SANDAKAN HISTORY DOC - Department of Veterans' Affairs

area. It is thought that this area is where the sick were concentrated when
the compound was destroyed by fire, after the fit personnel left for Ranau.
More bodies and similar personal items were found along the
track to Ranau and at Ranau itself. Reports from the unit listed
all items found and stated:
The items themselves have been parcelled and will be sent to Records,
Melbourne, for further checking. All Paybooks and most of the other
items have been damaged by weather and/or fire, and require very careful
handling. Paybooks, and personal effects of PW, in a number of cases,
found concentrated in small heaps, and in some cases covered over by
blankets or sacking either for concealment or protection from the weather.
Typical of the few recovered remnants of the POWs’ presence
at Sandakan are some items in the collection of the Australian
War Memorial. These include six fire-damaged cigarette cases,
two improvised smoking pipes, a shaving brush, a dixie lid
used as a cooking utensil, a rosary and crucifix, and false teeth.
All of these were found at the camp by 9 Military History
Field Team.
Research has indicated that some 2428 Allied servicemen—
1787 Australians and 641 British—held in the Sandakan Camp
in January 1945 died between January and August 1945 in
Japanese captivity. Private Ted Ings of Binalong was one of
them. They perished at the Sandakan POW Camp, along the
track to Ranau, and at Ranau itself. What brought about the
deaths of so many prisoners so close to the Allied victory over
Japan in August 1945?
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