Colin Richard COX. Private 5956247, Bedfordshire and Hertordshire Regiment, 18th Division. Born on the 5th March 1915 and lived at 31 Foster Street, Bedford, Bedfordshire. Enlisted into the army on the 24th June 1940 and was captured at Singapore in 1942. He was at the following camps.
Changi. 15th February 1942 to 20th March 1943. Camp Leader, Brigadier General , Merton Beckwith-Smith.
Kinsayok, 26th March 1943 to 29th June 1943. Camp Leader, Lt Col, 16662 Gerald G Carpenter.
Tamarkan, 31st June 1943 to 29th November 1943. Camp Leader, Major Moon, RAMC
Chungkai, 30th November 1943 to 5th June 1944. Camp Leader, Lt Col Alexander Louden Dunlop, RAMC
Tamuan, 5th June 1944 to 20th May 1945. Camp Leader, Lt Col Harvey, RAMC
March x Tam to Patnampoh 12th June 1945 to 20th August 1945. Camp Leader, Captain Pow, Federated Malay States Volunteer Force.
This memorial paviour is beside the FEPOW Memorial Building, at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.
Additional information would be very much appreciated.
Updated 4 September 2018.
Extract from
https://www.cofepow.org.uk/stories-poems/memories-of-my-father
Pte. 5956247 George Colin Cox
Beds & Herts Regiment H.Q.3
D.O.B. 5 March 1915. Died 9 July 1968
Sent to the Far East October 1942 as part of the 18th Division.
Known camps: Changi, Kanchanaburi, Chungkai, Wampo and Tarsao.
This was my father and like many other POWs he didn’t talk much about his time out in the Far East. When very young I thought every child’s father was a POW of the Japanese and I was only 19 when he died. Since becoming an adult, there are many things I would have liked to ask him, but it is only when you grow up that you realise just what these men went through. When I did ask my father anything about the Far East he would tell me.
I knew he had huge holes in his legs due to tropical ulcers and scars on his back from beatings and being poked with a bayonet while being imprisoned in a cage at Chungkai, during which time he could not sit properly, let alone stand and this went on for days with food and water just out of reach for further torment. This punishment was for spitting back at a guard. Towards the end of his captivity I learnt, from a POW friend of his, that he almost died through cerebral malaria. He would hang an imaginary coat and hat up in mid-air, then take them down and state that he was off home. Luckily medication arrived just in time (I found this information very sad), but was glad to know of his time out there.
He did survive captivity, but was in and out of hospital up until his death in 1968. My dad was a kind considerate man and nothing meant more to him than his family. His only other love was his car, which he would shine up more times a week than I can remember. I can never remember him ever complaining about his health, even when he was really ill.
He worked as a Civil Servant at the Beds & Herts Depot in Bedford after the war, but towards the late 50’s his health started deteriorating. He was told to get an outdoor job, so became a milkman. When that got too hard for him, he became a car delivery driver, but not long after that he died. He did say to me once that he would like to go back to the Far East again. His brother, also a POW, never made it and his name is on the Kranji memorial in Singapore. I never forgot his wish and fulfilled it for him and for me in 1994, this emotional trip will always be with me, as is my Dad.
My father’s brother was Gunner No. 1603286 Richard Charles Cox, Royal Artillery Heavy Ack Ack. He died on September 12th 1944 on a Japanese transport ship the "Rakuyo Maru" sunk N.E. of Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
I never knew my uncle, but he married a day or two before setting sail for the Far East. He married his childhood sweetheart, Ruby. My father told me that he and his brother were together some of the time in prison camps, but names are unknown to me. My uncle was sailing to Japan when the S.S. Sealion torpedoed the unmarked Japanese transport ship "Rakuyo Maru. I have often wondered if he lived for any length of time. He died aged 31 years and his wife Ruby never remarried. She died about 10 years ago.
My uncle is remembered on the Kranji Memorial. Column No. 16. In February 1994, I laid the very first flowers he received in over fifty years. I laid them on behalf of all my family, but especially for my Dad, being unable to ever visit his only brother for himself. I will never forget that special moment.
Mrs Patricia Ann Bienkowski, COFEPOW Member
COX, Richard Charles. Gunner 1603286. Captured on the 15th February 1942.
This memorial paviour is beside the FEPOW Memorial Building, at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire
(GWGC Information)
He was Gunner 1603286, Richard Charles COX, 2nd Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery died whilst a Far Eastern Prisoner of War on a Japanese transport ship the Rakuyo Maru sunk N.E. of Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. on the 12th September 1944 aged 31. He was the son of Mr and Mrs E C Cox of Bedford and he was the husband of Lillian Ruby also of Bedford. His brother, George Colin was also a F.E.P.O.W. but survived his ordeal as a prisoner and the war.
(Wills and Admin, Ancestry) He lived at 10, Palmerston, Street, Bedford, died on war service. His effects went to his widow, Lilian Ruby. He is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial, Singapore.
http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/stories_memory.html
Additional information would be very much appreciated.
