Australian Military Forces WW2 Missing and Prisoners Of War

Each record includes a transcript. The amount of information listed varies widely, but the Australian Military Forces World War Two Missing and Prisoners of War records may include the following information about your ancestor:

• Initials and last name

• Unit

• Rank

• Service number

• Fate (whether they were missing or a prisoner of war)

• Theatre of war

• Location of the camp in which they were held

• Serial number

The Australian Military Forces World War Two Missing and Prisoners of War records include the names and details of approximately 23,000 servicemen from the Pacific theatre of World War Two who were recorded as missing or prisoners of war.

These records, originally known as the ‘Records of 2nd Echelon, Land Headquarters - Australian Military Forces prisoners of war and missing, Far East and South West Pacific Islands’, was created by the 2nd Echelon of Land Headquarters. It consisted of several volumes listing the names of prisoners of war and missing servicemen from the Australian Military Forces as at 30 June 1944.

The records cover those who went missing or were taken as prisoners of war from the Far East and South West Pacific islands, and in particular in Malaya, Java, Timor, Ambon, Rabaul, New Guinea and Papua. The Australian Military Forces World War Two Missing and Prisoners of War records provide information on the fate of servicemen in the Second World War. They include information about their position in the Australian Military Forces such as their service number, rank and unit, as well as a note of whether they were missing or had become a prisoner of war.

For each person listed as a prisoner of war, the location of the camp in which they were imprisoned was also recorded. The prisoner of war camps listed span from Borneo to Keijo in Korea, from the Netherlands East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) to Malaya, from Thailand to various camps in Japan itself.