RAF CHAPLAINCY
THEY SERVED THEIR GENERATION: THE REVEREND JOHN WANLESS
JAPANESE PRISONER OF WAR – 1943-1945
There were 5 RAF Chaplains who became Prisoners of War at the hands of the Japanese. Most, if not all, of these men ended up in Japanese camps. During their time in the camps the Chaplains continued to minister to those among whom they lived, taking services, giving sermons, and marking significant occasions such as Armistice Day, Christmas and Easter. While four of the RAF Chaplains survived their time of imprisonment one, Padre John Thirlwell Wanless, suffered a very different fate.
exhaustion or starvation. The very few who survived were executed just before the end of the war. Padre Wanless died of enteritis on 30th June 1945 having managed to make the march, carrying baggage like a mule, with no food. His body has no identified grave. His name is found on the Singapore memorial.
Padre Wanless received a posthumous Mention in Dispatches for Distinguished Service in October 1946.
Padre Wanless was part of the group of POWs who made the‘ Death March’ from Sandakhan to Ranau in Borneo in the spring of 1945. This march took almost 2,500 prisoners to their deaths. 641 of the prisoners were British, Padre Wanless among them. The rest of the prisoners were Australian. 6 Australians were able to escape and were the sole survivors. Those who managed to complete the death march found themselves at Ranau, where they either died from illness,
Japanese camp, Borneo.
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