Jim Belford - An Irish Far East Prisoner of War

James Belford was from Kildare, Ireland. He joined the British Army in 1933 after travelling to Belfast to enlist. He served in Malaya and he was in the Royal Artillery. He was captured by the Japanese while trying to defend Singapore. The British forces in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on the 15th of February 1942.
Jim was forced to work on the 'Railway Of Death' in Thailand/Burma. The POW's were treated very harshly by the sadistic Japanese guards. The POW's were forced to work from early morning to late in the evening. The guards would regularly beat the POW's. The Japanese would kill the POW's if they were too ill to work or if they were too ill to march onto the next camp.

Lance Serjeant James Belford - 9th Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery

After the construction of the railway was finished Jim was sent to Japan to continue his slave labour. All of the POW's were like skeletons by this stage. Only the fittest of the men were chosen to go to Japan. He was transported, along with 900 British POW's, on a ship called the Kachidoki Maru. The ship left Singapore on the 4th of September 1944. It was part of a 12 ship convoy.

Kachidoki Maru

On 12th September 1944, off the coast of Hainan Island, China, the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the American submarine, the USS Pampanito at 22:40. The Americans had no idea the ship was carrying POW's. Over 400 POW's were killed, including Jim. Another ship in the convoy called the Rakuyo Maru which was carrying Australian and British POW's was also torpedoed and sunk. The Japanese rescued some of the POW's from both ships and continued their journey onto Japan on the ship Kibitsu Maru.


Here is Jim's name on the memorial in Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore -

Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore

Here are some more photo's of the memorial which were taken by my cousin -

Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore

Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore

Jim was born in 1914 in Kildare Town. He was the son of Peter Belford and Brigid Rankin. Jim played Minor Football for Kildare. Here is a match report from the 'Kildare Observer' from Saturday, May 21, 1932.

Kildare Observer -  May 21, 1932   

Here is Jim's page from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.