Lieutenant-Colonel (retired) Willis conducted interviews and arranged for medical examinations. Once a recruit was approved for service, Willis arranged for them to be hired as a deckhand for a trip to England aboard ships of the Manchester Steamer Lines. Starting in September 1938, small groups of four or five men were leaving Halifax on a regular basis. During WW II men of the ‘100’ would engage with the enemy in France, Sicily, Italy, Lebanon, Norway, Egypt, Libya, the Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, India and Burma. Others would become prisoners of war and incarcerated in Italy, Germany, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan, and Burma. Historical and wartime service information for some of the Halifax 100 is very sparse. In some cases, there is just a name; consequently, ‘possible names’ found in the NS Vital Statistics have been included. Their stories are presented here, organized in the precedence of units of the British Armed Forces and starting with an individual’s original unit. ROYALARTILLERY (RA) Robert David Bickford was born into an army family in Halifax on 26 July 1917. His father, Sergeant-Major Robert David Bickford, was stationed at Wellington Barracks. Lance- Bombardier Robert David Bickford Jr served in the 5th Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery. On 15 February 1942 he was taken prisoner in Singapore. After spending several months at Changi Prison, he was sent to Taiwan on the ‘hellship’ England Maru and spent the remainder of the war in Taihoku and Shirakawa POW camps. During this period Bob served in the clandestine group ’The Formosa International Rover Crew.’ Former Boy Scouts who took on the task of caring for the desperate needs of the wounded, sick and dying POWs. After the war Lance Bombardier Robert David Bickford settled in Runcorn, Cheshire, England and died there on 3 May 1985. John Clayton Goodman was born in Halifax on 14 August 1913 to William and Fanny (Heath) Goodman. John’s father was an artillery non-commissioned officer with the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery in Halifax. John followed in his father’s footsteps by enlisting in the Royal Artillery. Gunner Goodman was posted to Singapore in December 1940 as a member of the 9th Coastal Regiment. He was part of the large British force that surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army on 15 February 1942. Eventually John was sent to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway construction project (aka “the Death Railway”). During the railway's construction, over 90,000 of the Southeast Asian civilian ‘forced’ laborers died. More than 12,000 Allied prisoners of war also perished there. Those deaths are primarily attributable to disease, malnutrition, exposure, lack of medical attention and/or physical abuse. Gunner John Clayton Goodman of Ferguson’s Cove was 28 years old when he died of cholera on 3 July 1943 at the Tonchan South Camp. His ashes are buried in the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Thailand. Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 45 continued ... continued ...
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