Reginald Newton

Lieutenant Colonel Reginald William James Newton, (22 December 1906 – 31 July 1994) was an Australian Army officer noted for his leadership while in Japanese prisoner of war camps during the Second World War.

He became well known among Australian military circles, where he was affectionately known as "Roaring Reggie."

Reginald Newton was born in the Sydney suburb of Balmain on 22 December 1906 to Charles and Mary Newton ( Knight).

He joined the Australian military at 15 years of age as a camp cadet at Coonabarabran.

At the outbreak of the Second World War he was a militia captain in the 5th Infantry Brigade at Parramatta.

Eleven months later they engaged the invading Japanese when they were rushed forward to support the beleaguered 2/29th Battalion at Baku.

Australian anti-tank gunners destroyed nine Japanese tanks in the Baku area.

On 2 February 1941 Newton left for Singapore as headquarters company commander in the 2/19th Battalion, part of the 22nd Brigade, 8th Division.

After arriving in Singapore, Captain Newton's battalion was sent north to Seremban in southern Malaya for training in tropical conditions.

Despite a number of clashes between them it came as a surprise in March 1943 when Galleghan appointed Captain Newton to head U Battalion, D Force.

Nishimura was hanged in 1951 for war crimes.

This comprised 695 men mainly drawn from the 22nd Brigade.

They left Changi and their destination turned out to be the Thai-Burma Railway in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

Newton's appointment meant he had jumped over many more senior officers.

There was speculation that it could have been Galleghan's way of getting him out of Changi.

The name "Roaring Reggie" came from the way he would shout at the Japanese guards.

This subjected him to many beatings.

Standing up for his men was Newton's main focus.

He would do whatever was necessary to protect them and keep them alive.

He found that feigning displays of respect for Warrant Officer Aitaro "Tiger" Hiramatusu, the Japanese camp commander, brought more benefits than acts of defiance.

The 2/19th held a vital crossroad allowing the 2/29th and the 45th Indian Brigade to withdraw to Muar.

Their action resulted in them being outflanked by superior numbers and they had to fight their way through a succession of Japanese roadblocks.

The Australians' six-day clash with the crack 5th Imperial Guards Division was one of the epic encounters of the Malaya campaign.

British commander Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, considered the delay they imposed had saved a large part of his army from being cut-off and annihilated at Yong Peng.

With ammunition exhausted, casualties mounting and no chance of relief the 2/19th struck out through the jungle leaving wounded behind.

It was later learned all the wounded were murdered by Lieutenant General Takuma Nishimura's Guards in what became known as the Parit Sulong Massacre.

2/19th commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson was awarded the Victoria Cross for his courage and leadership.

The Battle of Singapore came to an end on February 15 when Lieutenant General Percival surrendered British, Australian and Indian forces to General Tomoyuki Yamashita.

Newton and his group of wounded men were still in the battle area.

Their plan to escape was thwarted when they were betrayed by locals.

They were eventually captured and taken to Kuala Lumpur's Pudu Jail, where Newton faced 60 hours of interrogation.

He found that despite only being a captain, he was the highest ranking Australian officer at Pudu.

He quickly decided that the best way to protect his men was to adopt practices not normally part of military routines.

Trading with civilians and smuggling in extra food from the outside built trust among the prisoners of war.

When he was moved from Pudu to Changi Prison his commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Galleghan, who did not approve of Newton's style or the way he had acted at Pudu.

In an interview with Pattie Wright for her book The Men of the Line, Len, a 2/19th member recalled how Newton got on the "Tiger's" better side.

"The 'Tiger' was a bad one but Reggie got around him. We saw comfort women come into our camp. They were in the last carriage of one of the trains going through. In fact "The Tiger" asked Reggie if he wanted women to come into the camp. I wasn't around for this exchange, but I heard Reggie said he'd prefer a few more bags of rice instead of women."

"A lot of times we thought he was going to get his head cut off," one Australian said.

"Everyone who was there would say that they got home because of Reg."

Another said: "We were lucky to have Reg Newton and that is evidenced by the fact that the casualties in D Force were one of the lowest and it was definitely because of him."