On this day, seven years ago, the Repatriation Memorial at Town Quay Park in Southampton was unveiled.
The granite memorial plaque was established by the Researching FEPOW History Group (RFHG) in Southampton on 27 October 2013 following a national fundraising campaign. It is the second of two such memorials (the first is in Liverpool) marking the repatriation of Far East captives. Each lists the names of the repatriation ships that arrived between 7 October and mid-December 1945, either side of a dedication to the memory of all those held in Far East captivity.
In addition, a north American oak tree was planted in an adjacent plot in front of the plaque in Town Quay Park.
Over 37,000 British military survivors of Far East captivity returned home by sea to the ports of Southampton and Liverpool during the autumn of 1945. The Southampton memorial is fixed to a remnant of Victorian brick wall in Town Quay Park, facing the Isle of Wight ferry terminal and Southampton Water. The RFHG is indebted to former FEPOW, Sapper Bob Hucklesby 560 Field Company Royal Engineers, for his help in establishing the memorial, and to the Friends of Town Quay Park who look after it.
An interview with former FEPOW Bert Warne was recently featured on ITV in which the Southampton FEPOW Merorial is shown. You can watch the interview, here.
RFHG 
Is the liner El de France listed on the Southampton memorial as my dad returned on that ship.
Hi Barbara, Yes, the Ile de France is on the Southampton memorial. It arrived on 31 October with the largest number of repatriates (both military and civilian) to date, 3,500 onboard, according to a newspaper report of the day.