Seven members of the extended Comerford family remembered on VJ Day, 80 years after war

Gerald Francis Commerford of the Australian Army Medical Corps was a Japanese prisoner of war and is named on Panel 26 on the Labuan Memorial in Borneo

Patrick Comerford

Commemorations are taking across the land marking VJ Day and the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Japan and the end of World War II in Asia and Pacific on 15 August 1945.

It is only a week or since I was involved in commemorations marking the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945.

Being a pacifist has not stopped me from wanting to remember both VE Day (7 May) and VJ Day and to honour the sacrifices so many people made so that we would have democracy, freedom and justice 80 years later.

The wars in Ukraine and Russia, in Gaza, Israel and Palestine, and the meeting at an air force base in Alaska later today of two bellicose presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, should remind us all that there are no victors in war, that there is no glory in war, and when politicians get it wrong the principal victims of war are ordinary, every day civilians, men, women and children.

Ironically, today’s talks between Trump and Putin, which are unlikely to bring any hope of peace in the world, take in Pacific region as we remember the end of World War II in the Pacific.

This afternoon, to mark VJ Day, I am recalling members of the Comerford, Commerford and Cumberford families who died in the Pacific region during World War II and whose names are recorded on memorials and graves by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The 19 members of this extended family I have found to date on Commonwealth War Graves include prisoners of war of the Japanese in Borneo, Burma (Myanmar), Hong Kong and Japan.

Seven Comerfords fought in the Asia and Pacific regions and five were Prisoners of War of the Japanese. They are remembered in the Sat Wan Memorial in Hong Kong, Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery and the Rangoon Memorial in Burma (Myanmar), Yokohama War Cemetery in Japan, and the Labuan Memorial on Labuan Island off the coast of Sabah in Borneo, Malaysia.

They were the members of the ‘Forgotten Army’, but they should not be forgotten, nor should the threat and dangers of war be forgotten. These seven people I am remembering today on VJ Day are:

Ernest Edward Comerford: Australian; Lieutenant, Australian Infantry, A.I.F. 3 Rec. Trg. Bn. Age: 28. Date of death: 18 July 1945. Service number: QX.35506. Family information: Son of John Edward and Rosina Comerford, of Townsville, Queensland. Grave/memorial reference: 2W. D. 8, Sydney War Cemetery.

Gerald Francis Commerford was born on 8 July 1919 in Maclean, Clarence Valley Council, New South Wales. He was a son of Denis and Margaret Sarah Commerford of Lower Lawrence, New South Wales. His family was originally from Ireland, and they were related to Denis Comerford, who gives his name to Comerford Way in Winslow, Buckinghamshire, near Milton Keynes.

Gerald was a private in a field ambulance unit in the Australian Army Medical Corps during World War II. He was one of over 2,000 Allied POWs held in the Sandakan camp in North Borneo. He was transferred there from Singapore as a part of B Force. The 1,494 POWs that made up B Force, were transported from Changi on 7 July 1942 on board the tramp ship Ubi Maru, arriving in Sandakan Harbour on 18 July 1942.

Gerald Commerford was 25 when he died of starvation while he was a prisoner of the Japanese in Borneo on 9 February 1945. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on Panel 26 on the Labuan Memorial on Labuan Island off the coast of Sabah in North Borneo, Malaysia.

James Matthew Comerford, Australian; Corporal, Australian Infantry, A.I.F. 2/26 Bn. Age: 26. Date of death: 25 May 1943. Service number: QX17117. Family information: son of Edward Tobias and Ellen Cecelia Comerford, of Paddington, Queensland, Australia. Grave/memorial reference: A1. B. 19, Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Burma (Myanmar).

John Commerford, United Kingdom; Lance Corporal, Middlesex Regiment, 1st Bn. Age: 27. Date of death: between 1 and 2 October 1942. Service number: 6010413. Family information: son of Serjeant TJ Commerford, The Royal Fusiliers, and of Mary Commerford, of Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, England. Grave/memorial reference: Column 14, Sat Wan Memorial, Hong Kong.

Noel Patrick Commerford, South African; Able Seaman, South African Naval Forces, HMS Cornwall. Age: ?. Date of death: 5 April 1942 (off the coast of Ceylon/Sri Lanka). Service number: 66493. Family information: son of Mrs P Commerford, of Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa; brother of Terence Commerford (see below), who died five months later. Grave/memorial reference: Panel 74, Column 1, Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Thomas Michael Comerford, Australian; Private, Australian Infantry, A.I.F. 2/20 Bn. Age: 39. Date of death: 26 October 1943. Service number: NX55519. Family information: son of John and Bridget Ann Comerford. Grave/memorial reference: Aust. Sec. A.B.1, Yokohama War Cemetery, Japan.

William Comerford, United Kingdom; Fusilier, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 1st Bn. Age: 22. Date of death: 18 January 1943 (POW). Service number: 6981836. Family information: son of Edward William Comerford and Harriet Comerford, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. Grave/memorial reference: Face 11, Rangoon Memorial, Burma (Myanmar).

Behind each of these names and numbers are real-life stories … but more of these stories tomorrow evening.

Gerald Francis Commerford was a Japanese prisoner of war in Changi in Singapore and Sandakan camp in North Borneo