Loss of RAF ground crew FEPOWs

[wwrsimon]

Hello

Some FEPoW records are available on Fold3.com. The available records show his service number as 572086, not 572486 as per the CWGC website. There is a form with the following information:

Date of birth: 1922.6.24
Unit: 81 Repair and Salvage Unit
Date of Capture: 17.3.8
[Presumably this is Japanese year notation. I understand 17 is the 17th year of Hirohito's reign (he came to the throne in 1926), so March 8th 1942 - see newspaper article below.]
Father: Frederick John
Mother: Gladys Lilian
Place of Origin: Lovitts Farm, Shilton, Coventry.
Destination of Report [where news of his capture was to be sent]: Mr. Lucas, Coombe Park Dairy, Brandon, Coventry.

Another document shows that he died due to beri beri.

The Coventry Evening Telegraph of November 22nd 1945 reported the following:

Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Lucas, Coleshill Farm, late of Coombe Park Dairy, Brandon, have received information that their eldest son, Corporal William Lucas, R.A.F., died on November 8, 1944, whilst a prisoner-of-war in Japanese hands. Corporal Lucas attended the Technical College and from there he went to an R.A.F. training school. After training he was sent to the Japanese theatre of war and was taken prisoner in Java in 1942.

Regards

Simon