20B. BROCKMAN, Cyril ( 1910- 1943 )

Cyril Brockman ( son of Charlie ), was born at Eelup, Bunbury on 18 May 1910. He enlisted for Army Service at Claremont, W.A. on 15 January 1941. After completion of training at Northam, he was posted to the 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion, being posted to Syria, where he was part of the occupation force until the end of 1941.

In February 1942 his Battalion was posted to Sumatra, then onwards to Batavia, 2 days after the Japanese  Army had defeated  British forces in Singapore. Cyril was part of the force who were  to provide the key defence against  Japanese invasion. However, his Battalion was greatly outnumbered  in the subsequent attack, with Cyril being reported missing in Java in late April 1942.

He had been taken as a Prisoner of War to work on the infamous Thai- Burma Railway, with the Australian Army officially listing him as a POW in July 1943.

Cyril Brockman died from Cholera disease on 13 August  1943 , being one of 139 men from the 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion to meet their demise whilst completing the punishing work on the Railway.

Cyril Brockman is interred at the Kanchanaburi  War Cemetery,  Thailand , and is memorialized on a joint headstone with his father in the Bunbury General Cemetery.