Winston Philip James Ide (17 September 1914 – 12 September 1944) was an Australian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. Ide played two Tests for the

Australian rugby union team The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...

in 1938. He died during the sinking of the ''Rakuyō Maru'' in 1944. Ide was a member of the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

team sent to tour Great Britain in 1939. The outbreak of World War II saw the tour cancelled the day after the team had arrived at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. On return to Australia, Ide joined the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initial ...

and was sent to

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

with the 2/10th Field Regiment. He was captured during the

Fall of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of ...

and interned in

Changi Prison Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore. History First prison Before Changi Prison was constructed, the only penal facility in Singapore was at Pearl's Hill, beside t ...

as a prisoner-of-war. Ide was later forced by the Japanese to work on the construction of the

Burma Railway The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...

. In 1944 Ide was boarded on the '' Rakuyō Maru''—a Japanese "

Hell Ship A hell ship is a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation for cruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army to transport Allied prisoners of ...

"—to be taken to Japan to work. The ''Rakuyō Maru'' was sunk in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

by a torpedo fired from the USS ''Sealion'', an American submarine. The Americans were unaware the ship was transporting Allied prisoners-of-war. Refusing to climb aboard a liferaft, Ide assisted in the rescue of many of his fellow prisoners-of-war. Responding to requests to save himself, Ide was reported to have said "I'm staying here ... In any case, I can swim to Australia if I have to". Ide was not seen again and was presumed drowned - one of 1159 prisoners of war aboard the ship who died. Only 63 were able to be rescued. Ide's father, Henry, was a Japanese silk merchant who migrated to Australia in 1894 and was

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

in 1902. During World War II, Ide's father was for a time placed in an internment camp at

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

in southern New South Wales as a suspected enemy alien.

References

External links

Player Profile: Winston Ide
from

ESPNscrum ESPNscrum was an online news site based in United Kingdom dedicate to providing the latest news in Rugby union. It provided live minute-by-minute updates on major international and club games and kept an in-depth statistics on every international ...

Roll of Honour: Winston Phillip James Ide
at the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

1914 births 1944 deaths Military personnel from Sydney Australian people of Japanese descent Australian rugby union players Australian military personnel killed in World War II Australian prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Japan Australia international rugby union players Burma Railway prisoners Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub