2/4th Machine Gun Battalion (Australia), Service no. WX16446 and 16269
Born: 8th November 1905. Killed in action: 12th September 1944, Burma, aged 38
Story
Clifford was the son of Charles Hophni Hobson (1872-1954), a colliery deputy, and Agnes Farrar (1876-1918), who married in Kippax on 3rd December 1898, and the family lived at 34 New Street. Clifford was educated at Kippax Council and Castleford Grammar School. After his mother died, Clifford’s father Charles re-married Charlotte Ann Pugh in Huddersfield on 14th June 1919. Clifford, his father, step-mother, and younger brother Gordon left the UK and emigrated to Australia on the SS Beltana on 26th May 1921. Clifford’s eldest sister Doris stayed behind. Gordon died in 1923 in Wonthaggi, Victoria, Australia at the age of 14, whilst Clifford studied at the Won Thagg Technical College, took a diploma in electricity, worked as a farm labourer, and in coal mines, and then went to the gold mines in Western Australia. He joined the Navy, and absconded from HMAS Penguin, in Sydney on 28th December 1926, for which he was charged with desertion on 19th January 1927, but this was fairly common practice.
His father and step-mother returned to England in 1939, and lived at 18 The Villas, Ledston Luck, but Clifford remained in Australia, living at Kalgoorlie. He enlisted on 10th September 1941, and was part of the ‘A’ Burma Green Force, 3rd Battalion, but he was captured in Burma, and held at Moulmein, Burma as a Prisoner of War, which was reported on 24th November 1944. He was transferred from Burma to Singapore, where he was held as a prisoner of war in the Selarang Camp Changi (prisoner no. 1517), and on the 6th September 1944, he was amongst 1,318 Prisoners of War put on board the Rakuyo Maru to be transferred to Japan. The Rakuyo Maru was amongst a convoy of ships transferring prisoners to Japan, but on 11th September at 6pm, the convoy encountered the USS Growler, Sealion II, and Pampanito. The American Operations Officers were unaware that PoWs were being transported on this convoy, and moved to attack. At 1:55am on 12th September, the first Japanese ship, Hirado, was suddenly torpedoed by Growler, and sank instantly. The convoy re-group, but Sealion II then struck Nankai Maru with a torpedo. At 05:31am, a torpedo hit Clifford Hobson’s ship, Rakuyo Maru at the bow, and another torpedo ran directly into her engine room, stopping the main engine and auxiliary machines, and paralysing the ship (pictured below):
With the drainage pumps becoming inoperative, the Rakuyo Maru gradually began sinking by taking on water. Shortly before 07:00am, Growler fired torpedoes and struck Shikinami. At 08:45am, the second ship, Nankai Maru, sank, and aboard Rakuyo Maru, the Japanese sailors began to abandon ship and rushed to the lifeboats, either kicking out or killing PoWs who tried to get into the lifeboats with them. Many PoWs jumped into the water. At 06:55am the third ship, Shikinami, went down. The depth charges on board Shikinami exploded, producing shock waves in the sea, which caused internal injuries to men who were in the water. A brutal battle broke out on the Rakuyo Maru, as some PoWs got revenge on their guards. Ten PoWs attacked the shipping artillery men at bow deck gun, and a PoW grabbed an iron bar, and walked toward the bridge, saying that he would kill some Japanese before he would jump over the side. In the water, some lone Japanese sailors were beaten to death by the PoWs. About 13 hours after she was torpedoed, at about 18:20pm, the Rakuyo Maru sank beneath the waves in the eastern waters of Hainan. By 19:00pm on 12th September, the Japanese escorts had picked up the men they wished to rescue; leaving about 1,200 British and Australian PoWs in the South China Sea. As the Japanese escort boats left the scene, they passed through the middle of the floating PoWs; chopping them up by the screws, and leaving any survivors to drown. 1,161 prisoners of war were killed, including Clifford Hobson, only 157 PoWs survived.
Clifford Hobson is listed on the Labuan Memorial, Panel 18.
Kippax Roll of Honour 