Sergeant QX 11351 Arthur William Lum Wan, who was known to everyone as “Joe”, was born in Mackay on June 7 1915. He spent his early years in Proserpine where his family ran the local emporium. He had four younger brothers and two sisters. Sadly, both his parents died under tragic circumstances when Joe was in his teens, leaving the eldest sister to raise the family and maintain their shop for an income. (Older Proserpine folk may remember Lum Wan’s Store in the spot where the Canegrowers’ building now stands.)
Joe’s childhood years were spent fishing, hunting and horse riding with his life-long mate, Bunny Rudd. Later, but still in their teens, they both excelled at ballroom dancing. Together, they enlisted and trained in Miowera on July 15 in 1940 and joined the 2/26th Battalion 8th Division. While in disembarkment camp in Grovely, Joe and Bunny attended dances at Cloudland. It was there that Joe met Jessie Gardiner, the love of his life, when he was looking for a partner with whom to do a whirl around the floor.
Soon he was shipped overseas. Joe fought on the Malaysian Peninsula until the fall of Singapore in February 1942. He was captured and sent to Changi prison. Three and a half long years in Changi tested his spirit. Despite the awful treatment and conditions, he never felt any animosity towards the Japanese soldiers after witnessing the deprivation that they also suffered at the hands of their superiors.
Joe ran the administration of the gaol’s hospital and he was able to slip under the fence and barter for medicine and eggs for the inmates. During one of these raids to get fuel, he was badly injured, and with very few medical supplies, the other prisoners sewed up his wounds with cotton thread and buttons. He bore a massive scar on his abdomen for life.
At war’s end, Joe was recovered from Changi on September 5 1945 and returned to Australia arriving on September 27 1945 on the hospital ship “Oranje”. From there he was sent first to Greenslopes Hospital and eventually discharged on December 12 1945. It was at Greenslopes where he and Jessie found one another again. His granddaughter said, “One of the only times I ever saw Pa get teary was when he related the story of his reunion with Jess.” He courted Jess until their marriage in 1948. They had two children, Kay and Jeffrey.
Joe was mentioned in dispatches for actions during the Fall of Singapore. His citation reads: His majesty the King has been graciously pleased to approve that Sergeant Lum Wan be mentioned in Dispatches in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Malaya in 1942. The “Proserpine Guardian” (September 13, 1946) reported on “the NCO’s keen sense of duty to his men in the face of the enemy.” “During a tight spot in the Malayan campaign when cut off from his platoon by the advancing Japanese, he led his section to safety through the enemy lines to re-join his unit.”
“Pa” Joe proudly marched in every Anzac Parade after his repatriation and in retirement he stepped up his involvement with the 2/26th Battalion 8th Division of the Australian Army, the Gallopers, with fortnightly lunches at the Chinese Club in the Fortitude Valley. He was very active with the major commemorations of the fall of Singapore and its liberation. His job at these reunions was to provide the women’s prizes of boxed chocolates. Joe was a favourite with the ladies at these functions!
Joe was also very active with the POW Association and attended several national conventions. He toured Thailand’s Hell Fire Pass and Singapore in the 1980s and 90s, remembering fallen colleagues.
His last overseas trip was in 2004 for a family wedding. Joe was nearly 90 and handled the cold of the Canadian winter very well, enjoying the snow again 60 years after Bathurst, where he had completed his army training. Joe always said Bathurst was the coldest hole ever to have an army camp. Arthur William Lum Wan passed away in 2014, aged 99 years.
Lest we forget
Story and photo courtesy Proserpine Historical Museum.
