Reuben Clive Goldsworthy, 2/10th Field Regiment

Reuben 'Clive' Goldsworthy, 2/10th Field Regiment, QX9926, the letters and memoirs of a survivor of the Burma Thailand Railway

When Clive 'Goldie' Goldsworthy wrote home to his family in Brisbane in 1941, it was as a young fresh-faced man, who was soon to embark on an unimaginable journey of strength and survival. Stationed in Malaya with the 2/10th Field [Artillery] Regiment, it was his first time overseas, and for the most part of that year, their work was a rehearsal for events they never believed would happen.

But as the Imperial Japanese Army swiftly made their way down the Peninsular, supported by air and armour, allied troops withdrew across the Johore causeway linking Malaya and Singapore, where they were trapped.

130,000 allied troops - including 15,00 Australians were taken prisoner of the Japanese in February 1942, initially interned at Changi Prison (Selarang Barracks) they were later divided into working parties.

Clive Goldsworthy was attached to 'D Force' in March 1943 and was sent by train to Bampong, Tarsau, and then on to Wampo Camp, to work on the infamous Hellfire Pass (Konyu Cutting) of the Burma-Thailand Railway. Very little was heard of his welfare until August 1943 when the family were notified via telegram that he was alive and a prisoner of war of the Japanese, in Thailand.

Following his work on Hellfire Pass, Clive was treated for severe leg ulcers at Tarsau hospital camp, where Lieutenant-Colonel Edward 'Weary' Dunlop was the medical officer in charge. Clive was later sent on to Nakon Pathom Base Camp, Tamuang, Tamajo, Tamarkan (Kanchanaburi), Bampong and Rajburi, where he remained until the end of the war.

After being recovered from Thailand, Clive was flown home from Singapore in October 1945. Clive married Joyce Dargush in January 1946, they had two children Gaynor and Douglas.

**Clive's brother-in-law Albert 'Bert' Dale was also taken prisoner of war of the Japanese, and as part of 'B Force' worked on the Burma end of the railway. In February 1945 Albert Dale was one of 50 POWs in Group 7 who set out on the nineteen day trek from Sandakan to Ranau, on the north east coast of Borneo. On 13 February Albert Dale, aged 38, collapsed about 3 kilometres from the night's stopping place west of the Celo River. Bill Moxam NX19570 and three others brought him back to the camp, where he died during the night. He was buried by his comrades and they marked his grave site.

Clive returned five times to Thailand in his later years, and after his death, his family chose to scatter his ashes at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, where so many of his comrades lay.

View the collection ...

• 33598 Reuben Clive Goldsworthy collection, State Library of Queensland

Read more ...

• Service record:  Goldsworthy, Reuben Clive. National Archives of Australia. Series B8883 Item ID 4856668
• Service record: Dale, Albert. National Archives of Australia. Series B8883 Item ID 4490513
• 'Prisoners of war : Australians under Nippon' by Hank Nelson, 1990
• 'The war diaries of Weary Dunlop: Java and the Burma-Thailand railway, 1942-1945' by Edward E Dunlop, 1986
• 'Sandakan - A Conspiracy of Silence' by Lynette Ramsay Silver, AM, MBE, 2011

Discover more ...

• Collections relating to the 2/10th Field Regiment
• Collections relating to the Burma-Thailand Railway
• Collections relating to Queenslanders who were prisoners of war