POW PROFILE

Clive Alfred Paul BOUNDY
Lieutenant WX 3455
2/6 th Field Park Company R.A.E.

Article Written by Vic Tyrrell
With the assistance of Clive’s daughter, Ruth

YES -: I KNEW HOSHI

Enlisted in the AIF 18 th. November 1940 Discharged 5 th. March 1946 Captured in Malaya and imprisoned in Changi, Singapore and a survivor of the infamous Sandakan POW Camp in British North Borneo. One of the fortunate.

Drafted to “B” Force, shipped out of Singapore in the rust bucket “Ubi Maru” on the 8 th July 1942, 1496 men endured a degrading and humiliating trip of 9 Days to the embarkation point of Sandakan. Their Job -: to build an Aerodrome for the Japanese Imperial thrust for dominance.

Clive was born in Gawler South Australia graduated as a Mining Engineer in that State and later extended his studies to qualify as a Geologist using his expertise in various Western Australian Mining Operations and from where he finally enlisted in the Australian Military Forces. The qualifications that Lieut Boundy had achieved did not go unnoticed by Capt. Hoshijima Susumi the Militant Commander of the the Sandakan Camp and also an Engineering Graduate who would capitalise on this knowledge in the Aerodrome Construction process.

I had the pleasure of meeting Clive when he came to us as a joining member of our Lodge, I knew that he had suffered a very tough time as a POW however I was not aware at that time that he was a Sandakan prisoner. Over time and reluctantly Clive would reveal small snippets of his incarceration to those with more than an interest in the horrors of that Camp but never would he name people.

After the Capt. Matthews underground activities were discovered by the Kempe Tai it was decided to move all Officers with the exception of a few, principally Medical and Pastoral Officers, to Kuching, in order to prevent any further delay to their grand plan. To this time the construction of the Aerodrome had been thwarted with disruption and delay of many natures and to mention just one problem that brought concern was the unstable foundation of the runway to receive Aircraft, it would be hard to believe that an Australian with expert knowledge would have contributed to that dilemma???

Clive along with the other Officers was re-located to Kuching to see out their time until their release in August 1945. Asked if he knew Capt Hoshijima during his incarceration, his reply was, “YES I KNEW HOSHI”.

EDITORS NOTE:

I have in my possession a copy of a taped interview with Clive Boundy conducted by a member of the Royal Australian Engineers Association of WA. Also copy of a document prepared by Clive relating to a computerised nominal roll of the 2/6 Field Park that is in the possession of our own association member, Alexa Hoffman. Clive was the instigator and drive behind the wooden Nominal Roll for the 2/6 Field Park Coy RAE and the 86 th L.A.D. that hangs proudly at Irwin Barracks, Karrakatta. Also in Jack Sue’s book, Blood on Borneo, Jack devotes Chapter 34 (pages 330 – 334) to Clive Boundy and it is obvious by his comments that Jack was very impressed with Clive. An additional article and overview on Clive is under consideration for a later edition of the ‘Bugle’.