Able Seaman Frederick Walter Lota Marsh MiD
Royal Australian Naval Reserve
by Robert Simpson
Frederick Walter Lota Marsh was born in Brisbane on 20th January 1924, a son to Alfred Stanley Marsh and Frances Ivy Atkins. Alfred (born 27th June 1902 in Queensland) and Frances (born 10th September 1903 in Queensland) had been married on 28th July 1923 in Queensland. The March lineage goes back to the Cambridgeshire area of England, where Frederick’s Great-Grandfather, John Marsh (an agricultural labourer, 1830-1905), left Linton on the ship Wansfell and arrived in Brisbane on 13th November 1861. In the 1925 Electoral Roll, they were living at Atkin’s, in School Street Kelvin Grove and Alfred was a carter. By the 1931 roll, they had moved to June Street, Mitchelton and he had the same occupation. They were still there in the 1937 roll.
Before joining the navy, Frederick had a job as an apprentice cabinetmaker with the Brisbane Furniture Company at South Brisbane.
Frederick was mobilised for service in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve on 4th April 1942. He was described being 5 foot 8 inches tall, with light brown hair, hazel eyes and of medium complexion. Frederick had a scar on his left shin. His religion was listed as Church of England. He was issued the official number of B.3666 with his home port being Brisbane. A. Marsh of June Street Mitchelton (his father) was listed as next of kin. Later it was changed to his mother, I F March, C/o G.A.L. Uhl, Solicitor at AMP Chambers Brisbane. He was entered in Ledger List No. Cerebus 52/8279. Frederick reported for duty on 15th May 1942 as an Ordinary Seaman with seniority from 14th April 1942. He was allocated to Cerebus. On 2nd July 1942, he qualified at a gunnery course at Cerebus with a very good result. He was at Cerebus as an Ordinary Seaman from 15th May 1942 to 31st December 1942. He was then at Penguin as an Ordinary Seaman from 1st January 1943 to 29th April 1943. His next posting is not legible on his service record; he was there from 30th April 1943 to 14th May 1943 as an Ordinary Seaman before being promoted to Acting Able Seaman and still there from 15th May 1943 to 14th July 1943. Then he was posted to Moreton from 15th July 1943 to 30th September 1943. His character was very good. Another entry in his service records stated he trained with JockForce from 15th July 1943 to 6th May 1944, but is broken into 4 separate entries, with no reason stated. He was appropriated from Moreton to Lonsdale for duty with SRD on 19th May 1944. Frederick was then training with the SRD Army from 6th June 1944 to 28th July 1944, with SRD Leeuwin from 28th July 1944 to 9th August 1944, and then Det. Duties from 10th August to 31st December 1944, 1st January 1945 to 31st December 1945 and an entry March 1946 – ‘D’ – dead 1-2-45. At the bottom of the page are two entries beside Krait – 18.1.43 – 4.4.43 and 20.7.43 to 12.11.43. Other entries in pencil include Special Duty (Jock) 10.12.43, Moreton, Lonsdale 25.4.44, S.R.D. Army 3.6.44, Leeuwin 21.7.44, 110PMH 21.7.44, Leeuwin 9.8.44, S.R.D. and finally Missing 22.2.45. A card with his service records states “HMAS Leeuwin (S.R.D.) Missing Pres. Dead” and “22.2.45 – Missing during operations with A.I.F. SRD personnel 1.2.45 – Presumed died of illness”. A stamp at the bottom says Memorial Scroll issued 2nd September 1949 and has handwritten
An entry on his service record reads “No evidence that rating was ever in hands of Japs. see over N.H Section reports that report of trial by Japanese received but rating died before he could be executed. – Dec 1944. Rating on POW list.”
A group portrait of those involved, after the completion of Operation Jaywick, “Z” Special Unit, Australian Services Reconnaissance Department. Back row, 2nd from left is Frederick.
The 4th Supplement to The London Gazette of Friday 7th April 1944, that was published on Tuesday 11th April 1944 has “The King has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards: –
For gallantry, skill and devotion to duty in a hazardous enterprise:
Mention in Despatches
Acting Able Seaman Frederick Walter Lota Marsh, R.A.N.R., B/3666”.
