Commando edition 7 July 2021 low res pdf
The Official Commando News Magazine for the Australian Commandos
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Registered by Australia Post ~ Publication No PP100016240 Edition 7 ~ <strong>2021</strong>
Thank you to the fol<strong>low</strong>ing companies for supporting <strong>Commando</strong>.<br />
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www.kongsberg.com<br />
www.babcock.com.au<br />
www.mhdrockland.com<br />
www.goalgroup.com.au<br />
www.orionsolar.com.au<br />
www.codancomms.com<br />
www.manteena.com.au/zeroed<br />
www.safran-helicopter-engines.com<br />
www.intract.com.au
CONTENTS<br />
REGISTERED BY AUSTRALIA POST PUBLICATION No PP100016240<br />
AUSTRALIAN COMMANDO ASSOCIATION INC.<br />
LIFE PATRON:<br />
PATRON:<br />
PRESIDENT:<br />
VICE PRESIDENT:<br />
SECRETARY:<br />
TREASURER:<br />
PUBLIC OFFICER:<br />
Gen Sir Phillip Bennett AC KBE DSO<br />
MajGen Tim McOwan AO DSC CSM<br />
NATIONAL OFFICE BEARERS<br />
MajGen Greg Melick AO RFD SC<br />
Maj Steve Pilmore OAM RFD (Ret’d)<br />
Maj John Thurgar SC MBE OAM RFD<br />
(Ret’d)<br />
Maj Bruce O’Conner OAM RFD (Ret’d)<br />
Maj Brian Liddy (Retd)<br />
STATE ASSOCIATION OFFICE BEARERS<br />
ACA NSW<br />
PRES/SEC.:<br />
ACA QLD<br />
PRES/SEC.::<br />
ACA VIC PRES.:<br />
ACA VIC SEC.:<br />
ACA WA PRES.:<br />
ACA WA SEC.:<br />
WEBSITE/MEDIA<br />
MANAGER:<br />
WEBSITE:<br />
FACEBOOK:<br />
EDITORS:<br />
Mr Wayne Havenaar<br />
Mr Graham Gough<br />
Mr Doug Knight<br />
Mr Glenn MacDonald<br />
Mr Paul Shearer<br />
Mr Steve Butlerr<br />
Mr John Roxburgh<br />
www.commando.org.au<br />
Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association<br />
Mr Nick Hill<br />
Mrs Marilou Carceller<br />
The Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association’s membership consists of<br />
Servicemen & women who have served with WW2 Independent Companies,<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Squadrons & Regiments, "M" and "Z" Special units, 1 st & 2 nd<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Company's, 1 st <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment, 4 RAR <strong>Commando</strong> & the<br />
2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment. The Association also consists of Associate<br />
Members who have served in units who directly supported <strong>Commando</strong> units<br />
in time of war and peace and Social members who’s direct family member<br />
was either Killed In Action, Died In Service or Killed in Training or a member<br />
of the ACA who has passed.<br />
Editor’s Word....................................................................3<br />
ACA National P<strong>res</strong>ident & CWT Chairman’s Word .........5<br />
ACA QLD..........................................................................7<br />
ACA VIC .........................................................................11<br />
Significant <strong>Commando</strong> Dates ........................................14<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s For Life......................................................16<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Vale .............................................................17<br />
French <strong>Commando</strong>s .......................................................23<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Pilgrimage to Tidal River............................27<br />
The Last Coastwatcher ..................................................31<br />
The ‘C’ Word Killed <strong>Commando</strong> Skydivers’<br />
60 th Birthday ..............................................................33<br />
A Machine Gun Spray of Memories ..............................35<br />
A Few Yarns from Maj Luke Gosling .............................41<br />
Whiskey’s Wish...............................................................42<br />
Additional <strong>Commando</strong> News.........................................43<br />
Book Review...................................................................47<br />
Deadline for next <strong>edition</strong> (Edition 8, <strong>2021</strong>):<br />
SUNDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER <strong>2021</strong><br />
All news on members and inte<strong>res</strong>ting articles accepted.<br />
(Subject to editors’ approval.)<br />
Nick Hill<br />
Registered by Australia Post ~ Publication No PP100016240 Edition 7 ~ <strong>2021</strong><br />
DISCLAIMER: Opinions exp<strong>res</strong>sed within this publication are those of the<br />
authors, and are not necessarily those of the Editor, Publisher, Committee<br />
