Kranji War Cemetery
Anzac Day Service
Friday 25 April 2025
Lest we forget.
When Prime Minister John Curtin announced that Australia was once again at war, the Old Boys volunteered for service as had the generation before them. Almost 1,300 enlisted, with 143 paying the ultimate sacrifice. The Old Boys represented in these pages are those who are laid to rest or are remembered in Singapore. Many more were prisoners of war as the School Magazines of the period attests. Three are known to have passed away on the infamous Burma Thai Railway. In Commonwealth Cemeteries around the world, there are members of The King’s School community who sacrificed their lives and for them we give our grateful thanks for they truly lived as our motto says; Fortiter et Fideliter.
Lest we forget.
JOHN LOUIS EDGLEY (TKS 1925-19)
SCHOOL CAREER AND POST SCHOOL CAREER
• Thomas and Macarthur, passed the Intermediate and Leaving Certificates
• 1929 1st IV and 3rd XV
• Qualified as a Solicitor and was practising when he enlisted
• His next of Kin was his wife, he had two children
ENLISTED
• 21/6/1940 at Fairfield
SERVICE NUMBER
• NX34780
SERVICE DETAILS
• Captain 2/18th Australian Infantry Battalion
• His Service Record is currently not available due to the NAA scanning project
DEATH
• 27/1/1942
BURIAL DETAILS
• Kranji Cemetery Singapore Sp Memorial 5D 15
EDWARD WALTER HOLDEN WINDEYER (TKS 1925-29)
SCHOOL CAREER AND POST SCHOOL CAREER
• Thomas, School House, Cadet
ENLISTED
• 4/7/1940 at Newcastle
SERVICE NUMBER
• NX46238
SERVICE DETAILS
• Sergeant 2/20thAustralian Infantry Battalion
• His Service Record is currently not available due to the NAA scanning project
• KSM Sept 1943: Edward was reported missing
• KSM May 1946: it was reported that Edward was killed defending the Straits of Jahore. In a letter to his mother, Captain CC Gibbings of C Company wrote:
“Ted was Platoon Sergeant of B Company who were being held back in reserve from C Company who were facing the Jahore Straits. C Company faced heavy casualties and the CO Lt-Col Assherton (later KIA) sent B Company into assist C Company. It was 2 o clock in the morning and Ted advanced towards the water with a machine gun to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy as they advanced. He kept firing and lost his life finding himself in an impossible situation.”
DEATH
• 8/2/1942
BURIAL DETAILS
• Kranji Cemetery Singapore Sp Memorial 5B3
MURRAY HERBERT CROSSING (TKS
1918-21, 1923-28)
SCHOOL CAREER AND POST SCHOOL CAREER
• Day Boy then Broughton House, Cadet
• 1928 1st XV
• Grazier
ENLISTED
• 19/7/1941
SERVICE NUMBER
• 412405 RAAF
SERVICE DETAILS
• WO 177 Squadron RAF Beaufighter over Burma
• His Service Record is currently not available due to the NAA scanning project
• KSM Dec 1943: Murray was reported missing
DEATH
• 10/10/1943
BURIAL DETAILS
• Singapore Memorial Column 430
DAVID JAMES RUSSELL GLASSON (TKS 1934-38)
SCHOOL CAREER AND POST SCHOOL CAREER
• Thomas, Baker, School Monitor, Cadet Lieutenant
• 1938 Captain of Boats
• 1937, 1938 1st VIII
• 1937,1938 Full Colours Rowing
• KSM Sept 1945: Reported him as a sound academic, a swimmer, athlete, rower and a member of the Shooting Squad
ENLISTED
• At Paddington (date unknown)
SERVICE NUMBER
• NX12538
SERVICE DETAILS
• Lieutenant 2/19th Australian Infantry Battalion
• His Service Record is currently not available due to the NAA scanning project
• KSM Sept: Presumed dead. He was with the 8th Division in Malaya at the fall of Singapore Feb 1942. Died of wounds following the Battle of Muar 22/1/1942, aged 22
• KSM May 1941: David wrote an article about the working and living conditions of his Unit in Malaya. Other King’s Old Boys in his Unit included Randal Wilson (Page 14), Percival Reynolds and Bruce Gollan
DEATH
• 22/1/1942
BURIAL DETAILS
• Singapore Memorial Column 430
GROUP PORTRAIT OF THE OFFICERS OF THE 2/19TH BATTALION
The Battalion was captured by the Japanese in the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 and most of the men were either killed in action (KIA) or held as prisoners of war (POW).
