Full medal write up
INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1936, CLASP NORTH WEST FRONTIER 1936-37, ‘7257052 SJT. C. SEATON. R.A.M.C.’, 1939-45 STAR, PACIFIC STAR, DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS, ARMY LONG SERVICE & GOOD CONDUCT. GVI I 'REGULAR ARMY' BAR ‘7257052 SJT. C. SEATON. R.A.M.C.’
Quartermaster Sergeant Clifford Seaton, serving with 32nd Company Royal Army Medical Corps, when he was captured at Singapore Colony on 15 February 1942. 32 Company R.A.M.C., a 'Hospital Company', were deployed to Singapore Colony in October 1940, where they were based at the Alexandra British Military Hospital. During the Japanese invasion of Singapore, the hospital was the scene of infamous Alexandra Hospital Massacre.
On 14 February 1942, infantry of the Imperial Japanese Army advancing on Alexandra Hospital were fired upon by British Indian Army Troops from within the grounds of the hospital. After breaking the engagement, the Indians against all oncoming odds, scattered in retreat through the grounds of the hospital. The battle hardened enemy troops pressed their attack and subsequently swarmed through the hospital grounds and the hospital itself, where they killed, murdered and bayonetted patients, doctors, nurses and orderlies, including those on operating tables and in their beds. Those British and Empire troops in the hospital not able to escape, were rounded up, and the following day - on the day of the surrender of Singapore Colony - were mostly massacred.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Military_Hospital,_Singapore
At this time there is no definitive list of names of all those who were present in the Alexandra Hospital when it was attacked, and or who were killed in the massacre, or even those that survived/escaped. However since Seaton’s unit were based here and he was captured at the time of the massacre, it is extremely likely he was present. He would also have known many of his comrades who perished in the infamous massacre.
For a detailed eye witness account of the Alexandra Hospital Massacre, Charles Henry Lyons, 32 Company R.A.M.C., left a detailed recorded account which is held the Imperial War Museums Collection:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80010529
Clifford Seaton was born on, 5 May 1900 in Sheffield and enlisted in the British Army on 15 March 1923 and was posted to the Royal Army Medical Corps. After service with 31 Company RAMC in India in the 1930's, during which he served on the North West Frontier during the Waziristan Campaign of 1936-37, he transferred to 32nd Company RAMC. In 1941 he was noted as a Warrant Officer (II Class), holding the appointment of Quartermaster Sergeant and was deployed with his unit to Singapore Colony in October 1940. Fortunate to survive the Battle of Singapore, and his years of incarceration as a Far East Prisoner of War.
His POW Liberation Questionnaire records his internment history in Singapore as follows:
Fullerton Buildings (Hospital): 15 February 1942 – 2 March 1942
Roberts Barracks (Hospital): 2 March 1942 – September 1943
Selerang Barracks (Hospital): September 1943 – May 1944
Kranji Camp Hospital: May 1944 – August 1945
Under ‘Act of Sabotage as a Far East Prisoner of War’:
“I helped to bury and mark as 'Fouled Ground' three anti-aircraft gun barrels of large calibre in Roberts Hospital area early in 1942. These gun barrels were British.”
After liberation in August 1945, Seaton returned to Sheffield and is recorded to have died at the St. Johns Hospital, Stone, Buckinghamshire, England, on 5 August 1964.
Condition GVF. Sold with digital research, including Seaton’s Japanese Red Cross POW Index Card, POW questionnaire etc.
A most desirable medal group to the Royal Army Medical Corps.