Members or Members of our Association. We welcome any input as long<br />
as it is not offensive or abusive but if any member has a problem with a<br />
printed article we would like to be informed in order that the author may be<br />
contacted. We do encourage your opinion.<br />
Official Publishers:<br />
Statewide Publishing P/L<br />
ABN 65 116 985 187<br />
PO BOX 682, SURFERS PARADISE QLD 4217<br />
PHONE: 0432 042 060<br />
EMAIL: russell@commandonews.com.au<br />
Printed by BOOST Design & Print<br />
Web: boostgraphicdesign.com<br />
Email: boostdesign@optusnet.com.au<br />
FRONT COVER: The rededicated headstone of CPL Cameron Stewart<br />
Baird, VC. MG. of the 2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment which now reflects the<br />
posthumous award of the Victoria Cross. The headstone was dedicated<br />
at Currumbin Memorial Gardens in SE QLD by the Governor-General<br />
of Australia, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley,<br />
AC. DSC. FTCE. on 25 May <strong>2021</strong>.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 1
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR<br />
G’day all, I hope you are all well? Welcome to<br />
Edition #007 <strong>July</strong> to September <strong>2021</strong> 1 of<br />
COMMANDO – The Maga zine of the<br />
Aust ralian Com mando Association.<br />
During this <strong>edition</strong> we have an article on then<br />
French <strong>Commando</strong> Marines (who are the only French<br />
military unit to wear their beret badge over their left<br />
eye) in recognition of their beginnings with the UK<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s. The Last Coastwatcher makes another<br />
appearance as well and in inte<strong>res</strong>ting article on a<br />
member’s personal experiences at 2 <strong>Commando</strong><br />
Company and in Vietnam. Unfortunately, we have lost<br />
9 <strong>Commando</strong>s during the <strong>July</strong> to September period,<br />
three of our brothers were Killed In Action in<br />
Afghanistan, five Killed in Training and During their<br />
Service and one of fel<strong>low</strong> <strong>Commando</strong> dying of Wounds<br />
sustained in Afghanistan. Like most things in life, they<br />
s<strong>low</strong>ly fade away, however, they are never forgotten<br />
and we have had three old’s bolds pass away recently<br />
as well. May you all forever Rest In Peace and have Fair<br />
Winds and Blue Skies. C4L.<br />
This is my last <strong>edition</strong> as the Editor of COM -<br />
MANDO. It’s been a blast and I have absolutely<br />
enjoyed putting together those <strong>edition</strong>s of <strong>Commando</strong><br />
News and COMMANDO since being handed the<br />
baton from Barry Grant, OAM in 2018, but as we all<br />
know life moves forward and priorities change. I’d like<br />
to thank everyone who has contributed to the <strong>edition</strong>s<br />
of COMMANDO and previously <strong>Commando</strong> News. If it<br />
wasn’t for you the magazine would not exist. We are<br />
grateful that Steve Carter from ACA VIC will be taking<br />
over as the Editor. I wish you all the best for the future<br />
<strong>edition</strong> of the Magazine and if you need anything I’m<br />
an email away. To Russell Maddox from Statewide<br />
Publishing and Marilou Carceller, the typesetter, I thank<br />
you both personally for supporting the change of the<br />
magazine from <strong>Commando</strong> News to what it looks like<br />
now, without your support, patience and professional<br />
advice the Magazine would not be so successful.<br />
To that end, for those fighting the good fight,<br />
remember to ‘Keep Your Powder Dry & Your Sights<br />
Straight’ and those back home in Australia or around<br />
the world keep safe.<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> 4 Life<br />
Nick Hill<br />
Editor - <strong>Commando</strong> Magazine<br />
E: editor_commandomag@commando.org.au<br />
W: www.commando.org.au<br />
Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association Inc<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 3
Letter to the<br />
EDITOR<br />
SGT Laurie “Scuba” Hall<br />
1 <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
To <strong>Commando</strong>s past and p<strong>res</strong>ent.<br />
To everyone that has exp<strong>res</strong>sed their thoughts,<br />
wishes and blessings on the passing of my dad and<br />
mate, Sgt Laurie Scuba Hall. “Thank you” to the<br />
“blokes” that attended dad’s funeral, “Thank You”.<br />
Those that travelled. “Thank you”. To the “Guard of<br />
Honour” “Thank you”.<br />
Barry Grant for your words and being the point of<br />
