Ron Bowey, Naval Photographer, born September 14, 1919. World Naval Ships Forums Archive

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Ron Bowey, Naval Photographer, born September 14, 1919. World Naval Ships Forums Archive

Ron Bowey, Naval Photographer, born September 14, 1919.

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[B]Ron Bowey, naval photographer, was born on September 14, 1919. He died on November 2, 2009, aged 90 [/B] Ron Bowey was a Royal Marines physical training instructor who became a naval photographer after war injuries made it impossible for him to continue in that specialisation. [B]Bowey, who had transferred from the Royal Marines to the RN School of Photography in 1949[/B], travelled the world in his new job. Among his assignments were several state occasions, and he accompanied the Duke of Edinburgh on a world tour. After retiring from the Royal Navy in 1964 he worked as a television cameraman. Latterly severe diabetes had led to the amputation of both his legs and a number of his fingers, and he had been wheelchair-bound, which made his Singapore pilgrimage the more remarkable In 2004 he fulfilled a long-held intention to visit the graves of three comrades, two Marines and a naval aviator, who had been murdered by the Japanese in 1945. Making his way to Singapore he sought out Kranji cemetery where, by that time in a wheelchair and accompanied by a nurse, he was able to pay his respects at the graves of Major John Maxwell, Colour Sergeant Ernie Smith and Sub Lieutenant John Tomlinson. The two Royal Marines had been members of a special operations group captured by the Japanese after they had landed on the island of Phuket off the coast of Thailand to reconnoitre Japanese dispositions. Along with the naval pilot whose aircraft had come down in the sea, they were executed by the Japanese. Maxwell and Smith had been part of a small special forces group that had landed on Phuket by canoe from a submarine in March 1945 to reconnoitre the dispositions of Japanese airfields on the island and also pass back information on the landing beaches. Smith had been badly wounded in a battle with Japanese troops. Maxwell remained with him and both men were captured. They were subsequently joined in captivity by Tomlinson, who had been picked up from the water after the Hellcat reconnaissance fighter he was flying from the escort carrier Empress had ditched in the sea. After refusing to give their captors any more than the basic information required by the Geneva Convention they were, after several months of interrogation and torture, taken to a hill on Singapore island and beheaded. According to their executioners the men had given an impressive display of light banter as they said their farewells to each other. Injuries received during the war left him badly disabled in both legs, but he was able to transfer to photographic duties, recording events for the Chief of Naval Information, the Chief of Naval Intelligence and the Commandant General Royal Marines. One of his assignments was to photograph the Japanese surrender in Singapore in 1945. He subsequently went to Rangoon, and then visited the Htaukkyant war cemetery in which lie most of the 27,000 British and Commonwealth dead of the Burma campaign. His wife Joan, whom he married in 1957, died in 1993. He is survived by three daughters and a son. ___________ (I have highlighted short sections of the copied text in bold type) Extracts copied from; The Times November 25, 2009 The full Obituary can be found here:- [url]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6930271.ece[/url]

A further account from a local newspaper site:- _______________ [B]Obituary:[/B] [B]Ron Bowey, cameraman and director[/B] IF YOU have the determination to survive and succeed, anything can be possible. Illness and accidents robbed Ron Bowey of his legs and many of his fingers, but he still managed to build a career first as distinguished military cameraman and then in civilian life as a cameraman and later director for Granada Television in Manchester. And even in old age, he had the determination and energy to hunt out the final resting places of his comrades killed by the Japanese in the later stages of World War II. Ron Bowey had been born in Surrey and joined the Royal Marines in 1938, shortly before the war began. Initially a physical training instructor, he soon added the duties of a photographer. Despite being wounded twice in the legs, he was able to return to the Film and Trials Unit at the Royal Navy School of Photography, recording the surrender of the Japanese to Lord Mountbatten in Singapore. He continued with the Royal Navy right up to 1964 when, as a consequence of failing heath, he had to have both legs and nine fingers amputated. He had a war pension and the Kings Silver Badge for Loyal Service. [B]But he was able to defy his handicaps and continue with Granada TV in Manchester as cameraman and later director for both Coronation Street and World in Action.[/B] In later years, he felt the urge to discover the exact fate of three of his wartime compatriots, members of a special forces group landed on the island of Phuket in March 1945 to reconnoitre possible invasion sites. Three of them were captured by the Japanese who, after several weeks of fruitless interrogation, beheaded them in July 1945. Ron Bowey was eventually able to trace their final resting places at the Kranji Cemetery in Singapore, to complete a personal pilgrimage. “They were all together in serene peace,” he wrote later. _______________ (I have highlighted short sections of the copied text in bold type) Nov 11 2009 by William Leece, Liverpool Daily Post Copied from:- [url]http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/obituaries/2009/11/11/obituary-ron-bowey-92534-25139270/[/url]

Inspiring stuff indeed,thanks for that, regards Sid

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