2/22nd Battalion (Infantry)
Born: 19 November 1904, London, United Kingdom
Died: 1 July 1942, on the Montevideo Maru, South China Sea
Details provided by: Vicki Hobson (Granddaughter)
My mum’s father, Lance Corporal John Smeaton, (known to his friends as Jack) was taken prisoner of war in Rabaul, and was apparently on board the Montevideo Maru, when it was torpedoed. I say apparently because it was never actually confirmed.
There were possible sightings of him on board and some years later a gentleman from Ballarat contacted my Nan (Ada) to say there was supposedly a soldier by the name of Smeaton, possibly John, taken as a prisoner on that ship. On the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour it lists his place of death as “At sea (South West Pacific Area)” and cause of death “Presumed”.
His details are as follows: Lance Corporal John Smeaton Service number VX44168of the 2/22nd Battalion (Infantry). Date of death 1st July 1942 aged 37 years.
He left behind his wife Ada Smeaton and four daughters Maureen, Verna, Iris and Beverley. My mum Maureen, the eldest of these four girls, was only eight years old when she last saw her father.
The day he left home the three older girls were at school, Beverley, the youngest, was still at home but can clearly remember waving to her daddy on the bus as it drove away.
Ada and the girls received letters from time to time, full of questions about all his girls and telling them how much he loved them and missed them and couldn’t wait to be home.
At some point in time, Ada received a letter from her husband telling her he had been taken prisoner by the Japanese, but was being well looked after and told her not her to worry about him.
However, my mum Maureen, vividly recalls the day the minister walked through their front gate, up the path and around the back of the house with the telegram for Ada advising of her husband’s death.
For many years the family still held out hope that this wasn’t true and he would one day walk through that gate himself alive and well.
These four little girls are now all in their seventies and would still desperately like to know the truth about what happened to their father.
Ada Smeaton lived to the age of 98 years, she passed away on the 28th July 2004.
