Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
Leading Aircraftman Reginald Shaw was the youngest son of Mr and Mrs William Shaw of Coalville and was younger brother to William Shaw. Reginald enlisted in the RAF in December 1940 and in 1941 was sent to Singapore. However, when it looked as though Singapore would fall to the Japanese he was transferred to the island of Java. Shortly after Java fell to the Japanese and Reginald was taken prisoner. He was moved around a number of POW camps and sadly, ended up in the notorious Sandakan Camp on the island of Borneo. It was not intended that any of the prisoners should survive and on 21st June 1945 Reginald died. He was just 29 years old.

Of 2000 Australian and 600 British prisoners only 6 [Australians] survived, the remainder died through starvation, beatings, disease, and beheadings.
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Information submitted by J. and J. Richards 11/09/2017