Winston Ide Explained

Winston Ide
Birth Name:Winston Philip James Ide
Birth Date:17 September 1914
Birth Place:Sydney, Australia
Death Place:SS Rakuyo Maru, Luzon Strait, South China Sea
Ru Position:Centre
Repyears1:1938
Repteam1:Australia
Repcaps1:2
Reppoints1:0

Winston Philip James Ide (17 September 1914 – 12 September 1944)[1] was an Australian rugby union player. Ide played two Tests for the Australia national team in 1938.[1] He died during the sinking of the Rakuyō Maru in 1944.

Ide was a member of the Australia team sent to tour Great Britain in 1939. The outbreak of World War II saw the tour cancelled the day after the team had arrived at Plymouth.[2]

On return to Australia, Ide joined the Second Australian Imperial Force and was sent to Malaya with the 2/10th Field Regiment. He was captured during the Fall of Singapore and interned in Changi Prison as a prisoner-of-war. Ide was later forced by the Japanese to work on the construction of the Burma Railway.[2]

In 1944 Ide was boarded on the Rakuyō Maru – a Japanese "Hell Ship" – to be taken to Japan to work.[2] The Rakuyō Maru was sunk in the South China Sea by a torpedo fired from the USS Sealion, an American submarine. The Americans were unaware the ship was transporting Allied prisoners-of-war.[3] Refusing to climb aboard a liferaft, Ide assisted in the rescue of many of his fellow prisoners-of-war. Responding to requests to save himself, Ide was reported to have said "I'm staying here ... In any case, I can swim to Australia if I have to".[2]

Ide was not seen again and was presumed drowned - one of 1,159 prisoners of war aboard the ship who died. Only 63 were able to be rescued.[3]

Ide's father, Henry, was a Japanese silk merchant who migrated to Australia in 1894 and was naturalised in 1902. During World War II, Ide's father was for a time placed in an internment camp at Hay in southern New South Wales as a suspected enemy alien.[4]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Winston Ide . Australia / Players & Officials . ESPN Scrum.com . 4 March 2012.
  2. News: Lane. Daniel. Hero's 'enemy' connections. Sydney Morning Herald. 24 April 2011. 5 May 2012.
  3. Web site: Rakuyo Maru . Roll of Honour . 5 March 2012.
  4. News: Growden. Greg . Read it and weep: real heroes found on the shelves, not on the field . Sydney Morning Herald. 5 March 2012. 5 March 2012.