Family History, Barrett/Burrow Chart 0200 Albert Charles Barrett, Ethel May Crummett, Charles (Charlie) Arthur Burrow and Elsie Ethel Denby

1911 Currys Stables, The Heath, Weybridge, Surrey. Father Albert BARRETT aged 38 a General Labourer born Berkshire, Mother Annie Margaret BARRETT aged 35 down as having been married 3 years and having had 1 child who survives at the date of this Census, she was born Billingshurst, Sussex 1943 Additional Information: Son of Albert and Annie Barrett; husband of Ethel May Barrett, of Rudgwick, Sussex. 1943 Rudgwick Remembers Albert Charles BARRETT Gunner, 7th Coastal Regiment, Royal Artillery Captured at the fall of Singapore. Held prisoner. Killed. Friday, 5th March 1943. Aged 32. Son of Albert & Annie. Husband of May. Father of Joyce Information about the Japanese POW Camp where Albert Charles BARRETT was killed Ballale Island The Japanese Navy 18th Construction Battalion arrived at Ballale on November 3, 1942 to build an airstrip. In early October 1942 the Japanese decided that 600 men from the Royal Artillery units (made up of 126 officers and men from the 35th LAA Regiment 144 Battery plus officers and men from the following RA Regiments: 7th Coastal Regiment, 9th Coastal Regiment, 11th Coastal Regiment, 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 3rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 5th Searchlight Regiment and Hong Kong & Singapore Artillery plus a few men from the RAMC and RASC who had been attached to the RA's) should be moved from the camp in Changi to another camp in JAPAN. The 600 were under the command of Lt. Col John Bassett. The party was taken to Singapore Docks where they boarded a ship believed to be the "Masta Maru" and endured horrendous conditions. Many men were sick at this time. On the journey, it was noticed that the ship was definitely NOT heading for Japan but was heading south. On 5 November the ship docked at Rabaul on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea where the men were unloaded and marched along dusty tracks ankle deep with volcanic ash despite many being without footwear. During this period the men were made to work in the tropical sun with many beatings. At the end of November the prisoners were assembled and the fittest 517 were told that they were to be taken to build an airfield for the Japanese. 82 men did not to go with the party as they were not deemed fit enough - ONLY 18 OF THE ORIGINAL 600 SURVIVED TO RETURN TO THE UK - THESE BEING AMONG THE GROUP THAT DID NOT GO ON TO BALLALE. The 517 were taken by another hell ship on the two day journey to the small island of Ballale which is approximately 4 miles in diameter to build an air strip. In time, probably on completion of the air strip and the news being received by the Japanese that the Allies were closing in, orders were given that "PRISONERS OF WAR WERE TO BE DISPOSED OF BY WHATEVER MEANS WAS AVAILABLE". Accordingly, on 5 March 1943, those who were still alive (some having died of illness and others as a result of Allied bombing as the Japanese had not allowed the prisoners to dig trenches to take cover) were massacred in cold blood and not one of those taken to Ballale survived. However the fortunes of war changed and Ballale was by-passed when allied forces leap-frogged from Honiara to attack Rabaul. Japanese forces hurriedly withdrew from Ballale abandoning most of their aircraft but not before they executed all of the remaining POWs. Many relics remain. One of many Zero aircraft reclaimed from the island jungles of Ballale in the late 60's was later used in the film "Tora Tora Tora". After the war, Australian Army personal landed on the island on November 10, 1945 and immediately located the grave of 57 POWs buried in shallow trenches. An atrocities commission was carried out on the island, that led to the discovery of a mass grave, 438 bodies were exhumed with artifacts identifying them as British artillerymen. The remains were re-interred in individual graves at Bomama War Cemetery near Port Moresby. The remainder of the 517 British POWs have never been found. "Kill-All Order" of August 1, 1944 War Ministry, Tokyo When the battle situation becomes urgent the POWs will be concentrated and confined in their location and kept under heavy guard until preparations for the final disposition will be made. Although the basic aim is to act under superior orders, individual disposition may be made in certain circumstances. Whether they are destroyed individually or in groups, and whether it is accomplished by means of mass bombing, poisonous smoke, poisons, drowning, or decapitation, dispose of them as the situation dictates. It is the aim not to allow the escape of a single one, to annihilate them all, and not to leave any traces There were about 500 men who were killed on Ballale Island on 5th March 1943 in what has become known as the Ballale Massacre. There were about another 70 who had died on the island building the runway in the previous year, either of illness or treatment by the Japanese or by Air Raids by Allied Forces, these are also listed. They are all listed on the a Web Site, to give some idea the list of men killed is in alphabetical order and I have shown below the list from the first A down to the entry for Albert Charles BARRETT the list goes on until entry 569 The following were EXECUTED on BALLALE Island - Friday, 5th Mar 1943 (Official date from CWGC) unless otherwise stated - 1. ALDRIDGE, Bernard Henry Mooring; Capt; 133194; 1st Malay Field Ambulance, RAMC; Aged Unknown. (Medical Officer) 2. ALLISON, John: Gnr; 1427501; 3rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA.; Aged 27. 