L/CPL Mervyn Rober (Bob) FARRANDS

Bob Farrands was born in Ganmain NSW, (only 220kms to the east of Hay) on 27 July 1922.  He was the second child of Gladys and Leslie Farrands, the only boy of four children.  He attended Ganmain Primary School and then Narrandera High School where he gained his Intermediate Certificate.  With the outbreak of war with Japan, Bob enlisted in the army at Wagga NSW in 1940 when he was 17 and was posted to 2/19th Battalion, 8th Division.  After training his unit travelled on the Queen Mary to Singapore to fight the enemy in Malaya.

After finally fighting a rearguard action against the advancing Japanese army, Singapore fell on 15 February 1942 and he was captured with his whole unit and initially sent to Changi Prison Camp.  From there he was sent o work on the Burma Thailand railway.

On 4 September 1944, along with 1,317 other POWs, Bob boarded the passenger cargo ship Rakuyo Maru bound for Japan to work in the mines.  Most prisoners were forced into the depths of the ship’s cargo hold like sardines which was supposed to hold only 150 people.  Bob and his friend Jeff refused to go down and were allowed to stay on deck holding a winch.

On 12 September, travelling in convoy, the unmarked Rakuyo Maru was torpedoed and sank in the South China sea off Hainan Island by the American Submarine USS Sealion II, part of an Allied submarine wolf pack.  Bob and Jeff managed to remove the covers over the hold to allow the prisoners below up onto the deck before the ship sank.  After 14 days in the water, blind from burning oil and hanging onto a raft with Cliff Farlow, Bob, Cliff and 70 others were rescued by the American submarine USS Pampanito.  It is estimated that 1,159 POWs died with the sinking of the Rakuyo Maru.

On his return to Australia and during his recuperation, Bob met Joan Wensley, then a member of the Australian Women’s Medical Army Service .  They married in July 1946 and had three daughters, Lynette, Jenni and Robyn and settled in Putney, Sydney.  Bob first joined the Customs Service and then the NSW Fire Brigade where he worked for 37 years.  He rarely spoke about his time in the army or as a POW.  He had been told not to talk about it on his return to Australia.  He saved those stories for Anzac Day when he met up with his mates, Cliff Farlow, Vic Gosling and Curly Martin.

For years after his return to Australia he suffered recurring bouts of malaria.

Bob passed away in July 2002 a few weeks before his 80th birthday and seven weeks after his wife Joan had died. 

During his lifetime he enjoyed playing tennis, riding his push-bike and later becoming an avid bowler.  He always enjoyed fishing with the family.