contact, “Thank You”.<br />
To Maj. Gen. Greg Mellick. Thanks for your kind<br />
words. Dad cherished his friendship with you. He still<br />
has a picture of the pair of you in his “study.”<br />
Unfortunately, not all your secrets died with dad. He<br />
told me quite a few of your adventu<strong>res</strong> with him over<br />
the years!!!<br />
For me as a Sapper we can discuss these over lunch<br />
and a beer next time you are in Sydney..... Your shout<br />
of course!!!<br />
To Rod Hilliker, on a personal note, for the support<br />
you showed me over the time from dad entering the<br />
hospital to this p<strong>res</strong>ent day, I say “Thanks mate”.<br />
There were faces that I had not seen for many years<br />
SGT Laurie “Scuba” Hall at the 1 <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
60 th Anniversary Parade at Victoria Barracks, Sydney.<br />
and knowing that you were there “helped us carry the<br />
load”.<br />
Dad loved being a <strong>Commando</strong> and he said to me<br />
the best part of the job was the men he served with.....<br />
well most of them!<br />
So from me to you I say, “Strike Swiftly”. Be kind to<br />
yourself and as cad would say “P. Y. A.”<br />
I leave you with this thought.<br />
Could you imagine if we had to put Scuba in a<br />
Nursing Home? It would have been like trying to cage<br />
a LION!!<br />
Sapper Andrew “Drew” Hall<br />
Son of Scuba!<br />
June <strong>2021</strong><br />
4 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 5
Hello members<br />
and welcome<br />
to this <strong>edition</strong><br />
of “<strong>Commando</strong>”. As<br />
always, I hope that you<br />
are all keeping well and<br />
as healthy as can be.<br />
It is with regret that<br />
the committee had to<br />
make the tough deci -<br />
sion to cancel our<br />
planned Operation<br />
Rimau and Special<br />
Forces Day service at the Brisbane Shrine of<br />
Remembrance, which was to be held on the 4 th of<br />
<strong>July</strong>. Mandatory mask wearing escalated to a threeday<br />
lockdown which left us with little choice but to<br />
alter our plans. The event was looking promising with<br />
honoured guests arriving from Sydney and Brisbane.<br />
One of our special guests was going to be Mr D’Arcy<br />
Hardy and his wife. D’Arcy’s brother John” Jack”<br />
Hardy was a member of Operation Rimau and one of<br />
the remaining ten that were executed on the 7th of<br />
<strong>July</strong> 1945.<br />
I would like to thank our social committee<br />
members Mark S and Richard J for all the<br />
background work in booking of the Shrine and<br />
Central Hotel for the luncheon afterwards.<br />
Thanks go to His Excellency the Governor of<br />
Queensland Paul de Jersey AC, who agreed to<br />
provide a video add<strong>res</strong>s once again for the service,<br />
which was amended to a letter (attached) after the<br />
post pone ment. I would also like to thank Padre<br />
Michael Pock lington for being ever ready to assist in<br />
providing his pastoral services. Continued thanks<br />
also go to the National Service Band of Brisbane’s<br />
Piper Mr Rolly McCartney for organising the<br />
musicians at short notice, and Deana of Enoggera<br />
Florist for again being ready to support our<br />
association with the floral wreaths. It is the intention<br />
of the committee that when a “Covid normal” state<br />
returns, a time will be made to commemorate our<br />
fallen at the Shrine. Advice of this event will be<br />
forthcoming.<br />
PRESIDENT’S WORD<br />
<strong>July</strong> <strong>2021</strong><br />
Other events<br />
I had the honour of attending the re-dedication of<br />
Cameron Baird’s headstone on the 25 th of May <strong>2021</strong>.<br />
Cameron as most would know was awarded the<br />
Victoria Cross for valour after his death. The new<br />
headstone correctly reflects the posthumous award<br />
“Cpl Cameron Stewart Baird, VC. MG.”.<br />
It was a beautiful service with family, friends and<br />
the Governor General in attendance. Both the<br />
Governor General and Maj John ‘Jack’ Thurgar, SC.<br />
MBE. OAM. RFD (ACA National Secretary) provided<br />
insights into Cameron’s life at a small luncheon held<br />
at the Currumbin RSL fol<strong>low</strong>ing the re-dedication.<br />
The new headstone that correctly reflects Cameron Baird’s<br />
award of the VC, at Currumbin QLD.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 7
Land Forces conference<br />
Being on the mailing list still, I received an invite<br />
to the Brisbane Land Forces conference this year.<br />
The event was staged in the first week of June<br />
amongst controversy over Qld Government<br />
