Alec Randolph Minchin was born in Dangin, Western Australia on 4 April 1914 and married Mabel Alice Stone early in 1941. Mabel Alice was born in York, Western Australia on 16 May 1915, the daughter of Joseph Henry Stone and Edith Elizabeth (nee Grylls). Her father was a grandson of Thomas and Ann Stone.
Alec had enlisted in the army on 10 August 1940 and almost immediately was drafted to the Melville Training Depot. He believed that he was about to be posted overseas so the wedding was hurredly arranged and quite a crowd attended at short notice. As it turned out he did not leave until 21 July 1941.
In a letter to his nephew, Alex. H. Stone dated 25 February 1941 the bride’s father, Joseph Henry Stone wrote:
They decided to marry in a hurry & I had no time to advise my relations in Victoria. I even had to issue some of the local invitations by telegraph. Alec supposed he was due for overseas then (but he has not gone yet). We had seventy to sit down to the breakfast. The wedding took place in our new church at Rockingham, which the Ladies Guild had decorated beautifully & there was a large audience. We held the reception in the Lounge of the Hotel Rockingham & the breakfast in one of the spacious dining rooms. I hate the pub, but there is as yet no choice in Rockingham. All our girls & boys were there but some eight or ten of the Minchin brothers and sisters were absent…
Alec Minchin disembarked at Singapore with the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion on 24 January 1942 and saw service in Malaya before being captured about a month later. In September 1944 he was one of about 1500 prisoners-of-war who lost their lives in tragic circumstances.
The Rakuyō Maru (with 1,318 Australian and British prisoners of war aboard) and Kachidoki Maru (900 British prisoners of war) were part of a convoy carrying mostly raw materials that left Singapore for Japan on 6 September 1944. The prisoners were all survivors of the Burma-Thailand Railway who had only recently returned to Singapore.
On the morning of 12 September 1944 the convoy was attacked by American submarines in the South China Sea. Rakuyō Maru was sunk by USS Sealion II and Kachidoki Maru by USS Pampanito. Prisoners able to evacuate the ships spent the following days in life rafts or clinging to wreckage in open water. About 150 Australian and British survivors were rescued by American submarines. A further 500 were picked up by Japanese destroyers and continued the journey to Japan. Those not rescued perished at sea. A total of 1,559 Australian and British prisoners of war were killed in the incident, all missing at sea (1,159 from Rakuyō Maru, 400 from Kachidoki Maru). The total number of Australians killed was 543 (503 AIF, 33 RAN, 7 RAAF).
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/70th-anniversary-sinking-rakuy-maru by Lachlan Grant
In his letter to his nephew dated 11 December 1944, Joseph Stone wrote: ” It is with sorrow of heart that I write you that Alie had notice that Alec was missing presumed dead. This is confirmed today by a letter from a mate on the raft with him. He died from thirst & exposure after 3 days on the raft. I had hopes of his rescue but these are now dashed. He was on the Jap ship torpedoed by the Yanks. The ship floated for 10 hours & all got on rafts, but few comparatively were rescued.”
