Rupert Watkin MCCLELLAND

MCCLELLAND, Rupert Watkin

Service Number: 19190
Enlisted: 16 October 1940
Last Rank: Leading Aircraftman
Last Unit: No. 1 Squadron (RAAF)
Born: Armadale, Victoria, Australia , 6 November 1917
Home Town: Camberwell, Boroondara, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Died at sea (Rakuyo Maru), South China Sea, 12 September 1944, aged 26 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Singapore Memorial, Singapore
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Singapore Memorial Kranji War Cemetery
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World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement 19190
16 Oct 1940: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 19190, No. 1 Squadron (RAAF)
16 Oct 1940: Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 19190

Help us honour Rupert Watkin McClelland's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by David Barlow

The Japanese Transport Ship Rakuyo Maru was torpedoed and sunk by a US Navy Submarine enroute from Singapore to Japan with a cargo of Prisoners of War - many of whom drowned before any possibility of rescue and these men are commemorated on the Singapore Memorial

Of the 11 RAAF Personnel known to be on board, 9 died & 2 survived the sinking and the war - 10199 Quick, David and 35423 Day, Noel Charles Ephraim - both from 1SQN

KENDALL, Richard Daniel (Leading Aircraftman) 19690

BURSTON, Herbert (Leading Aircraftman) 25171

WOOD, Kenneth Ronald (Warrant Officer) 404155

McCLELLAND, Rupert Watkin (Leading Aircraftman) 19190

GILL, John Thomas (Leading Aircraftman) 13091

BEGG, Colin Boyd (Aircraftman 1) 18951

MEREDITH, Albert Charles (Corporal) 11813

MYERS, Edward George (Leading Aircraftman) 24300

BONNETT, Raymond James (Corporal) 207782

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