sponsorship and with active protests about<br />
warmongering held at the entrance. Myself and<br />
my partner Jenni met up with Tony Mills and visited<br />
many of the stands inside. As with most of these<br />
events I ended up bumping into some old<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Regiment mates including Paul “JJ”<br />
Cale, Brett Sangster and Ben Doyle-Cox of Plata-<br />
Tac.<br />
The technology displayed at Land Forces was<br />
mind b<strong>low</strong>ing to say the least with a major rise in the<br />
un-manned weaponry and vehicles of all types. I<br />
have enclosed a few photos, but one of the most<br />
inte<strong>res</strong>ting items I saw was a 40mm grenade<br />
launchable drone delivery system. It has the ability<br />
once launched (fired) to idle and be remotely guided<br />
for up to 45 minutes prior to delivery of a multiple<br />
attachment system in cluding surveillance cameras<br />
and explosives. This was an Australian invention.<br />
graffiti on the “Mitchell pattern” cover, on one of the<br />
seller’s stands. The 173rd AB worked alongside<br />
Australian Infantry forces in the early part of the war.<br />
I already have a mannequin set up as a 173 rd RTO<br />
(radio operator). Before I could get a good look at<br />
the helmet the seller said someone had <strong>res</strong>erved it<br />
and it was sold. I visited the <strong>res</strong>t of the dealers but<br />
was kicking myself for not being quick enough off the<br />
mark to grab that helmet. Later that evening when<br />
we had arrived home, my partner Jenni said she had<br />
to go out to the car and get something. When she<br />
returned she was holding a black plastic bag. Inside<br />
the bag was the very helmet that I had thought I’d<br />
missed out on. When I later removed the camouflage<br />
cover, I found that the helmet was also a refurbished<br />
WW2 original which was an added bonus. I’m one<br />
very lucky fel<strong>low</strong> indeed!<br />
The new Klepper on display at the Land Forces Conference<br />
in Brisbane, QLD.<br />
Items/Stilettos/Plaques/Polo Shirts<br />
A reminder that we are still able to provide<br />
individual CDO Assn Polo shirts @ $40 each plus $10<br />
postage. I have approx. two of the new <strong>Commando</strong><br />
plaques still available @ $55 each plus $10 postage.<br />
Also, one of the CDO Assn Australian Army Stilettos<br />
(AAS) @ $120 plus $10 postage. Contact me directly<br />
on emails be<strong>low</strong> IRT any items required.<br />
From My Personal Collection<br />
I had the opportunity the attend the Toowoomba<br />
Arms and Militaria show recently. As some may know<br />
I have quite a large collection of Vietnam war<br />
memorabilia and usually like to have a connecting<br />
theme to my displays. I had seen from a distance a<br />
very nice US 173rd Airborne helmet with wartime<br />
My personal collection of the 173 rd Airborne RTO mannequin<br />
with the US helmet<br />
Thank you once again for your continued support<br />
of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association.<br />
Regards,<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> 4 Life<br />
Graham Gough<br />
P<strong>res</strong>ident<br />
Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association Queensland<br />
E: acaqld_p<strong>res</strong>ident@commando.org.au<br />
W: www.commando.org.au<br />
8 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 9
HSE Mining owns and<br />
operates significant<br />
fleets of ultra-class and<br />
ancillary equipment for<br />
our clients including<br />
equipment for smaller<br />
complex operations.<br />
We are known for our<br />
expertise in providing<br />
pre-stripping and<br />
mining services, and<br />
operating a large classleading<br />
fleet of<br />
specialised mining<br />
equipment.<br />
In addition, HSE<br />
provides heavy<br />
equipment rental to<br />
mining sites with its<br />
fleet of large-scale and ancillary earthmoving and excavating machinery. HSE was established in 1991 by three business<br />
partners through their initial investment in a single front-end loader. HSE prog<strong>res</strong>sively expanded through acquiring more<br />
equipment and servicing larger projects, whose size and scale continued to expand with the growth of the business.<br />
HSE joined the Swire Group in 2013. HSE provide extensive on the job training and is committed to safety in the workplace<br />
through our ‘Protect and Respect” program.<br />
For all HSE vacancies please refer to www.hsemining.com.au.<br />
Kalari is Australia’s<br />
most innovative and<br />
prominent specialist<br />
bulk logistics provider<br />
