Stoker 1st Class
Reginald Charles
HOWLETT
Royal Navy
20
Reginald Howlett was born in Northolt, Middlesex on 10 October 1924, the son of William Arthur Howlett and Annie Emily Howlett (née Bennell). In 1939 Arthur Howlett (a lorry driver) and Annie were living at 35, Marlborough Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex but Reginald was not listed.
It is not known when Reginald Howlett joined the Royal Navy but, by September 1944, he was Stoker 1st Class serving in HMS STRATAGEM based on the Submarine Depot Ship HMS MAIDSTONE at Trincomalee in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
HMS STRATAGEM was sunk in the Malacca Straits in a depth charge attack by a Japanese destroyer. Fourteen men remained alive in the forward compartment. Ten of them managed to escape and reach the surface but only eight were picked up alive by the Japanese. Reginald Howlett was one of the eight taken Prisoner of War who were taken to Singapore. Three of these were later taken to Japan and became the only survivors as the remaining five, including Reginald Howlett, did not survive the War and are understood to have been executed by their captors on 31 December 1944.
Reginald Howlett is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial on Panel 102 Column 1.
One Response
This was my uncle Reg of course I never met him but do have a wonderful picture of him with my mum and dad ( his brother Ted Howlett ) at Windsor but he lost his life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp being executed I believe on Christmas Eve 1944