A minute paper was given to Frederick which said “Bearer of this letter, Abel Seaman F. W. L. Marsh O/N B.3666 (whose specimen signature appears below) has been awarded a Mention in Despatches. The citation appears in the fourth supplement of the London Gazette dated April 11th, 1944.” A telegram was also sent to him ON 16th April 1944, saying “THE KING HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY PLEASED TO APPROVE OF YOUR BEING MENTIONED IN DESPATCHES FOR GALLANTRY SKILL AND DEVOTION TO DUTY IN HAZARDOUS ENTERPRISE – COMMANDING OFFICER H M A S MORETON”. A letter posted on 6th March 1946, saying this, was also sent to his parents and included the Certificate.
The vessel was renamed Krait, an apt name as the Krait is a deadly Indian snake credited with killing many people.
On 28th February 1945, the Department of Navy sent a letter to Mr A Marsh at June St stating “It is with deep regret I have to confirm the sad news contained in my telegram of 26th February, that your son Able Seaman Frederick W. L. Marsh, O.N. B/3666, has been reported missing on 22nd February 1945. Because of the nature of his service, it is regretted that further details cannot be released at this juncture. Please allow me again to convey the sincere sympathy of the Minister of the Navy and the Naval Board.” A reply to Mrs I F March on 7th May 1945 from Lieutenant-Commander P E Scrivener RANVR Senior Naval Officer, Services Reconnaissance Department reads “My purpose in writing this letter is to express regret that I have no more information to give you concerning your son, except that he was posted missing when, with others, he failed to return from an operation against the enemy. 2. I am indeed sorry that I cannot say more than that there is no occasion to assume that he has not been taken prisoner by the enemy. 3. Please accept my sincere sympathy in this anxious time and be assured that any information I may be able to afford in the future will be passed onto you at once.”
The Repatriation Commission was advised on 13th December 1945 that Frederick had died on 1st February 1945 of illness while a POW. A War Gratuity of 150 pound and 15 shillings was paid under claim number 25246. Frederick had accrued 56 days leave for which over 18 pounds was paid in lieu.
Operations Jaywick and Rimau were kept quiet during the war, but afterwards their stories started to appear. Jaywick was conceived in 1943 by Captain Ivan Lyon and a civilian Bill Reynolds as an attack on Japanese shipping in Singapore harbour. Bill had escaped Singapore on a 70-foot Japanese coastal fishing boat, the Kofuku Maru, with other refugees, to India. The boat was ordered to Australia and modified to be able to travel the distance. It was renamed Krait. The plan was to use it to take them near the harbour, then use collapsible canoes to enter the harbour and attach limpet mines to the ships.
The crew was (with nicknames) –
Major Ivan Lyon (Mission Commander)
Lieutenant Hubert Edward Carse (Krait’s Captain) “Ted”
Lieutenant Donald Montague Noel Davidson “Davo”
Lieutenant Robert Charles Page “Bob”
Corporal Andrew Anthony Crilly “Andy”
Corporal R.G. Morris “Taffy”
Leading Seaman Kevin Patrick Cain “Cobber”
Leading Stoker James Patrick McDowell “Paddy”
Leading Telegraphist Horace Stewart Young “Horrie”
Able Seaman Mostyn Berryman “Moss”
Able Seaman Walter Gordon Falls “Poppa”
Able Seaman Andrew William George Huston “Happy”
Able Seaman Arthur Walter Jones “Joe”
Able Seaman Frederick Walter Lota Marsh “Boof”
They began training at Camp X in Refuge Bay, near Sydney in late 1942. While there, Frederick helped Lieutenant Davidson construct a plywood experimental canoe, which they called HMAS Lyon. In January 1943, the Krait arrived at the bay to a tumultuous reception. Bursts of machine gun fire mixed with cheering and shouts of welcome. Frederick was so excited, he and his friend Andrew Huston took the canoe he helped build and rowed out to the ship. Frederick, although only eighteen, was called “the life and soul of any party”. His nickname (Boof or Boofhead) came about “because his nuggetty body was topped with a rather square-shaped head covered in a mass of blond curls.” He was “a quintessential larrikin whose predilection for engaging in practical jokes was offset by his outstanding prowess in unarmed combat.” Frederick had “great powerful shoulders and a fierce desire to engage the enemy.” It was said he was “a man of few words.” They packed the ship and in mid-1943 they travelled from a training base in NSW to Thursday Island, before going to Exmouth for fuel and repairs. The Krait left there on 2nd September 1943. To maintain their disguise as a local fishing boat, the men dyed their skin brown to look more native, wore sarongs and were careful with what they threw overboard. The trip was uneventful and boring. James McDowell “Paddy” looked after the engine, with “Boof” being his offsider, as he had “displayed a surprising degree of mechanical flair”. James was so efficient with keeping the engine running that Frederick rarely had any chance to show his skills.
