Two Soldiers, One Bond: Edwin Fairweather and a Scottish Gift

Please note, there may be discussions, sources and images about the treatment of Japanese Prisoners of War during World War Two in this blog that some readers may find upsetting.

Last month, on the 8^th of May, marked the 80^th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) when Germany officially and unconditionally surrendered to the Allies in 1945. Many think of this date as the end of World War Two, however, it is important to remember that for many soldiers, the war did not end until months later. VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) commemorates the surrender of Japan on the 15^th of August 1945, with the formal surrender ceremony on the 2^nd of September 1945, officially ending the Second World War. However, men from the 2nd Battalion weren’t liberated until later in the month, on the 12th of September. Between May and September 1945, war continued in the Asia-Pacific region and this month, our blog takes a look at how an Australian soldier met an Argyll soldier from a Japanese POW camp (Prisoner of War camp) in Borneo, Indonesia.

British Borneo comprised of North Borneo, Sarawak, Brunei and Labuan Island, all of which sat on the north coast of Borneo and are now part of Indonesia. During WW2, the south side of the island was part of the Netherlands and East Indies. The Japanese invaded and took occupation of Borneo in late 1941/early 1942 as the Dutch and British did not have the resources to defend it properly. During their occupation, the Japanese set up several POW camps that were known for their terrible and harsh conditions. The four main camps were Sandakan, Kuching, Labuan, and Jesselton, however there were several smaller camps around Borneo including ones in Labuan Island and Brunei.

Edwin Hall Fairweather enlisted in the Australian Army in 1942 when he was only 18 years old. He was the youngest of 10 children and the only one to be born in Australia when the family migrated to Melbourne from Dundee, Scotland. Fairweather started serving in the 135^th Australian General Transport but was claimed by his brother, Dave Fairweather, to Unit 2/2^nd Infantry Troop Workshops as a mechanic. The 2/2^nd sailed from Cairns to Morotai Island, Indonesia, where there were thousands of Australian and American troops there. The 2/2^nd were in charge of getting the vehicles ready for the invasion of Borneo. They sailed on Landing Ship, Tanks (LST) which are naval ships specially designed during WW2 to transport vehicles, troops, and supplies to foreign shores. They had to drive the vehicles through the water before taking them ashore at Lubuan Island, Borneo, and then drove them through the jungle where they set up camp.

Whilst in Lubuan Island, the troops drove the Japanese back to an area called ‘the pocket’ which was a fortified Japanese stronghold. The POW camp in Lubuan was therefore liberated and the prisoners were taken to the camp hospital. Fairweather and other soldiers were woken in the middle of the night to give blood to the POWs who urgently needed it. Sometimes the soldiers would go to the hospital to visit the POWs and this is when Fairweather met Jack Donald Kerr, an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander soldier. Fairweather recalled that Kerr was only skin and bone like all the others from the POW camp and because they hadn’t eaten solid food in so long, they had to be fed sugar and water for days and their stomachs swelled up.

We don’t have a lot of information on Donald Kerr but we do know that he was born in 1915 and originally enlisted to the 2^nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He served in India prior to travelling with the Battalion to Singapore and then to Malaya before transferring to Intelligence Corps in Malaya on the 4^th of June 1941. A lot of soldiers from the 2^nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were taken as POWs and placed in Japanese camps after the battle of Singapore. He is not listed on the Commonwealth War Graves and so it is likely that he survived the war. Whilst chatting, Fairweather told Kerr about his parents’ heritage from Dundee and Kerr gave him his Argyll and Sutherland balmoral hat and badge. Fairweather kept the hat and badge all of his life and it was only recently that his family donated the hat to the museum along with Fairweather’s incredible story and experience of the war.

Fairweather and a few others from his unit were taken by boat to Brunei by a native where they walked around and came across another Japanese POW camp where British and Indian soldiers were kept. The conditions of this camp were horrendous and Fairweather said that where the prisoners laid down you wouldn’t even keep pigs in the filth. There was no toilet facilities and no water for washing. The Japanese forced the prisoners to carry water for them in buckets with four strands of barbed wire for handles which would cut into their hands. The POWs said that they would be strung up by their thumbs with their feet dangling for hours in the hot sun for no reason and every time a Japanese soldier passed by, he would take a pick handle and belt them with it and laugh. Many men died from this treatment as well as from starvation and disease.

Indeed, the conditions in the Japanese POW camps across Borneo were shocking and horrible. The prisoners endured food shortages, disease, sickness, forced labour, appalling living conditions and brutal treatment. The forced labour usually involved construction projects such as how prisoners at the camp on Labuan Island were forced to work on the Labuan Airfield project. From January to August 1945, the Sandakan Death Marches took place which were a series of forced marches in Borneo from Sandakan POW camp to Ranau POW camp which was a journey of over 160 miles and resulted in the deaths of 2,434 Allied prisoners of war. Labuan Island became a major burial ground for POWs from this camp but also from other camps including those that died during the Sandakan Death Marches.

After Edwin’s brother Dave had returned home, Fairweather’s father made an application for his return, and he was able to travel back to Melbourne in time for Christmas 1945. This is an incredible story about how two soldiers from the opposite sides of the world met during war under horrific circumstances. It reveals the far-reaching influence and impact that the Argylls have across the world as they connected and interacted with other soldiers and shows how friendships and acts of kindness can be found in even the darkest of places. It is important to remember the soldiers that continued to face war and hardships in the POW camps after the VE Day celebrations as thousands of men – Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders included – still fought to live and return home to their families.

The Balmoral is now in the care of the museum after being handed in by the Fairweather family in 2024.

Written by Caitlin Stewart, Digital Content Volunteer