Arthur Charles Adams

He died a POW of the Japanese (see below).

In July 1945, the men of 78 Battery, 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery were experiencing a harrowing and tragic reality: they were Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOWs) surviving under brutal conditions in Japanese captivity, primarily in Borneo.Because the entire regiment had been captured more than three years prior, July 1945 did not involve standard military combat movements, but rather a desperate fight for survival just weeks before the war ended.

Originally raised in Oxford in 1939 to defend RAF airfields, the 35th LAA Regiment (comprising the 78th, 89th, and 144th Batteries) sailed for the Far East in late 1941. They arrived in Singapore in January 1942 and were quickly diverted to Sumatra to defend Allied airfields and oil refineries. Following overwhelming Japanese advances, they were forced to surrender in March 1942.

Following their capture, the Japanese military separated the regiment. The men of 78 Battery were systematically transported to labor camps in Borneo (including the infamous Sandakan and Kuching areas). By July 1945, the situation in these camps had reached its absolute nadir. Ravaged by acute malnutrition, malaria, beriberi, forced labour, and the infamous Sandakan Death Marches, the death rate among the remaining 78 Battery artillerymen escalated dramatically during the summer of 1945. Many succumbed just weeks, or even days, before the Japanese surrender in August.

Those who perished in Borneo in July 1945—and those who died shortly after liberation—are primarily buried or commemorated at the Labuan War Cemetery on Labuan Island, Malaysia.