3. ANDERSON, Sidney; Gnr; 1426791; 9th Coastal Regiment, RA; Aged 30. 4. ANDREW, Lional Derek; Lieut; 151926; 3 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA; Aged 29. 5. ANSELL, Horace William Haywood; L/Bdr; 1700403; 144th Battery, 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment; Aged 32. 6. ARDY, William Albert; Gnr; 1773841; 144th Battery, 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment; Aged 38. 7. ARMITAGE, William Samuel; Gnr; 984218; 1st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (attached); Aged 27. 8. ASHTON, Ernest; Gnr; 1793059; 89th Battery, 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA; Aged 22. 9. ATCHELER, William Victor; Gnr; 1799306; 47th Coastal Observatory, RA; Aged 37. 10. AYRE, Albert; Gnr; 1700407; 144th Battery, 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment; Aged 35. (DIED of Malaria , Death Valley, New Britian- Thursday, 8th Jul 1943) 11. BACON, Denis Walter; Gnr; 2044898; 89th Battery, 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA; Aged 21. (DIED - Sunday, 15th Nov 1942) 12. BAILEY, Lewis Jackson; Sig; 2597280; 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Signals Section; Aged 21. 13. BAKER, William Reginald; Gnr; 1799969; 144th Battery, 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA; Aged 26. 14. BALCH, Paul Farmer; Gnr; 1799970; 144th Battery, 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA; Aged 21. 15. BALL, Kenneth Stanley, Gnr; 1817008; 3rd Battery, 6th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA; Aged 21. 16. BANKS, George Edmund; Gnr; 853226; 9th Coastal Regiment, RA; Aged 27. 17. BANNERMAN, John Crombie; Gnr; 1078333; 5th Searchlight Regiment, RA; Aged 32. 18. BARKER, Douglas, Gnr; 1466975; 7th Coastal Regiment, RA; Aged 21. 19. BARKER, James; L/Sgt; 872336; 5th Searchlight Regiment, RA; Aged 27. 20. BARLOW, Henry; Gnr; 3857636; 3rd Battery, 6th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA; Aged 21. 21. BARNETT, John William; Gnr; 5103648; 21st Battery, 3rd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA; Aged 36. 22. BARR, Samuel; Gnr; 7009882; 7th Coastal Regiment, RA; Aged 36. (DIED of Malaria, Death Valley, New Britian - Saturday, 27 Feb 1943) *23. BARRETT, Albert Charles; Gnr;1739282; 7th Coastal Regiment, RA; Aged 32.* 1911 No 1 Clarks Cottage Rudgwick Sussex 1943 Rudgwick, Sussex (death of husband Albert) 1911 41 Park Street, East Greenwich SE. Father Harry T Inkerman BURROW aged 42 a Police Constable born Greenhithe, Kent, mother Amy aged 42 she is down as having been married 14 years and having had 5 children 4 of whom survive and 1 who had died and she was born in Billinghurst, Sussex. Then children Edward Thomas aged 12 born Kennington, Surrey, then Charles Arthur, followed by Nellie Annie aged 6 born Billinghurst, Sussex and Alice Emma aged 4 born Greenwich, Kent. 1923 41 Park Street, Greenwich, London (London Electoral Roll) At the same address was a Harry Inkerman BURROW, an Amy BURROW and an Edward Thomas BURROW 1934 41 Park Street, Greenwich, London (London Electoral Roll) At the same address was an Amy and a Nellie Annie BURROW. 1911 70 Kingsman Street, Woolwich, London (Ancestry with their new search will not let me see this address although it shows with her father William on 1911 England Census Summary Books at this address. Her father was William, her mother Maria and their were three elder siblings, who were born before the 1901 Census and show on that Census all living together in Woolwich. 1929 70 Kingsman Street, London (London Electoral Roll) At the same address was Maria DENBY, William DENBY and Ernest Arthur DENBY 1934 70 Kingsman Street, London (London Electoral Roll) At the same address was Maria DENBY and Ernest Arthur DENBY

The idea of these charts is to give the information that we have found in the research we have done and put together and with the help of many other people who have contacted us over the past thirty odd years we have been researching our family. The idea is that you click on the Chart box in blue to be taken to the next family. There is now a large number of charts to be found and connections can be made to all the main families I am researching. If a chart has a box with the standard background it means that as yet I have not put the Chart on the Web.
To conform to the Data Protection Act all the Charts have been altered to exclude all details for living people other than the name.

If you have comments, alterations, corrections, amendments etc. please follow the details to be found on the Home Page to contact me.

This is a Chart of Albert Charles Barrett, Ethel May Crummett, Charles (Charlie) Arthur Burrow and Elsie Ethel Denby