to the mining and<br />
<strong>res</strong>ources sector and<br />
other selected<br />
industries. With over<br />
30 years’ experience,<br />
Kalari offers customised<br />
services to many of<br />
Australia’s leading<br />
corporations, with<br />
particular emphasis on<br />
safety, quality and<br />
sustainability. Kalari has<br />
national coverage<br />
throughout the<br />
Australian mainland,<br />
where we are equipped to manage a variety of products requiring specialised handling.<br />
At Kalari, we have a strong team culture and embrace a diverse workforce, with people from all walks of life. We aspire to be the<br />
best in our field and are proud of the way we run our business. Our people have access to career and professional development<br />
paths, skills development training, safe and pleasant work environments, modern and fully equipped trucks, and an array of<br />
employee benefits, such as our internal reward and recognition program Extra Mile and our extensive Employee Assistance<br />
Program (EAP).<br />
We currently have a number of vacancies across Australia for Multicombination Drivers, Diesel Mechanics and Front End Loader<br />
Operators. To hear more about these exciting opportunities please contact Imraan Khan on 0437 246 190 or Apply on line at<br />
www.kalari.com.au or forward your <strong>res</strong>ume to jobs@kalari.com.au.<br />
Kalari is an Equal Opportunity employer and we encourage women and Indigenous peoples of all ages to apply.<br />
10 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
RECENT ACTIVITIES<br />
Due to the COVID 19 <strong>res</strong>trictions all the<br />
Association social and commemorative<br />
activities the latter part of 2020 and early<br />
<strong>2021</strong> were cancelled.<br />
RIP MEMORIAL AT SHORLAND BLUFF,<br />
QUEENSCLIFF<br />
The <strong>2021</strong> annual commemoration ceremony at<br />
Shortland Bluff, Queenscliff on 21 February <strong>2021</strong> was<br />
well attended considering the COVID <strong>res</strong>trictions,<br />
which had only been amended several days prior which<br />
enabled the ceremony to proceed. The ceremony was<br />
well attended by families and ACA members along<br />
with some visiting VIPs.<br />
PARTICIPATION IN 2 COMPANY ANNUAL<br />
INDUCTION TRAINING<br />
At the invitation of the new OC of 2 Company at the<br />
end of January I joined with members of 2 Company<br />
during their annual induction training to provide a<br />
p<strong>res</strong>entation the history of the unit 1955-1980 and<br />
provide a brief on the support activities provided to the<br />
unit by ACA Vic. I was advised afterwards that the<br />
p<strong>res</strong>entations were well received by both old and new<br />
unit members, and that they provided considerable<br />
information regarding the unit origins and initial<br />
training regimes and reasons behind these, which had<br />
been previously unknown.<br />
It was also an opportunity to visit the ‘Krait Club’<br />
and view their wonderful collection of historical items,<br />
including some on loan or donated by ACA Vic.<br />
ANZAC Day<br />
Due to extensive works at Fort Gellibrand the<br />
annual ANZAC Dawn Service was conducted at the<br />
Williamstown Cenotaph and numerous ACA Vic<br />
members joined with current serving members of 2<br />
Company/301 Det at a Gun Fire breakfast at the<br />
Hobsons Bay Yacht Club fol<strong>low</strong>ed by a Dawn service<br />
conducted by the Williamstown Council in conjunction<br />
with the Newport RSL. Over 30 ACA Vic members<br />
participated in the Anzac Day parade, which was<br />
significantly curtailed by RSL Victoria. Unfortunately,<br />
due to the COVID <strong>res</strong>trictions our traditional Anzac Day<br />
luncheon was not conducted, and a number of<br />
PRESIDENT’S REPORT<br />
members joined with the SASR Association and AATTV<br />
at the Kelvin club for few post parade ref<strong>res</strong>hments.<br />
Annual Dinner<br />
The <strong>2021</strong> annual dinner will be conducted on<br />
Saturday, 7 August at the Box Hill RSL with the guest<br />
speaker being of Captain Keith Wolahan, a former<br />
member of 2 Company who deployed on four overseas<br />
operations and will be speaking of his service with the<br />
unit, his overseas deployment, and possible future<br />
options for the development of part-time commando<br />
personnel.<br />
Historical Collection Grant with Museums Victoria<br />
In 2019 ACA Vic was awarded a Grant from the<br />
Veterans Heritage Project which entailed five days of<br />
training by specialist museum staff and the pre -<br />
servation and archiving of historical items and also data<br />
