Locals who died as prisoners of the Japanese during WWII

VX21234 Neil Douglass was born in Preston on April 2, 1919. His family became farmers at Fulham and after the death of his father worked the farm. He enlisted in the 2nd AIF on June 3, 1940 and was assigned to the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion. After service in the Middle East, he and the other members of his battalion arrived in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). He was captured by the Japanese and ended up in Thailand where he died of disease on September 12, 1945. He was one of eight sick prisoners left to die without food or water by the Japanese. Neil Douglass was 24 years old.