Qld. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of QX11017 Private David Austin Cumming, 2/26th ...

Accession Number P02467.999
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Film copy negative
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Qld. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of QX11017 Private David Austin Cumming, 2/26th Battalion, Australian Infantry. He was one of over 2000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore as a part of B Force. The 1494 POW's that made up B Force, were transported from Changi on 7 July 1942 on board the tramp ship Ubi Maru, arriving in Sandakan Harbour on 18 July 1942. Private Cumming, aged 29, died as a prisoner of the Japanese on 21 January 1945. He was the son of David Michael and Winifred Cumming, and the husband of Millicent Edna Vera Cumming, of Toowong, Qld. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial Panel 15. (Photograph copied from AWM232, items 4 and 5. Personal information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database.)