Collection relating to the service of NX34734 Reginald William James Newton

Members of 'D' Company, 2/19th Battalion, line up wearing life vests during boat drill on the first night at sea onboard HMT Queen Mary after departing Sydney, NSW, enroute to Malaya. The Battalion was later captured by the Japanese in the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 and most of the men were killed in action (KIA) or held as prisoners of war (POW). Identified from left to right: NX35223 Private (Pte) Kevan Clifford ‘Knobby’ Cheney (POW); (partly obscured); NX35764 Pte James Patrick Gorham (POW); NX55098 Sergeant Oswald James ‘Spider’ Layton (KIA in Malaya on 10 February 1942); NX35238 Pte William ‘Bill’ McGeachie (POW); NX35245 Pte Albert James ‘Sandy’ Hopkins (POW); NX35671 Private (Pte) Frederick James Wilson (POW); Jim Mulholland; NX27254 Pte Colin Robert ‘Col’ Dunstone (POW). Officers on the right are: NX34771 Lieutenant (Lt) Keith Linden Westbrook, Second in Command; NX12522 Lieutenant (Lt) Randal ‘Dal’ Wilson (KIA in Malaya on 11 February 1942); NX70159 Lt Richard Wigram Locke ‘Dick’ Austin and NX12593 Lt Gordon Henry Walker (later Major).