10/06/2026
In memory of Cyril Herbert Hutchins who died 10 June 1943.
Cyril, born 29th July 1921, was the youngest son of Stanley Herbert and Alice Hutchins, (nee Capps).
They lived at Melbourne Villa, 59 St Mary Street, Risca, and Stanley worked as an architect and surveyor.
Cyril joined the Royal Air Force and served as an Aircraftman 1st Class in the 151 Maintenance Unit.
The 151 Maintenance Unit was based at Seletar, Singapore, before being disbanded in February 1942.
When the Japanese launched their invasion of Malaya and Singapore, Seletar housed the RAF’s 205 Squadron with PBY Catalina Flying boats and 36 and 100 Squadrons with obsolete Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bombers, along with the 151 Maintenance Unit. These units stayed until January-February 1942, just before the surrender to the invading Japanese.
Cyril was captured on 8th March 1942 and held in Java and Haruku camp, Moluccas.
He was diagnosed with bacterial dysentery on 20th January 1943 and died on 10th June at Camp 3, Java.
Cyril was originally buried in Cape Marakee, Kario Village, Haruku Island, before being reinterred in Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia, on 3rd February 1947.
His inscription reads, “In Loving Memory Of Cyril Forever Remembered By Us All.”
Below is an account of another POW’s time in Hauku Camp.
HARUKU ISLAND
Welsh Airman David Arthur Harries, from Llandybie, Carmarthenshire, tells how he survived a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Indonesia.
In April 1943, David remained incarcerated at Jaarmarkt prison camp in Sourabaya. It was here that his grim struggle for survival really began.
A parade was formed at the camp and over 2,000 so-called 'fit' men, ie those who were not lame or seriously ill at that stage, were chosen to board ships to what was an unknown destination. "We were eventually told that we were going to be shipped out to Haruku Island near Ambon and that we would receive light work and very good food - which of course was the exact opposite."
The men were herded on to a small ship, the Amagi Maru, where they had to endure appalling cramped and filthy conditions with limited food and water on the two-week voyage. The group included dysentery carriers and the severe over-crowding on the ship was causing this to spread fast.
"We were packed like sardines into the hold and it took us 19 days to make a journey of three to four days. The guards used their bayonets to prod us forward and we realised that we were going down into the hold of the boat. There were men collapsing from heat exhaustion as the temperatures soared to about one hundred degrees and there was practically nowhere to sleep.
"I sneaked into a compartment on the deck of the ship and slept on top of some old rope. It was far more comfortable than being in the hold. In a way, I supposed I travelled first class on my own on that particular voyage compared to the others.
"I had the job of cleaning out the guard's food containers and they left some food stuck to the side, which was very different to the rice we were given. So I didn't eat so badly compared to the other people and what was surplus I shared."
Hell on Earth
It was the beginning of the raining season when they got to Haruku, where they would remain for over 16 months. David says:
"The camp consisted of a couple of shacks and we put the desperate sick in them.
"We were up to our knees in mud in the vicinity of these shacks and we slept on the earth in the pouring rain until eventually, more huts were built. When you got into these huts, the luxury would have been that you were sleeping a couple of metres from the ground so that you weren't actually sleeping on the sodden earth.
"The first few weeks on Haruku were absolutely desperate and the death rate soared. I lost a lot of good friends.
"Then we were expected to go and work on the airfield. We were given a chisel and a hammer. The airfield consisted of two small hills, the tops of which had to be removed to build the airfield. If you can imagine what you could do with those tools, the whole thing was absolutely impossible and ridiculous. By this time the dysentery and malaria rate had soared to such an extent that 90% of people were infected."
Realising they would never be able to build the airfield without fit men; the work was stopped by the Japanese. To begin with, the prisoners dug trenches to use as toilets but that just spread the disease. They eventually received permission to build a structure over the sea and by the time construction was finished, hundreds of people had died.
"The raining season stopped and out of the shambles we eventually built a very good camp which would have been horrible by anybody else's standards.
"At that time, I must have been down to six or seven stone. If you were lucky or clever, you might get on jobs where you could obtain extra food. You learnt what kind of wild vegetation was edible and you also stole from Japanese stores. You could also trade with the natives illegally. I traded to***co for food.
"We lost around 500 people building that airfield in Haruku. During the worse periods, you would get as many as a dozen people dying in a day and you would have mass graves. When I went back 40 years later, every person had a headstone."
With good reasons, David would rather forget his 21st birthday on Haruku.
"I had my front teeth knocked out by a cruel guard we nicknamed Rat Face because of his distinctive features. I'll never forgive him for doing that.
