LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWII
Gunner George Shaylor Mundy
144 Battery, 35 Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
Town Memorial World War II
GUNNER
GEORGE SHAYLOR MUNDY
Service Number: 1456810
Royal Artillery
144 Bty., 35 Lt. A.A. Regt.
Died 5 March 1943
Age 25 years old
Commemorated at
SINGAPORE MEMORIAL
Column 26.
Singapore
[It is possible he is buried at Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea]
Son of Job and Annie Mundy.
GEORGE SHAYLOR MUNDY
Service Number: 1456810
Royal Artillery
144 Bty., 35 Lt. A.A. Regt.
Died 5 March 1943
Age 25 years old
Commemorated at
SINGAPORE MEMORIAL
Column 26.
Singapore
[It is possible he is buried at Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea]
Son of Job and Annie Mundy.
The Gunners 600 Roll of Honour records
that James Rowland left Changi in Singapore on 18 October 1942, under
the command of Lt-Col. J. Bassett, R.A., 35 L.A.A..
What follows is a shortened version of an Official Report.
What follows is a shortened version of an Official Report.
Most of them ended up on the tiny
island of Balalae, about one square mile in area, where the Japanese
used them to build an airfield.
When the area was re-occupied the Japanese all claimed to know very little about the white POWs all of whom had gone. None of those interrogated would admit having come into actual contact with the POWs. However two Koreans gave evidence, mainly overheard from groups of Japanese discussing these matters, which revealed something of the fate of the POWs.
A Japanese interpreter held in Rabaul gave evidence that a party of 600 British Artillerymen from Singapore, who left there by ship during October 1942, arrived in Rabaul on 6 November 1942. One man died on the voyage. 82 men were left behind as too weak to continue their journey; by the time of the Japanese surrender only 18 men of the 82 had survived.
The 517 fit men, it was claimed, were put on a ship and departed for an unknown destination, fate unknown. At one time it was thought that they had been lost when the ship that were on was sunk by Allied aircraft.
There is no doubt that a large number of the POWs were killed on [Balalae Island] by Allied bombing, mainly as a result of the Japanese refusing to let them take shelter in slit trenches or air raid shelters. From evidence given by the Koreans, also that taken in other areas, it seems certain that the remaining POWs round about June '43 were killed and buried. The reason for this is not clear, the evidence pointing to :-
The method of killing is not clear. In the absence of an eyewitness the best evidence will be a complete report on the exhumation of the bodies.
Following liberation of Ballale, 436 bodies were exhumed together with artefacts proving these men were the missing artillerymen who had sailed from Rabaul to an unknown destination. None of these could be personally identified and these bodies were eventually re-interred in individual graves at the Bomana War Cemetery, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
When the area was re-occupied the Japanese all claimed to know very little about the white POWs all of whom had gone. None of those interrogated would admit having come into actual contact with the POWs. However two Koreans gave evidence, mainly overheard from groups of Japanese discussing these matters, which revealed something of the fate of the POWs.
A Japanese interpreter held in Rabaul gave evidence that a party of 600 British Artillerymen from Singapore, who left there by ship during October 1942, arrived in Rabaul on 6 November 1942. One man died on the voyage. 82 men were left behind as too weak to continue their journey; by the time of the Japanese surrender only 18 men of the 82 had survived.
The 517 fit men, it was claimed, were put on a ship and departed for an unknown destination, fate unknown. At one time it was thought that they had been lost when the ship that were on was sunk by Allied aircraft.
There is no doubt that a large number of the POWs were killed on [Balalae Island] by Allied bombing, mainly as a result of the Japanese refusing to let them take shelter in slit trenches or air raid shelters. From evidence given by the Koreans, also that taken in other areas, it seems certain that the remaining POWs round about June '43 were killed and buried. The reason for this is not clear, the evidence pointing to :-
(a) The POWs were of no further use
due to being too weak for further work or else their task was
finished.
(b) The Japanese feared an invasion by the Allies and did not wish the POWs to be discovered.
(b) The Japanese feared an invasion by the Allies and did not wish the POWs to be discovered.
The method of killing is not clear. In the absence of an eyewitness the best evidence will be a complete report on the exhumation of the bodies.
Following liberation of Ballale, 436 bodies were exhumed together with artefacts proving these men were the missing artillerymen who had sailed from Rabaul to an unknown destination. None of these could be personally identified and these bodies were eventually re-interred in individual graves at the Bomana War Cemetery, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
The unidentified soldiers of the United Kingdom forces were all from the Royal Artillery, captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore; they died in captivity and were buried on the island of Bailale in the Solomons. These men were later re-buried in a temporary war cemetery at Torokina on Bougainville Island before being transferred to their permanent resting place at Port Moresby.
Two other Royal Artillery men from Leatherhead are known to have suffered the same fate: James Walter Rowland and John Edward Sturt (John is not named on the Leatherhead War Memorials)
His life
George Mundy was born on 14 March 1917 in Derby, Derbyshire. In some records his surname is given as Shayler.His father was Job Mundy, born 24 May 1870, Rainsford RD, Chelmsford, a son of John Mundy. Job's occupation was involved with the manufacture (1911 Census 'Frizer' and later sale (1939 E&W Register) of chamois leathers.
His mother was Annie Waterton, born Burnsley in 1881, a daughter of Frank Waterton, a Railway Guard. Her death on 12 December1943 was registered in Surrey SE District.
They married at St Andrew's, Barnsbury, Islington in London on 22 October 1905.
His siblings were Percy (1919-2001) born at 1 Yew Tree Cottages, Dorking Road, Epsom; Gwendoline M, born and died 1922, Nottingham.
The family can be followed via the Electoral Registers:
1918 20 Hylands Cottage, Dorking Road,
Epsom
1921 Dorking Road, Epsom
1926 47 Poplar Avenue, Leatherhead
1926 47 Poplar Avenue, Leatherhead
One source says his parents separated in 1927.
In the 1939 England & Wales Register Job was living at 15 Bourne Street, Croydon, Surrey with Eleanor H Mundy born 14 July 1900 and Margary R Mundy born 6 January 1937.
George had half brothers and sisters ,surnamed Mundy: Kenneth Stanley (1927-2019), Carshalton, Surrey; Evelyn (1929-2018), Croydon Surrey; Margaret Rose (1932-1935), Croydon, Surrey; Albert (1934-1935), Croydon Surrey; Margery Rose (1937-1976), Croydon Surrey.
A marriage between his father and Eleanor H Gould was registered in July 1946 at Lewes, Sussex.
After the war
The death of his father Job on 28 November 1948 was registered at Cooksbridge, Sussex. His mother had died in 1943.George Mundy is also remembered on these memorials
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Leatherhead RBL Roll of Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
Links
Far East Prisoners of War Association - BalalaeBalalae Island - Wikipedia
Balalae Island, a tragic story of loss during WW2
Britain
at War - The Gunners 600 Party - Roll of Honour
The Sad Story of Balalae Island - Tony Wheeler
Britain
at War - Gunner Alfred Burgess
Australian War Memorial Ballale Island
the website editor would like to add
further information on this casualty
e.g. a photo of him, his headstone, and any recollections of him
last updated 18 Aug 20