Roll of Honour: John Bragg

Gunner J. H. Bragg

5 Searchlight Regt. Royal Artillery

1718501

Died in enemy hands, Solomon Islands.

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John Hall Bragg was born in 1907 in Woking, the eldest son of John Lane Bragg and Louisa Bragg. John senior was a baker from Camberwell in London and Louisa was from County Kildare in Ireland. John had two older sisters (probably twins), Constance and Louise. In 1911 the family were living in Elm Road, Woking.

John later married Frances who was from Kenton in Middlesex. 

Before the war John was manager of the Sports House in Fleet. Johns younger brother Arthur also served in the war, in North Africa having also served for a year with the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil war.

John was stationed in Singapore and captured by the Japanese when the country fell in February 1942. He was probably then held in the notorious Changi prison camp.

On 18 October 1942 John was put aboard the transport ship ‘Masta Maru’ headed for an unknown destination. Also aboard were 599 other men of the Royal Artillery. They arrived in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea on 5 November, one man having died of dysentery on the voyage. The men were then put to work on the dusty volcanic island where they suffered regular beatings from their captors.

At the end of November the ‘Masta Maru’ set sail once more this time destined for Ballale in the Solomon Islands. 82 Men were left behind in Rabaul, all deemed too sick to travel. Of the men left on Rabaul only 18 were to survive to the end of the war.

Once on Ballale Island John and his comrades were immediately put to work constructing an airfield.

Construction of the airfield on the 4 mile long Ballale Island was brought to the attention of the allies in January 1943 and it was bombed on a regular basis. During these raids the allied prisoners were forced to stay in the open, not allowed to take cover or even dig slit trenches. They were also deprived of all medical care and fed only starvation rations.

It is unclear how many prisoners were killed during the construction of the airfield either during the bombing raids or due to illness and malnutrition. What is known is that on 5 March 1943, fearing an allied landing on the island the order was given to kill all the remaining prisoners.

No witnesses to this massacre have ever come forward but it is believed the order was given by the commanding officer Lt. Comd. Osaki. Most of the men were buried on the island but some were thrown into the lagoon in rice sacks. Solomon Islanders were told by the Japanese the graves were of their own soldiers and the Japanese authorities lied to the allies claiming the men had been lost at sea during transportation.

John Bragg is remembered on the Singapore memorial (column 14). He is not remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour probably due to lack of information on him in the year following the war. He is also remembered in the Woking library World War Two book of remembrance.

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Last updated 30 August 2009

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Woking News and Mail