Rev. Donald Clinton Alley

Donald was born at Clinton, Otago in New Zealand in 1906, the son of Henry Alley, a farmer and his wife Annie, nee Andrews. Donald was a Methodist Minister and Missionary. He married Ruth Lydia Ashley at Christchurch, NZ in 1936. There were 2 children: - Donald William & David Raymond. He moved to Tiop on Bougainville Island in the Territory of New Guinea in about 1936. In addition to the church there was a school and church. He was still the Methodist Minister at Tiop in Bougainville, Territory of New Guinea in Jan 1942 when the Japanese invaded. He was captured and interned as a civilian prisoner at Rabaul. He died on board the "Montevideo Maru" which was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of the Philippines on 01 Jul 1942, en route from Rabaul to Hainan, where he was destined for forced labour. Following the War, and after the discovery of the Montevideo Maru records, his widow was given false hope of his survival based on a "sighting" in Japan, but this proved not to be the case. A hospital on Bougainville was named after him. Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Alley-1378

Early in the morning of 22 June 1942, members of the Australian 2/22nd Battalion, No.1 Independent Company, and civilian prisoners captured in New Britain were ordered to board the vessel. For the march to the waterfront, Japanese guards divided the prisoners into groups of approximately fifty men. Only the officers and a small number of civilians were left in the Malaguna Road camp. The Montevideo Maru sailed unescorted for Hainan Island, keeping to the east of the Philippines in an effort to avoid Allied submarines. Eight days into the voyage, the Montevideo Maru was spotted by the American submarine USS Sturgeon. For approximately four hours the Sturgeon manoeuvred into a position to fire its four stern torpedoes. The USS Sturgeon’s log records an impact at 2.29 am, approximately 100 feet (30 metres) aft of the funnel. Survivors from the Montevideo Maru’s Japanese crew reported two torpedoes striking the vessel followed by an explosion in the oil tank in the aft hold. According to both the Sturgeon’s log and the Japanese survivors, the Montevideo Maru sank by the stern in as little as eleven minutes from the torpedo impact. Although the Japanese crew were ordered to abandon ship, it does not appear they made any attempt to assist the prisoners to do likewise. The ship’s lifeboats were launched but all capsized and one suffered severe damage. Of the 88 Japanese guards and crew, only 17 survived the sinking and subsequent march through the Philippine jungle. While the exact number and identity of the more than 1,000 men aboard the Montevideo Maru has never been confirmed, Japanese and Australian sources suggest an estimated 845 military personnel and up to 208 civilians lost their lives in the tragedy. Source: https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/montevideo_maru