As Australia prepares to commemorate the Anzac Centenary one Maitland family has travelled to Borneo to honour one of their own.
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William Redman was 31 when he died a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II.
This Saturday, the sapper’s son, grandsons and great-grandsons will pay tribute to him at an emotional Anzac Day service in Borneo.
“I think we’ll feel good on Anzac Day, but it will also be an emotional time,” William’s son, Ross Redman, 77, said.
“But I’m glad the boys said they’d come along with me.”
Joining Mr Redman on the pilgrimage will be Sapper Redman’s grandsons Brent, 57, Shane, 55, and Dan, 54, and great-grandsons Dean, 28, Bodhi, 22, and Charlie, 21.
Sapper Redman was one of more than 2000 Allied prisoners of war held in the Sandakan POW camp in north Borneo, having been transferred there from Singapore.
Of the 2030 Australian POWs sent to Borneo, only 218 survived.
The rest died from starvation, beatings, innumerable diseases and illnesses, malnutrition and murder.
Sapper Redman died from dysentery as a prisoner of the Japanese on August 12, 1942, leaving behind a young wife and three small sons.
“This experience will be something we’ll share forever,” Bodhi said.
