Henry George Sturley

A Private with the 4th Battalion, Henry died on 21st of September 1944 aged 31.

Henry was born at Lowestoft on 30 May 1913, a son of George Henry James and Lily Maud Sturley. He was baptised at Saint Margaret’s Church on 10 July 1913 and his family lived at 2 Excelsior Cottages, Oulton Road. In 1921 their home was at 222 Raglan Street, and this was their home in 1939 when Henry was a saw mill labourer. By 1944 his family were living at 1 Riverside Road.

Henry served with the 4th Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment. In autumn 1940 the Battalion was on coastal defence in the Great Yarmouth area and then moved to Brooke, and then Cambridge. In early 1941 the Battalion was sent to Scotland, then Blackburn, and Ross-on-Wye. On 29 October 1941 the Battalion sailed form Liverpool and landed at Bombay on 29 December 1941 as part of the 18th (East Anglian) Division. On 19 January 1942 the Battalion re-embarked for Singapore and landed there on 29 January 1942. On 11 February the Battalion went into action at the racecourse, before falling back to defend the perimeter. On 15 February the British forces at Singapore were forced to surrender and the remaining men of the 4th Battalion went into captivity. 

Henry was taken prisoner at Singapore and, on 31 October 1942, he was among a party of men taken overland to Thailand to work on the Burma Railway. 

Once the Burma Railway had been completed British prisoners of war were taken back to Singapore and then transported by Japanese ships to Burma. These ships were known as ‘Hell Ships’. In July 1944 Henry was one of the prisoners that embarked the ‘Hell Ship’ Hofuku Maru. The ship left Singapore in a convoy but developed engine problems and had to dock at Manila for repairs. The prisoners were kept on board in appalling conditions. 
On 20 September the Hofuku Maru set sail for Japan in a convoy with ten other ships. The ships were attacked by carrier borne aircraft of the United States Navy. The Hofuku Maru was torpedoes and sunk. The ship had been carrying 1,289 British and Dutch prisoners, of whom only 242 survived the sinking.