HARLER Evan Edward Private 127856

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Surname: HARLER;

Forename(s): Evan Edward;

Initials: EE;

Number: 127856;

Rank: Private;

Previous Regiment: R Welsh Fus;

MGC Branch: Infantry;

MGC Unit: Unknown;

Other Data: b. 27/1/1899 d. 17/2/1970
in RWF Terrirorials - sent to far east 1940. Taken POW by the Japanese

He served in the 240 or 241 Batteries of the 77 HAA Regiment RA. He was on board the Empress of Australia that arrived in Jakarta on 4 February. He was on the train that was sent to Surabaya 300 miles away and survived the major train wreck that killed 30 and injured 100 troops. After he returned to the UK he only travelled by train once in the early 1960s and was so traumatised that he had to return on a coach.
He was in action around Surabaya until the surrender on 9 March 1942. He was fortunate to survive shipment to Japan in early 1943 (many died en route). He was in a prison camp until 1945 near Nagasaki and survived dysentry, ber-beri and dengue fever.
I attach photos of his engraved rice bowl and match box presented to him by Lady Mountbatten during his journey home via Canada (these are now in the Imperial War Museum collections).
We have sent in the forms to the Veterans Agency and hope we can learn more of his WW1 service. His daughter is still alive and cannot recall him saying anything about his experiences in France. Her only recollection is that her father said "the Medic who saw him at his demob in 1919 told him that he would be lucky to live for more than 6 months - and it was the same Medic who passed him fit for service when he re-enlisted in 1939"!! His sense of humour never left him in spite of everything
He lived in Clydach Vale until his death in 1970 and worked in the Cambrian Colliery until closure in the mid 1960s. I met him 2 or 3 times and you could not help but like him. He was gregarious, knew everybody in his community and considered the Working Mens Club as his chapel. He must have been scarred physically and mentally but you would never have guessed from his demeanor.
Born: 27 January 1899 at Talyllyn, Dolgellau in Merioneth, North Wales – youngest of 3 children (brother John and sister Hannah)
Childhood: Family appears in Talyllyn on the 1901 and 1911 Census.
School: 1904-1912(?) Corris Church School, Machynlleth, Merionethshire.
Employment: 1912(?) Porter, Braich Goch Hotel, Corris, Machynlleth.
Relocation: Moved with family to 69 High street, Clydach Vale, Rhondda, Glamorgan (where his father had a bootmaker’s shop).
Previously, his father (John Fordham Harler) had served for ~20 years in the Yorkshire Regiment posted mostly overseas. His father died in June 1915 and his sister in 1916.
World War 1 Service: 2 March 1916 Enlisted as a Private in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Changed his birthdate to 30 January 1898 so that he appeared to have reached the enlistment age of 18 that was brought in at the start of 1916.
9-11 November 1917 transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (MGC number 127856). Served in France probably as part of the Vickers machine gun team supporting infantry (?). Demobilised as a Private on 15 January 1919.
War Medals: Victory Medal and British War Medal (issued to all war veterans in ~1920) (WW1 Medal Roll reference MGC/101B78625).
Marriage: Annie Edwards at Pontypridd Registry Office on 28 April 1921. Subsequently lived at 28 Park Street, Clydach Vale, Tonypandy, Rhondda, Glamorgan. Two daughters (Brenda and Patricia).
Employment: Miner - Cambrian Colliery, Clydach Vale, Rhondda (up to retirement around 1964).
World War 2 Service: Enlisted in the Territorial Force on 15 February 1939 aged 40. Transferred to the Royal Artillery on 6 August 1939 as a Gunner in the 241Battalion 77th Heavy Ack Ack Regiment. (Army number 1444660). From 1 January 1941 he was posted to the 242 Battalion.
The 77th HAA were mainly recruited from South Wales and included a number of famous international sportsmen. They were sent to Shetlands for training in 1940 (Evan was treated for scabies at Lerwick Military Hospital in May 1940). The regiment was posted to the Cardiff/Swansea area in 1941(HQ based at Maerdy Farm, Cardiff) and provided Ack Ack defences for South Wales throughout the Battle of Britain.
