No.5836258, Private, Ernest George HULYER
Aged 24
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Ernest George Hulyer was born in Clare on 26th September 1920 (Risbridge Q4-1920 4A:1634), son of Charles and Emma HULYER (née BARSHAM).
The 1939 register has his parents and 2 brothers at Motts House, Chilton Street, Clare RD. His father Charles [3/12/1878] was a labourer; mother [16/12/1881]; brothers Willie A [5/5/1909] a ploughman,and Arthur [25/6/1915] also a ploughman. His Japanese prisoner of war card actually gives a date of birth as 1926 (year and day apparently transposed). It gives his parents address as Chilton Street, Clare and his occupation as labourer. |
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He was captured in Singapore on the day of the surrender to the Japanese, 15th February 1942. He survived working on the Burma-Siam railway
but was then another victim of the "Hell Ships". These were used to transport prisoners of war across the pacific , mainly for slave labour
in mainland Japan. Unfortunately they were never marked as carrying our men and since the Allies were aware of the whereabouts of these
convoys, many were sunk en route. Conditions on these ships were such that a strong stomach is required to read the various books about them. He was part of a group to be sent to Borneo on the Hofuku Maru. This old ship was forced to call in at Manila, where it waited for a month with the prisoners still kept below in the hold, many dying of starvation and disease Eventually,on September 20, 1944, the Hofuko Maru [KA-27} (with 1,289 prisoners on board) and 10 other ships formed Convoy MATA-27, and sailed from Manila for Japan. The following morning, the convoy was attacked 80 miles north of Corregidor by more than 100 American carrier planes. All eleven ships in the convoy were sunk. Of the 1,289 British and Dutch POWs on board the Hofuku Maru, 1,047 died. On 21st September 1944 the Hofuku Maru sailed with Convoy MATA-27 for Takao in Formosa. She was attacked by an American aircraft carrier about 80 miles north of Corregidor, the aircraft carrier’s planes sunk the whole fleet including the Hofuku Maru, not knowing she carried prisoners locked in the holds. The Hofuku Maru was carrying 1289 prisoners from Manila to Japan, 1047 were lost. |
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