This website created by one Jim Sutherland's daughters.
It is currently being updated as she comes to grips with the extent of WWII knowledge suddenly gained including that of her father. While every attempt is made to make it as accurate as possible based on official information and research, there may be errors and at this stage it is nowhere near complete due to the amount of research required. A year ago this seemed a task that would take no more than 6 months. Little did she know how much there was to learn. It has been a humbling and moving experience. Like many of those who fought in WWII, Jim did not like to talk about his WWII experience and only began to fill in some of the pieces towards the end of his life. I have been fortunate to be in contact with a few who served with my father, including Neil McPherson who was in the Japanese POW camp at Senryu near Nagasaki, Japan and I thank him for his help in filling in part of those POW years. Neil MacPherson recently released a book called "The Burma Railway, Hellships and Coalmines" (Tony Carter and Neil MacPherson). Jim is mentioned in the book, along with photos from the prison camp, an autograph section of a large no. on POWs from the camp (which Jim's family had not seen previously) . and a feature in Appendix 7 on Jim.

It is sad to realise the RAAF pilots, aircrew etc and those from the other defense forces, who fought in Malaya, are starting to dwindle rapidly in numbers. Many from Sqdn 1 and others lost their lives in initial action, and many became Prisoners of War. The wireless air gunners that served on the Hudsons No 1 Sqdn lost more WAGs killed in action, or captured by, than any other RAAF Sqdn fighting against Japan in WWII. Those RAAF men who fought in Malaya march under the Sembawang /Singapore/Malaya banner on Anzac Day in Melbourne. Sembawang was the name of the RAF base in Singapore to which the men were initially stationed. The Sembawang Association formed after the war only disbanded in 2007 after the death of Alan Morton who did an excellent job of running the Association in the final years. At the 2008 March in Melbourne this year, not only was the banner missing, but only 1 original member plus 2 descendants marched. One marcher missing this year was Eddie Henderson who marched every year with great vigour - having been honoured to be selected to walk at the head of the RAAF contingent in 2007. He died 2 months after Jim at age about 94 . Others from the Association are still with us at this point even though they cannot march.