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214753 Sgm. Valiant Bond British Army Royal Corps of Signals
Additional Information: | Never was a man so aptly named. At just 20 years old Valiant was captured at the fall of Singapore. After a brief spell in Changi he was transported overland in letter party X on 25.10.42. He slaved as part of work group 2 on the Thai Burma Railway until he was returned to Singapore on 8.6.44. On 4.7.44 he sailed aboard the Hofuku Maru bound for Japan. The ship developed engine trouble and put into Manila for repairs. The ship remained there for a month but the POWs were compelled to stay aboard. Conditions were terrible and many died. The ship sailed again but was torpedoed and sunk off Bataan on 21.9.44. 950 POWs were lost but Valiant survived and eventually arrived in Japan on 11.2.45 aboard the Enoshima Maru. His final camp was Fukuoka 17b at Omuta. This was a coal mine where the work was hard and the conditions terrible. Valiant was liberated on 15.9.45. He travelled on an unknown ship to Manila where he boarded HMS Implacable bound for Esquimalt in Vancouver. Arriving 11.10. 45 Valiant then crossed Canada by train to Nova Scotia to catch the Ile de France bound for Southampton. He finally reached home on 31.10.45. What a remarkable young man he must have been to survive such terrible events.Glenda Godfrey
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