Aircraftman 2nd Class 1082200 Albert Fairhurst

BMD details:
D.O.B 11/10/1922

Family details:
Son of William and Alice Fairhurst, 50 Baxters Lane, Sutton, St Helens.

Census details:
1939 Register. Unfortunately four members of the household are redacted including Albert. Father William Fairhurst born 30/12/1890 a Glass Works Packer, mother Alice Fairhurst born 28/09/1889 an Unpaid Domestic and brother Vincent Fairhurst born 15/12/1925 At School are living at 50 Baxters Lane, Sutton, St Helens

Notes:
[note=166]Two Fairhurst Brothers who died in World War Two[/note] Uncle [cas=2243]Charles Albert Hill[/cas] died in The Great War.

[pic]imgs/WW2_misc/AlbertFairhurst_POW.jpg[/pic][caption]Soldier, Veteran & Prisoner Rolls & Lists[/caption] Albert Fairhurst was part of 153 Maintenance Unit, RAF which was formed and based at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya from June 1941. Facilities for the repair and maintenance of aircraft were deficient and woefully inadequate in terms of the RAF launching a successful counterstroke against the invading Japanese Forces. These workshops, though equipped only to deal with the requirements of at most two squadrons, were called upon to service the whole air force in Malay. As twenty-seven modifications had to be made in the obsolete Brewster Buffalo fighter alone before it could be used in battle, the magnitude of their task is apparent. 151 was fully operational but of the two additional Maintenance Units authorised--Nos. 152 and 153--the former never progressed beyond the embryo stage whilst the latter though possessed of personnel was lacking in equipment. On February 15, 1942, Singapore fell and, within a month or two, thousands of the 'Stayed Behinds' had been captured by the enemy, including Albert Fairhurst who was captured on the 8th of March 1942.. As a POW Albert was kept at Haruku. The conditions in this camp where truly appalling with sadistic beatings from the Japanese guards, starvation and disease. By November 1943 there were so many sick on Haruku that even the Japanese must have become marginally concerned that they might lose their whole, "workforce" so arrangements were made to remove the sickest men back to Java. One such unfortunate party was on the ill-fated Suez Maru, which was sunk by the USS Bonefish with the loss of all on board. Those who survived the torpedoing were shot in the water by the Japanese guards who had secured life rafts for themselves. The motive: To prevent the world from finding out about their brutal maltreatment of prisoners of war. [pic]imgs/WW2_misc/Suez_Maru.jpg[/pic] [center][u][b]The Suez Maru - Hell Ship[/b][/u][/center] In 1943, the Japanese decided to ship the sick back to Java. A total of 640 men, including a number of Japanese sick patients, were taken on board the 4,645-ton passenger-cargo ship Suez Maru. In two holds, 422 sick British (including 221 RAF servicemen) and 127 sick Dutch prisoners, including up to twenty stretcher cases, were accommodated. The Japanese patients filled the other two holds. Escorted by a minesweeper W-12, the Suez Maru set sail from Port Amboina but while entering the Java Sea and about 327 kilometers east of Surabaya, Java, Netherlands East Indies, the vessel was torpedoed by the American submarine USS Bonefish commanded by Cdr. Tom Hogan. The ship started to list as water poured into the holds drowning hundreds, many managed to escape the holds and swam away from the sinking ship. The Japanese mine sweeper W-12 picked up the Japanese survivors, leaving between 200 and 250 men in the sea. At 14.50, the minesweeper, W-12, under orders from Captain Kawano, opened fire, using a machine gun and rifles. Rafts and lifeboats were then rammed and sunk by the W-12. The firing did not cease till all the prisoners were killed, the minesweeper then picked up speed and sped off towards Batavia (Jakarta) at 16.30 hours.Sixty-nine Japanese had died during the attack, 93 Japanese soldiers and 205 Japanese sick patients were rescued by the Japanese. Of the [b]548[/b] British and Dutch prisoners, none were confirmed as survived. Albert Fairhurst was aboard the Suez Maru, his body has never been recovered. He is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial. [b][u]Aftermath. [/u][/b] After the War ended in 1945 nothing was known about the true circumstances surrounding the death of some 548 of these slave labor POWs. Along with the other POWs on board the [i]Suez Maru, [/i]they were simply listed as victims of an American Submarine attack which sank the ship; until 1949 when a Japanese Officer, Lieutenant Koshio Masaji in writing discloses to Far East Command details about the sinking of the [i]Suez Maru [/i]asking for an investigation into the massacre of Allied Prisoners of War at sea. His statements triggers an inquiry into his own actions, the actions of the captain of the [i]Suez Maru [/i]and the commander of the escort [i]Minesweeper W12[/i]. After the completion of the Japanese War Crimes Trials, no further action was taken to indict[b] Kawano Usumu,[/b] Commander of Minesweeper No. 12, for the killing of Allied Prisoners of War or [b]Lt. Koshio[/b] for carrying out the orders. No Justice for the memory of these murdered men. There were no markings on the ship during transportation of the POWs as required by the Third Geneva Convention. Japanese weapons transports typically bore Red Cross markings while the ships carrying Prisoners of War - including the [i][b]Suez Maru[/b][/i] - were unmarked and therefore targeted by US submarines. [pic]imgs/SingaporeMemorial/Fairhurst_A.JPG[/pic][caption]Inscription on Singapore Memorial (Picture by John Belcher GWF and Ste M)[/caption]