View source for Caisley Charles Smailes Fusilier 4273542

{{personnel
|Surname and forenames=Caisley Charles Smailes
|Army number=4273542
|Rank=Fusilier
|Decorations=None known.
|Date of birth=Birth registered at Alnwick in 1921.  Mother's maiden surname Smailes.
|Age=23 at the time of his death.
|Unit=Enlisted in the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.  Posted to the 9th Battalion.  Served B.E.F.?  Served Malaya.  DIED at sea 12/9/1944 whilst a prisoner in Japanese hands and being transported from Singapore to Japan, when the Rakuyo Maru was torpedoed by an Allied submarine.  Reported MISSING by the Japanese.
|Company/Battery=HQ Company.
|Task or role=Not yet known.
|Promotions=None known.
|Wounded=Not as far as is known.
|Prisoner of War=Yes - captured 15/2/1942 at Singapore when the force was surrendered.
|Died/Killed in action=DIED 12/9/1944 - cause of death - drowning.  Commemorated on Column 46 of the Singapore Memorial as presumably Charles' remains were unable to be recovered.  Probate granted 7/5/1946 at Newcastle upon Tyne to Charles Caisley, pipeworks labourer.
|Home address=Son of Charles C and Mary Margaret Caisley of Craster, Northumberland (married Q1 1911).  
}}

Fusilier Caisley's death did not appear in the Battalion Part II Orders of September 1945, listing the casualties in custody, but information on his death became available later.


To read a detailed IWM article on these convoy sinkings please click [https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-sinking-of-prisoner-of-war-transport-ships-in-the-far-east here].