in East Timor. Capture After capitulation on 23 February 1942 the battery was held at Usapa Besar POW camp until 23 September 1942. They were then herded into the hold of an old Chinese freighter, the hellship Dainichi Maru, with the rest of Sparrow Force and transported to Surabaya via Dili coming under attack from Royal Australian Air Force bombers and Royal Navy and Dutch submarines. From there they travelled by train to Batavia and marched to Makasar where they were separated from the Australians and Dutch to join the R.A.F. POWs in #5 camp. There they rejoined their comrades from B Troop. On 15 October, the Battery was broken up and sent to different parts of Southeast Asia. Some were held on Java while on 18 October the rest of the battery boarded the notorious Singapore Maru and Oshida Maru freighters to endure a one-week voyage to Singapore. At Singapore the battery was marched to Changi Barracks where they would be medically examined and assessed for labor camps throughout Southeast Asia. Some were sent to work on the Siam-Burma 'Death' Railway, sent to build the Sumatra Railway, assigned to work in labor camps all over Japan, or remain in Singapore at the notorious Changi Prison. Those who travelled to Japan to work in labour camps, endured 46 days on the hellship Dainichi Maru and Tofuku Maru. Most casualties were aboard these hell-ships – from disease shortly after disembarking at Moji. In Japan, the 79th gunners on the Tofuku Maru travelled by train to Hiraoka where they were held at the Tokyo #2 Detached (Mitsushima) POW Camp. There, they worked to build the Hiraoka Dam. In April 1944, most of the gunners were sent by train to the Tokyo #16 (Showa Denko) POW Camp in Kanose to stoke furnaces in the carbide factory. The gunners who disembarked the Dainichi Maru joined the Fukuoka #1 POW Camp. This group would be later split and relocated to camps in Moji, Kumamoto, Orio, Ube, Omine and Bibai. Many died from disease or accidents in labour camps on the Siam-Burma 'Death' Railway, in Sumatra, Japan, Java, Borneo, and Changi Prison. Later in the war, several died when their hell-ships were sunk by United States Navy submarine en route to Japan from Singapore. Aftermath After the war ended, Bombardier A.H. 'Jock' Compton fell through the bomb bay doors of a converted B-24 Liberator bomber transporting