He overcame the worst atrocities of World War II from enemy fire, bombings, slave labour, and even ship sinkings, but Wal Williams pursuit to acknowledge veterans has led to a new memorial being installed on Mona Vale Headland (Robert Dunn Reserve).

Walter ‘Wal’ William OAM a former member of the 2/19 Battalion cheated death more than once and we share his incredible story.

After the fall of Singapore in February 1942, Wal became one of 80,000 allies, among them 15,000 Australians, taken into captivity. Wal says humour gave him the mental will to survive the ordeal that 7,000 fellow Australians, and tens of thousands of other allies, could not.

He was sent to the infamous Changi Prisoner of War Camp before enduring two years of forced labour on the infamous Burma-Thailand Railway.

Being one of the fittest POWs, he was one of 1300 loaded onto a boat bound for Japan, and while en route in the South China Sea his boat, Rakuyō Maru was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine, unaware that POWs were onboard.

Wal and good mate Max Campbell (RAN HMAS Perth) were recaptured unlike Brigadier Varley and other servicemen who were killed being mowed down by a corvette. 

He was then transferred to another POW camp in Japan where he endured more hard labour. And just when you thought that wasn’t enough, he also survived a six-hour bombing firestorm of Tokyo and Yokohama.

Wal served 118 days in Australia and 1,370 days overseas, most of these as a POW before finally returning to Australia on his 23rd birthday in October 1945. Four months later he was discharged from the army.

In 2021 he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to veterans and their families

Wal spent much time campaigning for greater recognition of POWs who died at sea during World War II and with assistance from the Pittwater RSL Sub-Branch, local Member The Hon Rob Stokes, the Minister for Veteran Affairs David Elliott, and Council a new memorial was envisaged to commemorate these fallen men and women.

The memorial will include a north-facing seat, sandstone plinth, and plaque set on sandstone pavers.

The plaque includes a QR code providing more information on the story and history behind the memorial.

Wal aged 99 sadly passed away on Saturday 4 June, ahead of the memorial installation planned to be unveiled in August. He will be remembered by not only his family but the many lives he touched.

And the secret to his longevity? He followed a simple motto – “you got to have humour in your life, if you haven’t got that, you’ve got nothing.”