Prisoner of War
He was interned by the Japanese in the notorious Changi prison after the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942. He was transferred to Sandakan, North Borneo, with nearly fifteen hundred other Australians, and was able to set up contacts with allied agents and sympathisers. He collected information to relay to these contacts and helped organise prisoner escapes with Filipino guerrillas.
The Japanese learnt of his role and arrested Matthews and others. They were interrogated, tortured and starved before being sentenced to death. Despite his ordeal he refused to betray his colleagues or any details of their resistance planning. Matthews was shot by firing squad, along with two members of the Borneo constabulary and six other Asians on the 2 March 1944 at Kuching.
In 1946 his body was exhumed and laid to rest in the Labuan War Cemetery in grave J.B.15.
Read more about this topic: Lionel Matthews, Army Service
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