Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

02/07/1940

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

20/08/1917

Place of Birth

Gillingham, Kent, England

Address (at enlistment)

Telopea Park, Barton ACT

School(s) Attended

Hurlstone Park School, Sydney NSW (to Nov 1923); Telopea Park Primary School (1923-26), Telopea Park Intermediate High School [original Canberra High School] (1927-).

Occupation

Public servant

Next of Kin

Son of Albert Edward Jackson, public servant, and Edith Jackson, of Telopea Park, Barton ACT, and brother of Gwendoline Jackson, living in 1985 in Narrabundah ACT, and Raymond Jackson.

Burial Place

No known burial place; his body was not recovered.

Service Number

NX55844

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

HQ 22 Infantry Brigade AIF

Died 16 April 1945 aged 27 years, of illness, as a prisoner of war, Sandakan, Borneo.

Labuan Memorial, Malaysia: Panel 9.
AWM Roll of Honour, Panel 12.
Canberra High School Memorial Tablet
St John the Baptist Anglican Church, Reid, Book of Remembrance of Canberra parishioners who died in the war of 1939-45, in recess in south wall of nave.

Jackson moved to Canberra in 1922 with his family. His father, Albert Jackson, was a Major during World War 2 and a clerk of works in civilian life. His brother, Ray and sister, Gwen both served in World War 2.

Before the war Len Jackson worked as a public servant with the Statistician's Branch and played cricket for Manuka. He was a member of the 3rd Battalion militia before enlisting in July 1940. Jackson was sent to Singapore with the Headquarters, 22nd Brigade (part of the 8th Division) and became a prisoner of war when the garrison surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. Jackson was sent to Borneo by the Japanese as part of 'B' Force, arriving at Sandakan in July 1942 after a horrendous nine day voyage on the Ubi Maru. A message sent to his family in 1943 though states that he was not wounded and was being treated "quite well". However, in early 1945 the Japanese began to send POWs on a series of forced marches inland to Ranau - known as the Sandakan death marches. Jackson was part of the first march which left Sandakan on 28 January 1945. According to Japanese records Len Jackson died of malaria at Ranau No.1 Jungle Camp on 16 April 1945.

Jackson is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial. 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 have no known grave.

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. <http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/>
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. <http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/>
AWM Roll of Honour database <http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp>
Canberra High School. Roll of Honour 1939-1945. [Plaque in school]
Canberra High School. Albums compiled for student project researching names on School Roll of Honour, 1985.Canberra High School. Unveiling of Memorial Tablet. Friday, 25th April 1947. [Programme]
Don Mountain ed. Monumental inscriptions: Australian Capital Territory, including Jervis Bay. Canberra, Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001 (p.41)
Nauenberg, Miriam. Index to Telopea Park Primary School: Register of admissions 1923-1946. Typescript compiled for the Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra.
Telopea Park Primary School: Register of admissions 1923-1946. Volume (a): Boys. Photocopy MS held by Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra.
Lynette Ramsay Silver, 'Sandakan: A Conspiracy of Silence', 1998
ACT Electoral Roll - 1939, 1941
AWM Collections Records : P02467.694, P09506.006
Stand-to: Journal of the Australian Capital Territory Branch, RSSAILA. vol.1, Aug/Sept 1950 (p.31)
The Canberra Times - 30 July 1942, 20 September 1943, 28 November 1945