Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

22/08/1941

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

17/07/1916

Place of Birth

Bathurst NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Lockyer Street, Griffith, Canberra ACT [Canberra NSW on DVA WW2 Nominal Roll]

Occupation

Clerk

Next of Kin

Son of Frederick Bernard and Doris Isabel Fitzpatrick, of Croydon Park NSW.

Service Number

NX43446

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

2/19 Infantry Battalion AIF (2/6 Field Park Company, Royal Australian Engineers, on AWM Roll of Honour database)

Died 10 June 1945 aged 28 years, of illness, Borneo.

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT
Labuan Memorial, Malaysia: Panel 12.

When Fitzpatrick enlisted in August 1941 he was a clerk in the 'Capital Issues Branch'. He embarked from Sydney on 17 September 1941 with the 2/19 Battalion, landing in Singapore on 5 October 1941. A few weeks later he was transferred to the 2/6 Field Park as a clerk but was made a prisoner of war when the Japanese captured Singapore on 15 February 1942. Fitzpatrick was sent to Borneo as part of 'B' Force, arriving at Sandakan in July 1942 after a horrendous nine day voyage on the Ubi Maru. In early 1945 the Japanese began to send POWs on a series of forced marches inland to Ranau - the Sandakan death marches. Fitzpatrick was part of the first march which left Sandakan on 28 January 1945. The records are unclear but he either died of malaria or was killed by the Japanese at Ranau No.1 Jungle Camp on 10 June 1945.

Fitzpatrick is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial in Borneo. The Labuan Memorial was primarily intended to commemorate the officers and men of the Australian Army and Air Force who died while prisoners of war in Borneo and the Philippines from 1942 to 1945, and during the 1945 operations for the recovery of Borneo, and who have no known grave.

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/
AWM Collections Record : P02467.458
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. <http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/>
ACT Electoral Roll - 1941
Lynette Ramsay Silver, 'Sandakan: A Conspiracy of Silence', 1998
The Canberra Times - 15 July 1942, 15 April 1943