entry on the Victoria Collections. This will enable family<br />
members and <strong>res</strong>earchers to identify those items in our<br />
historical collection and their location and details as<br />
well as provide detailed information to <strong>res</strong>earchers and<br />
organisations who may be inte<strong>res</strong>ted in displaying<br />
these items. This project entailed the photographing<br />
and recording of nearly 800 items currently in the<br />
collection and on-site visits to our storage facility, Fort<br />
Gellibrand, and Waverley RSL where collection items<br />
Our Historical Collection cataloguing volunteers.<br />
Doug Knight on tape, Rob ‘Ozzie’ Osborne on photography<br />
and Glen ‘Macca’ MacDonald on data entry.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 11
are currently being stored or on display being stored or<br />
are on display. It was also an opportunity to fully<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch the provenance of each item and its relevance<br />
to Australian special operations history. Volunteers<br />
from ACA Vic were assisted by two staff from Veterans<br />
Heritage Project Team for the initial five-day training<br />
and ACA Vic. Volunteers will then continue cataloguing<br />
the remainder of the collection.<br />
Those inte<strong>res</strong>ted in viewing with the current<br />
collection contains please go to<br />
https://victoriancollections.net.au/organisations/austra<br />
lian-commando-association-victoria<br />
The grant also provided $5000 to acquire specialist<br />
equipment and storage materials and the opportunity<br />
was undertaken to obtain a secure storage cabinet,<br />
currently being<br />
manufactured,<br />
which will be<br />
used to house a<br />
selection of ACA<br />
Vic historical pub -<br />
lications which<br />
will be on longterm<br />
loan to OC 2<br />
Com pany for the<br />
use of unit per -<br />
sonnel.<br />
The col lection<br />
The bookcase.<br />
will include all of the WW2 Independent/<strong>Commando</strong><br />
Company unit histories, publications Australian WW2<br />
Special Operations and will be regularly updated with<br />
recent publications on these topics.<br />
Website Development<br />
ACA Vic is now in the final stages of development<br />
of the historical component of our website. Once the<br />
draft design and format are approved volunteers will<br />
commence to update relevant data on the website.<br />
The concept for the website to provide ACA and the<br />
public at large essentially a one-stop location to<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch World War II Australian Special Operations<br />
and post-1955 special operations units and activities.<br />
At this time due to national security requirements, it is<br />
not proposed to have any material on the website post<br />
2000 and where appropriate Defence clearance will be<br />
sought for material that may be deemed sensitive,<br />
prior to its uploading.<br />
The website will be designed in manner in which<br />
the history of Independent/<strong>Commando</strong> units and other<br />
Australian Special Operations Organisations and<br />
operations will be detailed, and relevant material will<br />
be included or hyperlinked. The main source of<br />
information will be National Archives and other official<br />
documents, private papers and photographs that have<br />
been donated and documents, photos and videos that<br />
have been made available to ACA for this project.<br />
Reference will also be made to published works, online<br />
material and videos and any other <strong>res</strong>ources which are<br />
relevant to the subject areas.<br />
2020 VICTORIAN VETERANS’ COUNCIL GRANT<br />
In 2020 ACA Vic received a grant for $16,000 to<br />
establish an Oral History Program to record the<br />
experiences of ‘Victorians at War’. The Association is<br />
using this as the initial stage for the long-term<br />
development of a program to cover Special Opera -<br />
tions during WW2 and conflicts including Vietnam, Iraq<br />
and Afghanistan and peacekeeping operations. The<br />
Grant also included funding for the conversion of some<br />
VHS media and the production of transcripts and<br />
digitisation of the post WW2 M& Z Victoria association<br />
magazine 'Double Diamonds".<br />
The high-quality video, audio and lighting equip -<br />
ment have been procured and five volunteers have<br />
undertaken specialised training with the Oral Histories<br />
Association-Victoria. Specific training sessions on use<br />
of the video equipment and of the unique social and<br />