They arrived off Singapore on 24th September at Panjang Island. The found a beach where they could land. Frederick and Mostyn Berryman, who were the reserve attack team, transported the six attackers and their supplies in turn to the shore in the dingy. At 3am Frederick, who was on the ship, shook hands with the six who were going. He was very disappointed to be left behind. Apparently, he had been praying loud and long for one of the team to come down with an illness, so he could go in their place. On that night, 6 men in collapsible canoes paddled 50 kilometres to a small island near the harbour, where they made a base in a cave. The six were Lyon and Huston, Page and Jones and Davidson and Falls. Leaving there on the night of the 26th, they entered the harbour undetected and placed limpet mines on several ships, before returning to the cave and listening to the explosions and the uproar that followed as the Japanese searched for them. The mines sank or severely damaged 7 Japanese ships with a total of 39000 tons. After the commotion after the attack had died down, they rowed back to the Krait and left to return to Australia. Lieutenant Carse, who was the navigator, became a bit tense in waiting for them to return, was consuming more than his share of the rum ration. Frederick and Mostyn found out and must have reported him, which caused him to become irritated and he took it out on those two, as they were they youngest crew members. He also recorded it in the ship’s log, talking about their lack of responsibility and lax attitude to routine duties.
After one tense incident, where a Japanese patrol boat shone a light on them and followed them for quite a time before moving on, they arrived back at Exmouth on 19th October. Apparently after returning to Australia, for Frederick his emotion was “the immense satisfaction that they had ‘flown the Rising Sun’ and got away with it.” Meanwhile in Singapore, the Japanese, thinking the attack was land-based, started a series of arrests, tortures and executions against mainly local civilians. In some aspects the raid was a success, from the destruction of shipping and demoralisation of the Japanese to a boost for the participants and allied POW’s. The allies never claimed responsibility for the attack, so the Japanese did not do any counter-measures to avoid another sea-borne attack.
Operation Rimau
Rimau is a contraction of the Malay word Harimau which means tiger. Apparently Lieutenant-Colonel Lyon also had a tiger head tattooed on his chest.
The aim of Operation Rimau was to be the destruction of shipping in Singapore Harbour by commandos attaching limpet mines to the ships. This time though, they had 15 one-man motorised submersible canoes (Sleeping Beauties) and there were 23 men involved. Six of the commandos from Jaywick volunteered immediately, including Frederick. The plan was to deliver them to the area in a submarine, from where they would capture a local small fishing boat. On 11th September 1944, they left garden Island naval base near Perth aboard the British submarine HMS Porpoise. They stopped the Mustika, an Indonesian junk, on 28th September, removed the crew and loaded their supplies. Unfortunately, it had no motor and so they were reliant on the wind. Their plan was to use the ship to sail close to Singapore, carry out the raid and then rendezvous with the rescue submarine at their base on Merapas Island on 7th November. The submarine was supposed to stay in the area every night, if they were initially missed, until 8th December 1944. They sailed through an area frequented by fishermen, but no one gave them a second look. They were wearing sarongs and singlets and had dyed their skin brown and wore wide brimmed oriental-styled straw hats. Also only three men were allowed on deck at a time.
Just before the raid was to start on 10th October, a coastal patrol boat spotted the Mustika and approached them. It is not certain what happened, but someone fired at the patrol boat, so the rest of the crew also fired at it. Three of the patrol boat crew were killed, but two escaped and reported the incident. The commandos destroyed the Mustika and made their way in groups to the rendezvous. It is possible that one group did row to Singapore, and setting some charges, destroyed three ships on the 10th. (Possibly Lyon, Davidson and Huston).
In Australia, they intercepted a coded message from the Japanese reporting activity by commandos in the area, but they did not notify the rescue submarine of this as they were worried the Japanese would realise they could decode their messages. By 4th November, eighteen of them had arrived at Merapas Island, but the orders for the submarine were to arrive there on the 7th and to remain until 7th December if required. Before the submarine got there a small Japanese force landed and the commandos had to attack them. Two were killed in the fight and the rest split into two groups and went to different islands, with one group in position for the submarine. But it did not turn up on the arranged date, the Captain instead was looking for ships to destroy. The submarine reached the area on the 21st, but found the commandos had moved on, so it left the area instead of waiting.
After the deadline on December had passed, they realised they were on their own and started to island-hop to get home. A group of them moved to Pompong Island, where they split into two groups. One group consisted of Ingleton, Carey, Warren, Huston, Marsh and Hardy. Both groups had an officer and some experienced Jaywick men. They kept in contact with walkie-talkies, but they did not know the Japanese also had some and were listening in. Over the next two weeks, most were killed fighting the Japanese that were looking for them, captured or drowned in between the islands. Their group paddled straight into a trap. The folboat Frederick and Huston were in was holed by gunfire and sank. Frederick swam to Tjempa Island but Hudson was caught in a fierce rip and drowned. Frederick was one of those captured on 15th December, they were sent to Singapore, where he arrived with a bayonet wound to the upper chest. It seems he was singled out for a series of beatings and torture. He was in very bad state, ill and close to death. Frederick had to be carried into the Kempeitai headquarters on a stretcher. He lingered for two more days, running a raging fever from untreated malaria and moaning and crying out. He died of illness and probably the lack of food, bashings and torture he received while he was a POW, at Tanjung Pagar in Singapore. The Japanese said that a doctor was in attendance, but that nothing could be done for him and he died of malaria; which was an excuse to cover up his death while in custody. The last commando was captured in March 1945. The ten who survived that, were given a trial on 3rd July 1945 where they were all charged with ‘perfidy and espionage’ and were executed on 7th July 1945 by beheading by the guards. Despite what was said after the war, it was not an honour or out of respect that they were beheaded, nor did officers do it. Some were hit two or three times to complete the task.
After the war, in the Roll of Honour in the local newspaper, his parents and family and friends put notices remembering Fred and his sacrifice.
Frances donated 900 pounds to the Z Special Unit Association Krait Appeal Fund on 11th October 1963, which she could use as a tax deduction. The letter also said that the “progress of the fund is most satisfactory and we hope that the vessel will be in Sydney early next year. It will, of course, be available for inspection and we will be happy to arrange this if you so desire.” An invitation was sent to Mrs March, inviting her to the dedication of the MV Krait at 3.30pm on 25th April 1964 at Farm Cove Sydney.
Mrs Ivy Marsh was given the honour of renaming the Krait with a 20-year-old bottle of champagne at Bulimba Wharf.
In the 1968 Electoral roll, Alfred and Frances were living at 99 Creek Street, Brisbane and he was a caretaker. Alfred passed away in July 1971 in Brisbane and was buried in Toowong Cemetery in location 18-141-14/15. Alfred’s parents were buried in the same location. Frances passed away in 1979 and was buried in Toowong Cemetery on 17th August 1979 in the same location.
