Gnr. Leslie Nowell
British Army 5th Searchlight Regiment Royal Artillery
from:York
(d.12th Sep 1944)
On 13th May 1915, Leslie was born at Fishgate, York, Yorkshire, the son of George Ernest Nowell and Eliza Nowell. He left school as a teenager and was employed by York Council, where he worked as a general labourer and road sweeper. In 1936, Leslie married Eleanor Atkinson. They had two children and lived at 21 Temple Avenue, Tang Hall Estate, York.
In 1939, after the outbreak of the war, Leslie left his wife and two children to go into the Army. He was assigned to the 5th Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery, and was posted to Singapore. There, he was stationed at Changi Barracks.
On 15th February 1942, Leslie became a prisoner of war when Singapore was captured by the Japanese; his POW number was M-903. He, his comrades, and many other prisoners were kept at Changi Barracks, which the Japanese converted to use as a prison. He remained there until early April. On 4 April 1942, Leslie was one of the first thousand prisoners to leave Singapore and be transported on the ship Nissyo Maru to Saigon, where he and the other prisoners were made to work at the docks. On 22 June 1942, he was transferred to Thailand where, along with 700 other men, he was put to work building a railway. On the way, they were interned briefly at Tarsao Camp, and then spent a couple of weeks building the Kinsayok Camp.
On 23rd June 1944, Leslie and 500 other prisoners were taken from Tha Muang, Thailand to Singapore, where they awaited final transfer to confinement in Japan. On 4 September, he and 900 other prisoners boarded the Kachidoki Maru, which joined convoy Hi-72 en route to Japan. The convoy also included the Rakuyo Maru, which held 1,317 Australian and British prisoners. The two transport ships were not marked as carrying prisoners of war. On 12th of September, the convoy was attacked by American submarines. At 22.40 hours, the USS Pampanito fired three torpedoes at the Kachidoki Maru. The ship was holed, flooded quickly, and sank. The only survivors were those who were able to jump overboard. Along with more than 400 other brave men who were aboard as prisoners, Leslie lost his life that night.
Sadly, while Leslie was a prisoner of war, his wife Eleanor contracted tuberculosis and died on 28 January 1944, at age 24. She left behind their two young children, Leslie age 8 yrs and Christine 6 yrs, not knowing that what lay ahead for them was to be placed in an orphanage, or knowing the fate of her husband. Always remembered and never forgotten.
