Arthur Clarence Heenan

Born 26 Sept 1920 - Died 15 Oct 1942

Service number: WWII 3/3/382 AWMM
WWII 148324 AWMM
Also known as: —
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: WW2 Corporal/Military AWMM Signals Corps, New Zealand Coastwatchers AWMM
War: World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM

Arthur Clarence Heenan — Portrait, Arthur Heenan - This image may be subject to copyright

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Biographical information

Arthur Heenan was the son of Edward Percy and Martha Mcqueen Heenan, of Middlemarch, Otago, New Zealand.

Arthur Heenan was a radio operator (Coastwatchers) in the Pacific Islands and beheaded by Japanese. Served as a Coastwatcher on Maiana as part of the Gilbert Group.

Not listed on the Nominal Roll. From 1941 until the cessation of hostilities New Zealand coastwatchers maintained a lonely vigil on islands scattered over sixteen million square miles of the Pacific Ocean. The work was often monotonous and unspectacular but vital to the intelligence information for troops in the Pacific region. The Coastwatching service was primarily the responsibility of the Navy the majority of those engaged in it were drawn from the Army and the Post and Telegraph Department which supplied the necessary qualified radio operators. Arthur Heenan was amongst those newly trained P & T radio operators to arrive in Suva in July 1941. A group of 22 soldiers were selected to accompany the radio operators to 11 of the islands where there were no other European residents. The soldiers on this mission had all volunteered and were selected on the basis of maturity and suitability for life on isolated islands. Mr Heenan was stationed on Maiana Island, part of the Gilbert Group. The nearest enemy held territory was the Marshall Islands to the north. It was clearly one of the first objectives of the Japanese assault to occupy the islands to the south and capture the means of communication they afforded the Allies. Those stationed in the Gilbert Islands were the only ones to be captured by the Japanese. Of those captured 22 were killed (as was Mr Heenan), others were imprisoned in Japan until the end of the war. On 25 September 1942 Arthur Heenan sent his last message which was: "Japanese coming. Regards to all." After this nothing further was transmitted. Heenan and the two soldiers who accompanied him (Private C.J. Owen and Private L.B. Speedy) concealed themselves in the jungle but were captured later. Heenan and 16 other soldiers and operators captured by the Japanese from other islands were taken to Tarawa Island. There, together with several European inhabitants of the island, they were treated with callous indifference. They were tied to coconut palms with telephone wire for three days while awaiting examination by their captors and later confined to a hospital building usually reserved for insane patients. They were forced to work on the Betio wharf. It appears that following a bombardment by a US warship and two aircraft on 15 October 1942 the Japanese rounded up 22 Europeans and beheaded them. An inquiry into the killing in October 1944 heard evidence that during the bombardment a prisoner reportedly escaped and waved to the aircraft. It was presumed that the Japanese killings were in retaliation for this action. The fate of the radio operators and soldiers was not know nor were the details released until this inquiry. Efforts to find the burial places proved fruitless and a monument was erected at Betio. The inscription reads:

"In memory of 22 British subjects murdered by the Japanese at Betio on the 15 October 1942. Standing unarmed to their posts they matched brutality with gallantry and met death with fortitude.". Recognition of their service came in the form of appointments to the armed services on 9 December 1941 (this fact and their rank were unknown to the operators when they died). The Prime Minister paid tribute to their courage and devotion to duty when it was disclosed in December 1943 that they were "missing - believed killed". AWMM

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Arthur Clarence Heenan

Arthur Clarence Heenan

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