Gnr. Herbert William Usher
British Army 35th LAA Regiment, 89th Battery Royal Artillery
from:London
My uncle Bill Usher served in the Royal Artillery 35/89 LAA. I know very little about uncle Bill (my mum's brother) other than what she told me about him. Bill came home long after the war was over and he was a very sick man both physically and mentally. Mum said he never really spoke about it. But she did tell me he was a prisoner of the Japanese and was tortured by them (had his fingernails pulled out!). She also said that any time he saw a man that looked like he may be Japanese he would go mad. Sadly, Uncle Bill died in 1952 and mum in 1979, so I have no living relatives to give me more information.
He attested in 1940 and embarked from Scotland on the 12th of November 1941 and arrived in Singapore on the 13th of January 1942. Bill was taken prisoner on Java on the 8th of March 1942 He was transported to Singapore on the 11th of September 1943 and his Java Party of 16 was then transported to Japan on the 20th September 1943 They were used as slave labour in Yamano Coal Mine, Inatsuki-cho, Kaho-gun, Fukuoka Prefecture. Bill was Liberated from Fukuoka No. 8B Branch Camp on the 21st of September 1945
That is all I know at this stage, as I continue to find information piece by piece. I will make sure my family learn about the immense sacrifice that was made by the Far East Prisoners of War, who endured such horrors. Not only those who suffered and died, but those who lived and had to endure the memory of their suffering.
 Usher photo.jpg)