On 26th January 1978, a medal was designed to acknowledge the efforts of the Z Force members that were involved in Operations Jaywick and Rimau. It was called the Commando Cross of Valour and had been conceived, designed, made and presented in Australia. It was designed by Fred W Spring, a member of the 1 Commando Association. The symbolic features of its design were described as:- in the centre of the cross are three canoeists which represents the epic feat of Lieutenant Sargent and two others who paddled 2500miles, they are surrounded by a rope that signifies that the raids were naval operations, the Southern Cross was used as a navigational aid for those who tried to return to Australia, the Z pierced by a dagger is the symbol of Z Force, the cross is suspended from a boomerang with the word Valour on it (Australian connection), the ribbon is green (the Commando colour) with a bar across the middle of the ribbon with Jaywick or Rimau as appropriate and a bar at the top with Commando on it. The Commando Cross of Valour was presented to Mrs I Marsh, mother of “Able Seaman F. W. March, M.I.D., R.A.N.” on 8th July 1978 and also to family of other members and to 3 surviving members at a ceremony that had been organised by the association on that day. Afterwards Mrs R Grimwade, the sister of AB Andrew Huston wrote a letter to the association acknowledging her appreciation for the award and also saying “Mrs. Marsh has experienced something truly wonderful, she took the medal to show to Matron and she was asked to take it to the Dining Hall at Lunch time on Sunday, where it was passed from person to person. She was just so proud, if you never do another good deed in your life you have made these two mothers so proud and thankful that there are people like you around…”
Frances had moved to Cottage 3A, Settlement House, Garden Settlement, Gympie Road, Chermside by 11th July 1978. She had written a letter to the Department of Defence Navy Office, and the way the reply reads it would be assumed she had lost Frederick’s two stars, the 1939-45 Star and Pacific Star, as the reply states “The relevant regulations provide that the initial issue of medals may be made to a deceased member’s next of kin, but unfortunately the do not allow replacements to be issued to the next of kin.” They enclosed the two medals they still held, the 1939-45 War Medal and Australia Service Medal, which had originally been sent out in 1956 to C/o G.A.L. Uhl Solicitors in AMP Chambers Brisbane, but had been returned and placed in store. The two stars had been sent to the same solicitor in 1948.
A poem is in the paperwork on Frederick Marsh which may have been written by his mother: –
A day is born, yet then it dies, The sun sets low, stars fill the skies Yes this day was special, this day was sad, Filled with such memories enriching and glad.
To remember the boys, their life and their days To remember their laughter Their pranks and their ways, Was a treasure and something to be lived yet again Their bravery is honoured with boys ranked as men
Their feats are now known, a memorable sight, Proud moment in history, hero’s set right, A glance at our yesterdays In the heavens we see, A light shining brightly, for you and for me.
Hervey Bay has a cairn built to remember the members of Z force. Z Force trained on Fraser Island at White Cliffs and on the Krait around the island.
They are also remembered on a memorial at Garden Island, near Perth with other Z Special Unit members.
In 2002, application was made for Frederick’s British War Medal 1939-45 and Australian Service Medal 1939-45. Did his mother not received them in 1978?
From a Navy newsletter in 2006-
“ARTICLE BY LEADING SEAMAN CASSANDRA MOHAPP
BUGLES ENGRAVED TO COMMEMORATE OPERATION RIMAU
In September 1944, when Singapore was under Japanese occupation, 23 British and Australian members of Services Reconnaissance Department / Z Special Unit travelled from Australia by submarine to the outskirts of Singapore Harbour. Their mission was to attack and destroy enemy shipping from small submersible boats using magnetic limpet mines. The party included six former member of the highly successful raid launched against the Japanese shipping Operation JAYWICH. Unfortunately, the raiding party was intercepted by Japanese Forces and in the actions that followed, thirteen were either killed in action or died of wounds. The remaining ten were captured and subsequently executed on 7 July 1945. The place of their execution is approximately 580 metres eat of the Junction of Clement and Dover Roads.
