Description
1939-45 Star, reverse impressed “NX32950 F. G. PEARCE”
Pacific Star, reverse impressed “NX32950 F. G. PEARCE”
1939-45 War Medal, edge impressed “NX32950 F. G. PEARCE”
1939-45 Australian Service Medal, edge impressed “NX32950 F. G. PEARCE”
Despite not having any substantial service due to the circumstances, a Prisoner of War group following the Fall of Singapore prevails as a very interesting and popular collecting area for World War II and further specifically the Pacific theatre of war. Medals swing mounted for wearing, virtually as issued.
Francis George Pearce, born on the 16th January 1920 and raised in Wentworth Falls, New South Wales, was a 21-year-old labourer by trade and a husband and father of one at the time of his attestation with the Second Australian Imperial Force for service in the Second World War. Enlisting at the Paddington enlistment centre, Sydney on the 16th June 1941, Francis was posted to the 2/10 Field Ambulance and assigned the service number NX32950 and rank of Private, thereafter marching out to the General Details Depot for training.
- Embarked from Freemantle on 7th August 1941 aboard H.M.T. ‘DD’
- Disembarked at Singapore 15th August 1941
For the following months of 1941, Francis appears to have routinely misconducted himself and consistently punished with fines and district court martials.
At the beginning of 1942, the Empire of Japan swiftly advanced on the Malayan Peninsula, eventuating in the attack on Singapore on 8th February and the city’s fall after a week of fighting. On the afternoon of the 15th February, British forces capitulated and about 80,000 British, Indian, Australian and local troops became prisoners of war, joining the 50,000 taken in Malaya. Amongst the 8th Australian Division stationed in Singapore was the 2/10th Field Ambulance and Francis George Pearce who had arrived in August the previous year. Official records state he was Missing in Action on the 13th February before being confirmed as a Prisoner of War – Francis was held at the Palembang Prisoner of War Camp in Sumatra until the end of the war.
The Empire of Japan’s surrendered on the 2nd of September 1945 and hostilities in the Pacific ceased. On the 16th September 1945, the ‘Daily Telegraph’ Newspaper confirms the recovering of 56 New South Wales men from the Palembang Camp in Sumatra, amongst these was NX32590 Francis George Pearce – he embarked from Singapore for Australia on the 24th September 1945 and disembarked at Sydney on the 11th October. Francis officially discharged from the Second Australian Imperial Force on the 4th December 1945 with a total effective service period of 1494 days, 1401 days as overseas service most of which held as a Prisoner of War.
He is commemorated on the Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial where he is named as ‘Francis G. Harris’ – possibly an alias or a post-war adopted last name.
