Private Kenneth John Helliwell
2/20 Infantry Battalion, 2nd AIF.
by Robert Simpson
Kenneth John Helliwell was born in Tenterfield, New South Wales on 8th December 1914. He was one of three children to William Helliwell and Emma Jasper Rixon. His parents had been married at Tenterfield in 1914. William was a dairy farmer. He was born in England on 8th February 1883. William had worked for a veterinarian in England and was a farm hand that helped to look after stud cattle. He was involved in shipping the cattle to other countries. He went to Argentina twice and then in 1910 came out with some cattle to Australia on the Dorset and stayed. On the way, due to Halley’s Comet, the cattle were quite agitated in the ship. Emma was born in Uralla, New South Wales in 1893. Her father Thomas was born there also. His father Frederick was born and lived in Berkshire, England before moving to Uralla. The Helliwells lived in Bryan’s Gap. Due to his previous experience, William also helped the other farmers out with their stock and even after a veterinarian was available in the district, he still was called on to help him out. In the 1936 and 1937 Electoral Rolls, Kenneth was listed as a farmer. He also appears on the 1943 roll; obviously, they did not remove his name. They also had two daughters, Millicent Joan and Olwyn Marjorie.
The Dorset
Kenneth’s Attestation Form for special forces raised for service in Australia or abroad, shows he was issued with the service number NX31559 at the Redbank Reinforcement Depot for Infantry. He enlisted at Tamworth on 25th May 1940. He was one of five cousins to enlist. Only two came back. It states he was a Natural born British Citizen and confirms his birth date. He was a farm hand who lived near Tenterfield and was single. His next of kin was his father William Helliwell of PO Box 58 Tenterfield. His religion was stated as Methodist. He passed his medical and was listed as fit for Class 1. On 11th June 1940, Kenneth was posted to the 2/20 Australian Infantry Battalion, 8th Division as Private NX31559. The battalion was formed from New South Wales recruits. On the 14th he was detached for duty as Cook. He was transferred back to the regiment on 4th August and arrived at Wallgrove on the 19th. He trained with the regiment at Wallgrove, Ingleburn and Bathurst. From 19th to 28th December he was granted pre-embarkation leave. He went home to spend time with his family. When he was departing, his youngest sister was sitting on her horse, and when he had said goodbye to her he slapped the horse on its rump with his hat and that startled the horse which took off at a gallop with is sister holding on tightly. Needless to say, he got in trouble with his parents for doing that. He was admitted to the camp dressing station with burns on his right leg on 25th January 1941 and was discharged on 1st February and rejoined his unit.
As part of the 22nd Brigade of the 8th Australian Division he left for Singapore on 2nd February 1941 on HMT Queen Mary at Sydney. He was appointed A/Spec Group II Cook on 3rd February. They arrived in Singapore on 18th February and moved to south-west Malaya to train for service under tropical conditions. On 5th February 1941, he was admitted to the 10th Australian General Hospital with a burn on his foot and was discharged back to his unit on the 14th. From 16th to 22nd July he had special leave to Singapore. The battalion was redeployed to the port of Mersing in late August. As it was connected to Singapore by road it could be attacked by the Japanese, so they spent time preparing defensive positions. He also had leave to Singapore from 9th to 14th October. They were attacked and bombed by the Japanese in January 1942 and withdrew to Singapore to take up a position on the northern flank of the Brigade’s sector on the west coast of Singapore.
As they had to cover a wide front they were widely dispersed and were infiltrated when the Japanese attacked on the night of the 20th February. They were able to inflict heavy casualties on the Japanese initially, despite of this, but had to withdraw before they were overwhelmed. They fought a desperate fighting withdrawal towards Singapore city. This ended with the surrender of the island on the night of 15th February. They were initially placed in Changi prison but then were allocated to external work parties around Singapore and southern Malaya. Later parties were sent to camps along the Burma-Thailand railway, and in Borneo, Japan, French Indochina, Java, Sumatra and Malaya. There the men endured the worst treatment from the Japanese and many died from disease, starvation and mistreatment.
On 16th February 1942, he was listed as missing by AIF Malaya. The next entry on his service records noted him as being missing, believed POW on 5th November 1943, and a further entry on 22nd February 1944 confirms him as a Prisoner of War. A letter was sent from Kenneth to his father and its delivery was acknowledged by him on 9th July 1942 after going through the Tenterfield Post Officer on the 6th. The receipt was then forwarded on to 2nd Military District Records office in New South Wales on 11th July. The letter apparently contained a napkin from Raffles Hotel in Singapore with a cut red stone in it. This stone was made into a ring.
He was listed in the Sydney Morning Herald as missing, believed to be a prisoner of war on 13th October 1943. As POW 1737, a part of E Force, he left Singapore on 28th March 1943 and arrived at Ouching on 1st April. From there he was sent onto Sandakan. An entry in his records on 23rd August 1944 stated he was now interned Borneo Camp. Kenneth died on 19th May 1945 at Sandakan Number 1 Camp. He was buried at Sandakan Number 2 Compound at the cemetery on the east side of the track near the boiler house, which was used from March until May 1945. The Japanese recorded his death as being from malaria. His name appears on the Labuan Memorial in Malaysia on Panel 14. An entry in his records on 30th September 1945 stated “deceased while P/W cause N/S” at Sandakan.
His father, William entered dairy exhibits at the 1936 Tenterfield show where a newspaper article has him listed as one of the chief competitors in the jersey section. At the 59th show, he won many awards for his Jersey cattle. An advertisement in the Northern Star on 9th November 1946 advises of an auction at Tenterfield on Tuesday 12th November where the auctioneer has received instructions from Mr. W. Helliwell esq. to sell the whole of his high-class stud jersey herd. They continued to live at Bryan’s Gap and the Electoral Rolls continue to note him as a dairy farmer. They originally lived at a property called Lingadell and they brought a smaller property called Glengarry. Kenneth was meant to run the larger property when he came back. They instead used a German immigrant to help them out and he was a very good worker. William passed away in 1961 in Tenterfield.
After his death, Emma moved to Queensland and was found in Maryborough at 30 Richmond St. in the 1963, 1968 and 1972 Electoral Rolls. She was then in Fairhaven for the 1977 and 1980 rolls. She passed away on 10th May 1981 in St. Stephens Hospital aged 87. Her death notice appeared in the Maryborough Chronicle on the 12th.
His medals are 1939-45 Star, Pacific Star, 1939-45 War Medal and Australian Service Medal.
Medals kindly supplied by his sister, Mrs. Olwyn Wagner of Maryborough.
ANZAC Biographies
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