LEST WE FORGET
Warrant Officer John William KINDER
Service No: 205622
Born: Richmond VIC, 26 November 1916
Enlisted in the RAAF: 3 September 1935
Unit: No. 1 Squadron, Singapore (taken Prisoner of War, Singapore, February 1942)
Died: Prisoner of War (Illness): Sandakan Death March, Borneo, 10 June 1945, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Labuan War Cemetery, Malaysia
CWGC Additional Information: Son of James William and Catherine Kinder, of Ascot Vale, Victoria, Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 97, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
In January 1945, Warrant Officer Kinder a Warrant Officer Disciplinary, and a Prisoner of the Japanese, was seen on a column of Prisoners, which was to be moved from Sandakan to Jesselton on the north west coast of Borneo. Warrant Officer Kinder became sick with dysentery about the 15 April 1945 and later he suffered from malaria, and while suffering from both diseases, he died on 10 June 1945.
Warrant Officer Kinder was the only RAAF member on the Sandakan Death March.
In 1942, Warrant Kinder had been hospitalized in Singapore suffering from Malaria and was not evacuated before Singapore was occupied by Japanese forces.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A9301, 205622