The 77 HAA sailed from the Clyde on the “Empress of Australia” on 6 December 1941 as part of a convoy heading for the Middle East. The day after, the Japanese attacked the American Fleet at Pearl Harbour and forces began to invade the Dutch Dependencies of Sumatra, Java etc. On reaching Cape Town, the convoy was redirected to Java via the Maldives and arrived at Batavia (now Jakarta) on the 4 February 1941.
Two Battalions (241 and 242) were transported by road and rail across Java to defend the eastern port of Surabaja. Evan was on a troop train that crashed into an ammunition train on a bridge above a ravine. Thirty members of the 77 HAA were killed and around 100 injured. The Battalions provided air defences for the Dutch Naval Base from 7 February but relocated to Tilijap on the south coast due to intense Japanese bombing. The Japanese rapidly overran Java and Evan became a Japanese POW from 8 March 1942. The troops were taken to Tanjung Priok camp and put to work in the docks around Batavia.
The POWs were then shipped to Singapore in late autumn 1942. The conditions on board were appalling and up to 50% of the POWs died on some of the ships. Many of the POWs were sent to work on the infamous Burma railway. Evan was perhaps fortunate that his coal mining experience meant that he was shipped to a mining area in Kyushu (the 3rd largest of the Japanese islands). He probably landed at Nagasaki around 1 February 1943 and taken across the bay to Furyo Shuyosho mining camp in Fukuoko Prefecture.
The camp was all British apart from an American doctor captured on Guam (Lt William Perilman) and an Australian Chaplain (Harry Thorpe). The POWs were put to work in mining and local farming. The diet was very basic and Evan lost weight steadily until mid-1944 when he stabilised at 105lb (compared to 150lb on capture). It is said that he befriended a local boy who sustained him with rice balls.
His medical records are held by the family and prisoners suffered from influenza, dysentery, beri-beri and dengue fever. He suffered particularly badly during the winter of 1943/44 with persistent coughing, recurrent fever, headaches, nose bleeds and general weakness. During the following summer he had watery diarrhoea and high temperature leading to further weight loss. Treatments were mainly aspirin, vitamins, magnesium and codeine for diarrhoea symptoms. No antibiotics were prescribed.
The camp was 4 miles across the bay from Nagasaki and the POWs saw the 2nd atom bomb explode on 9 August 1945. The Japanese surrendered a few days later and the POWs took charge of the camp and were supplied by air drops from US B29 bombers. Only 200 men and 11 Officers survived out of over 500 POWs who had been moved to the Fukuoko Camp.
The POWs were moved to Wakayama by train a few weeks later and would have passed through the devastated Hiroshima. After several weeks recuperation in Japan, Evan was shipped in October 1945 to Canada via Formosa, Manila (where the troops met Lady Mountbatten), Honolulu, San Francisco and Vancouver. He spent 7 days at the Victoria Military Hospital and diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. The POWs were then taken by train to New York and probably boarded the Queen Mary to sail to Southampton.
Evan reached the UK on 2 December and spent 12 days at Connaught Hospital and was readmitted to Shrewsbury Military Hospital for 3 days on 16 February 1946. His Release Book was issued on 8 March 1946 (at Hereford) and he was demobilised on 18 September 1946.
Evan made several attempts to secure a disability pension due to lung impairment by pulmonary tuberculosis (Ministry of Pensions reference M6/85885). He was eventually turned down by a Pensions Appeal Tribunal on 21 May 1951 (the family still have the Appeal papers).
He returned to live with his family at 28 Park Street, Clydach Vale, Tonypandy and worked at the Cambrian Colliery until shortly before closure in the mid-1960s. He was well known and respected in his community.
He died on 17 February 1970 aged 71 and was cremated at Glyntaff Crematorium. His family have subsequently donated his rice bowl to the Imperial War Museum (inscribed with the 77 HAA badge and the ports of call en route from the Clyde to Java) along with the match box (and matches) he received from Lady Mountbatten in Manila.;

END OF RECORD.

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