After an approach from Major Tom Hall (rtd) and author of The Forgotten Heroes of Rimau, the Director offered to purchase four bugles in memory of the members of this operation. On Monday 5 December 2005 the four bugles were presented to members of the Royal Australian Navy Band in the presence of the Maritime Commander and relatives of two of the servicemen who participated in
Operation RIMAU. Three bugles were inscribed with the names of the three Naval Reserve members of the operation, and the forth bugle was inscribed with a tribute Commanding Officer and Crew of the submarine that transported the team to the outskirts of Singapore Harbour.
Able Seaman Frederick Walter Lota Marsh was born in Brisbane in 1923 and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1941. He took part in Operation JAYWICK and was awarded a “Mentioned in Dispatches” for his actions during this raid. A member of Operation RIMAU, Frederick was wounded at the same time as his mate Able Seaman Andrew Houston was killed. Able Seaman Marsh was captured and transported from the Dabo Police Station to Singapore by the Tengku in January 1945. He was tortured to death in the Kempei Tai establishment located at the YMCA Building, Stamford Road, Singapore. It is believed the ashes of Able Seaman Marsh were spread on a Special Garden at the Kranji War Memorial Cemetery, Singapore.
Able Seaman Andrew William George Huston was born in Brisbane on 25 December 1923. In 1941, at the age of 18 he volunteered for service in the Royal Australian Navy. He was a member of Operation JAYWICH and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for Gallantry on this Operation. In 1944, he returned to Singapore Harbour as a member of Operation RIMAU and lost his life in the Lingga Archipelago whilst escaping Japanese Forces. A body washed up on Boeaja Island and was buried on 16 December 1944. This body was thought to be that of Able Seaman Huston but was later identified to be someone else. He remains the only member of Operation RIMAU whose body has not been recovered.
Lieutenant Bruno Philip Reymond joined the Royal Australian Naval Reserve (Seagoing) in July 1942 and went to Pearl Harbour to serve in the US Pacific Fleet as a Pilot in a Naval rather than in a Flying capacity, and assisted in the landing preparations for Tarawa. For the Rimau Operation Bruno was named as the Navigator. Along with the other members, he sailed out of Fremantle in the British Submarine, HMS Porpoise, on 11 September and reached the Rhio Archipelago two weeks later. Operation RIMAU was aborted following detection of the commandos who were then forces to flee in canoes. They paddled 3900 kilometres to Romang Island before they were captured and returned to Singapore. The eleven survivors were charged with murder and espionage and sentenced to ceremonial execution. This was carried out on 7 July 1945, only thirty nine days before the end of the war. Lieutenant Reymond, age 31, was killed on Pelapis Island on 23 December 1944.
The Royal Australian Navy Band salutes their daring and bravery by inscribing their names on Ceremonial Bugles, which will be used at various Remembrance Services around the nation and abroad.
May these brave men Rest in Peace:
Commander Hubert Anthony Lucius Marsham and crew of HMS Porpoise
Lieutenant Bruno Philip Reymond RANR (1914–1944)
Able Seaman Frederick Walter Lota Marsh RANR (1924–1945)
Able Seaman Andrew William George Huston RANR (1923–1944)”
In 2015 an appeal was commenced to support the restoration of the MV Krait, to be restored and displayed at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Z Special Unit of Special Operations Australia mounted 80 operations which involved a total of 264 missions. 164 of its’ members were killed. 19 of the survivors were acknowledged at the Australian War Memorial on 1st August 2016 during at a long-overdue plaque dedication to Z Force.
Frederick is commemorated at Plymouth Naval Memorial Devon UK on Panel 95 Column 3.
CWGC has Frederick recorded at the Plymouth memorial, but unfortunately has his middle name spelt as Later and has him being attached to H.M.A.S. Leeuzoin. It also shows him in a list under Royal Australian Naval Reserve, Able Seaman Marsh F.W.L., which presumably is what is on the memorial.
Frederick’s medals are the 19139-45 Star, Pacific Star, 1939-45 War Medal with oak leaf and Australian Service Medal 1939-45.
ANZAC Biographies
On our website you will find the biographical details of ANZAC (as well as British) servicemen & women
whose medals or other memorabilia form part of the collection belonging to the
Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum,
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia.