Frank Coupland
He was a market salesman in 1939.
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Frank Coupland was the son of William (b.1887), the village policeman and Ellen née Walker (b.1885) Coupland who had married in September 1912. The family lived at High Lawn, Eakring Road, Wellow.
Biographical and Military history in this section is by courtesy of Wellow Heritage and Tourism Group, pamphlet A Tribute to our Wellow War Heroes (2021)
CHUNGKAI WAR CEMETERY 2. H. 9. Thailand
Frank Coupland enlisted in 1st Bn Leicestershire Regiment at the start of hostilities. From India, the battalion moved to Penang and in May sailed for mainland Malaya taking part in the Battle of Jira. On December 20th 1941 due to heavy casualties they amalgamated with 2nd Bn East Surrey Regiment to form the British Battalion.
On December 7th 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and occupied Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong. The entire British garrison at Singapore went into captivity until the end of the war.
On March 13th 1942, Coupland was posted ‘missing’ which became ‘ Prisoner of War’ at Chungkai, Thailand on May 5th. Chunghai became a base camp for the notorious Burma Railway during the construction of which 13,000 pows and an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians died.
Chunghai contained a hospital and church built by allied prisoners. There are currently 1,426 Commonwealth and 313 Dutch burials in the cemetery. Frank Coupland was one of many enduring terrible hardships and cruelty during the construction of the ‘Railway of Death’ and he died from acute enteritis (dysentery) at Chunghai Camp.
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