Identified, left to right, back row: NX70592 Lt John Millard Brindley (POW); NX54110 Lt Gordon Roy Bennett (POW); NX12527 Lt Percival Roy Reynolds; NX70190 Lt (later Capt) Alec Fyfe Bathgate (POW); VX38675 Capt Harold Wardale-Greenwood (Chaplain) (died at the POW camp at Sandakan, north Borneo on 18 July 1945); NX12522 Lt Randal Wilson (KIA in Malaya on 11 February 1942); NX12534 Lt Alan Bruce Gollan (POW). Second row: NX34771 Lt (later Capt) Keith Linden Westbrook (POW); NX52464 Lt Norman Seymour Davidson (POW); NX12600 Lt Alan Gardiner Cope Ibbott (KIA in Malaya on 21 January 1942); NX12538 Lt David James Russell Glasson (KIA at Parit Sulong, Malaya on 22 January 1942); NX58094 Lt John Gregg Weily (POW); NX34960 Lt Stewart Fawcett Burt; NX12601 Lt Byron Donald Geo Crawford (KIA at Parit Sulong, Malaya on 22 January 1942); NX34902 Capt Frank Garland Beverley (POW); NX59618 Lt John MacLean Ritchie (KIA in Malaya on
9 February 1942); NX26768 Lt James Alexander Howard; NX34741 Lt (later Capt) Albert Charles (Joe) Pickup (POW); NX60090 Lt John Ashton Varley (POW); NX34935 Lt George Alexander (Geo) Gill (KIA in Malaya on 22 January 1942); NX34662 Lt (later Capt) Frederick Lavicount Harris (POW). Front row: NX34932 Captain (Capt) (later Major) Charles Hughes Cousens (POW); NX12594 Capt Walter Percy Bracher (POW); NX34967 Capt Thomas Guy Vincent MC (KIA in Malaya on 9 February 1942), NX34742 Lieutenant (Lt) Frederick Gerard Ernest Neild (KIA in Malaya on 12 February 1942), NX12595 Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Charles Groves Wright Anderson (POW); NX12575 Brigadier (Brig) D. S. Maxwell, NX12525 Lt Col Roland Frank Oakes (POW); NX34993 Major (Maj) Bert Henry James Bradley (KIA in Malaya on 12 February 1942); NX34734 Capt Reginald William James Newton (POW and later awarded OBE); NX34869 Capt Charlton Fallaw (KIA at Parit Sulong, Malaya on 22 January 1942); NX35149 Richard Lloyd Cahill (POW and later awarded OBE).
JOHN FRITZ SACHS (TKS 1927-30)
SCHOOL CAREER AND POST SCHOOL CAREER
• Broughton House
• Had a reputation for a daring and unconventional spirit whilst at School. He reportedly laid a trail of touch powder down the hall to the Master’s Common Room and at the appropriate time lit the trail. He was also known to have fried sausages in a pan in the Upper School Friday Assembly. This would be like lighting a small gas stove and cooking sausages at the back of Futter Hall during Assembly. Sachs joined the militia after School and volunteered for service early in 1940
ENLISTED
• 2/1/1940 at Victoria Barracks
SERVICE NUMBER
• NX9629
SERVICE DETAILS
• Sergeant later Lieutenant 2/1st Field regiment
• Military Medal London Gazette (26 March 1942) p1372 at position 4
• KSM Sept 1943: Captured in Kalamata, Greece, aged 29, slightly wounded but managed to escape by jumping from the train. He worked for a while with the Greek resistance before capturing a 16ft sailing boat and sailed alone to neutral Turkey before re-joining the Forces in Egypt. He received the Military Medal. His Citation states that he showed great fortitude and tenacity of purpose. He collected useful information about the enemy and then volunteered to return to Greece to help other Imperial Servicemen still in hiding
• He became a member of the SRD (later Z Special ) in 1944. He took part in a successful POLITICIAN 4 raid before partnering with Lt Clifford Perske in POLITICIAN 8 on the USS Bream. A summary of this raid is as follows:
“The 8th Patrol was to end in tragedy. Lieutenant Sachs and Perske sailed in the USS Bream on March 6th, on the way to the South China Sea. On the 15th March, the submarine attacked a Japanese convoy in the vicinity of Maselembo Island in the Java Sea, sinking one ship. That evening, the Japanese convoy anchored in the lee of the Great Maselembo. Sachs and Perske now planned to attack the ships with limpet mines during the night.
Unknown to them and to the Captain of the Bream, the Japanese convoy had been fired at the same day by a British submarine, whose torpedoes had missed. One can assume that the ships’ crews were fully alert. The SRD pair disappeared into the night in their folboat under ideal conditions for a clandestine approach, the night being dark and rainy, with a little wind to ruffle the water. When they failed to appear at the rendezvous it was obvious that something was amiss. According to Major Jinkins, who debriefed the submarine’s Captain after his return to Fremantle, an Australian voice was heard on the right radio frequency at about sunrise. This was thought to be the voice of Sachs, who purposely omitted to give his identification codeword during the short conversation. Nevertheless, Bream gave them the benefit of the doubt and continued on course towards a rendezvous, but was heavily attacked by a Japanese antisubmarine vessel. She was severely damaged by depth-charges and was only able to surface after thirty-six hours, and was then unable to dive again until she got back to Fremantle. The Captain was convinced that the Japanese had captured Sachs and Perske and had forced them to talk on their own frequency with the intention of trapping the submarine.
As a direct result of the near-loss of the USS Bream, the American admirals decided that American submarines would no longer carry SRD teams to attack ‘targets of opportunity’ and that only pre-planned operations would be approved. In addition, and more seriously, the plan to establish an SRD base at Subic Bay so as to continue the POLITICIAN/OPTICIAN operations was cancelled. There had already been some reluctance on the part of CTF71 to this plan and this episode provided the justification for the decision.
Post-war investigation revealed that Sachs and Perske were imprisoned for a time in Soerabaya, East Java, and later beheaded by the Japanese.”
Excerpt: The King’s School Parramatta and World War II 1939-1945 (1995) editor Mr Peter Yeend It was many years after the war before John’s brother found out what happened to him. His personal effects were never returned to the family.
Service Record Available: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4847678
DEATH
• Executed 5/4/1945
BURIAL DETAILS
• Singapore Memorial Column 117
RICHARD ARTHUR SANDS (TKS 1935-39)
SCHOOL CAREER AND POST SCHOOL CAREER
• Macarthur House, Cadet
• 1936 Burton C Scholarship
ENLISTED
• 16/6/1941 at Paddington
SERVICE NUMBER
• NX33725
SERVICE DETAILS
• Private 2/30th Australian Infantry Battalion
• His Service Record is currently not available due to the NAA scanning project
DEATH
• 15/1/19423
BURIAL DETAILS
• Singapore Memorial Column 132
