WWI.
His daughter Helen was just four years old when he left.
With six weeks training he embarked to New Guinea. He was an accountant before army service and was described as “a very gentle, quiet man”.
Helen said her mother constantly told her stories about her father, hoping they would soon reunite.
The family received many letters home but these began to dwindle as Japanese troops invaded. Her mother then learnt Sydney had become a prisoner of war and went for months with no news. One letter followed before they stopped altogether.
“Although she never received any more mail she held firmly to the belief that he was still alive and that belief never wavered in that time,” Helen said.
Helen recalled in 2012 Japan finally released a list of those on board the SS Montevideo Maru. At this time the Australian Government unveiled a memorial to those who went down on the SS Montevideo Maru.
Harry Darley Holland, civilian
Harry was born 1893 at Clifton Hill and enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne in September 1914.
He was allocated to the 8th Light Horse Battalion in machine gun section as a Private. He became a provisional Lance Cpl within three months.
Harry served in Gallipoli but was wounded in his left eye at Walkers Ridge after just 10 days.
His eye had to be removed and he was discharged as medically unfit in December 1915.
He moved to the Territory of New Guinea around 1919 and went on to marry and had two children.
Harry was a radio station manager and part of the civilian coastal watch at the time of the Japanese invasion.
