William Wylie was born in Belfast and attested for the Royal Scots at Armagh. He served with the 2nd Battalion during the Second World War, and was captured and taken prisoner of war at the Fall of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941.
By 26 September 1942 his regiment was transferred from the Sham shui po Camp, Hong Kong by the cargo ship Lisbon Maru. Having been informed that it was an armed Japanese ship, the United States submarine Grouper torpedoed Lisbon Maru in the South China Sea on 1 October 1942; the ship had over 700 Japanese troops and over 1,800 prisoners of war but had no markings as to what it was carrying.
The next day on 2 October the ship began sinking and most of the prisoners were trapped inside; some of the artillery could be heard singing “It’s a long way to Tipperary” during the disaster.
Private 3050493 William Wylie has no known grave and is commemorated on the Sai Wan Memorial, Hong Kong.
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