psychological issues to be considered when inter view -<br />
ing veterans has also been conducted. Current plan -<br />
ning is for the initial interviews to be conducted in mid-<br />
<strong>July</strong> with a planned completion of the oral history<br />
program by September <strong>2021</strong>. At this time approximate<br />
half of the 250 <strong>edition</strong>s of Double Diamonds have also<br />
been digitally scanned into PDF (searchable) to enable<br />
<strong>res</strong>earchers and family members to utilise this valuable<br />
<strong>res</strong>ource.<br />
FUTURE ACTIVITIES<br />
Dedication of the Special Operations Memorial at<br />
Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance and Memorial<br />
maintenance.<br />
Initial discussions have commenced regarding the<br />
formal dedication of<br />
this Memorial which<br />
was designed in<br />
2017 and installed in<br />
2019 and is yet to be<br />
dedicated and cur -<br />
rent planning list be<br />
undertaken, subject<br />
to COVID <strong>res</strong> -<br />
trictions during the<br />
annual com me mo -<br />
ration activity at the<br />
Melbourne Shrine of<br />
Remem brance on<br />
the Sun day 26 Sep -<br />
tem ber <strong>2021</strong>. The<br />
current plaque as<br />
Proposed new plaque for Shrine of<br />
Remembrance (badges will be<br />
updated).<br />
listed be<strong>low</strong> was designed some time ago and it was<br />
recently decided at a Committee meeting that this<br />
plaque does not fully rep<strong>res</strong>ent the intent and<br />
therefore planning is underway to have it replaced<br />
shown be<strong>low</strong>.<br />
In addition, there will be some repairs and<br />
maintenance done later in <strong>2021</strong> on a number of other<br />
memorials at Tidal River and Shortland’s’ Bluff to<br />
correct inaccuracies in names and unit designations as<br />
well as repair some graffiti damage.<br />
12 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
Tidal River Open Space Development<br />
There has been little movement on this activity over<br />
the last 12 months with the exception that $600,000<br />
was allocated in the last Victorian State budget TO<br />
fund the ‘<strong>Commando</strong> Walking Track’ but at this stage<br />
there is no detail about when works will commence.<br />
Welfare<br />
ACA Victoria continues to liaise and attend regular<br />
meetings with the Victorian Veterans Council, Legacy,<br />
RSL and DVA network to promote ACAVIC’s<br />
objectives/expectations and support requirements in<br />
the very crowded Welfare & Advocacy arena. There<br />
have been no requirements for financial support in the<br />
past 12 months.<br />
Public inquiries<br />
ACA Vic has been assisting Ed Willis and formally<br />
Jim Truscott with <strong>res</strong>earch and preparation for the<br />
forthcoming Timor-Leste Battle Field guide. Asso cia -<br />
tion members are frequently engaged in <strong>res</strong>ponding to<br />
public queries with regard to ancestor records and<br />
individual service history within Australian special<br />
operations units in World War II. It is hoped that future<br />
public enquiries will be able to set be satisfied by<br />
individuals <strong>res</strong>earching through our upgraded website.<br />
Support to Fort Gellibrand<br />
During the initial liaison with the incoming OC at<br />
Fort Gellibrand the Association was requested to assist<br />
with the fol<strong>low</strong>ing.<br />
a. The installation of a CSM’s honour board and this<br />
board has been manufactured and is currently<br />
being fitted to the Drill Hall wall and a formal<br />
handover will occur in the near future.<br />
b. The production of a coffee table type book<br />
covering the history of Fort Gellibrand and of its<br />
occupancy by 2 Company and 301 Det. This work is<br />
well underway, and a sample <strong>edition</strong> should be<br />
available by end of <strong>July</strong>.<br />
c. The 1960’s era commando badge parquetry floor,<br />
originally donated and laid by unit members,<br />
relocated from the old OR’s Mess into the former<br />
O’Connor Club has been lifted, catalogued and<br />
placed in storage pending the identification of a<br />
new location. The cost of this has been born by the<br />
HQ SOCOMD and was undertaken at the request of<br />
ACA Vic because of its historical significance.<br />
ACA Vic would like to formally acknowledge the<br />
support and assistance of HQ SOCOMD and the<br />
staff of 2 Company in ensuring that this historical<br />
piece has been retained and available for future use.<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> 4 Life<br />
Colonel Doug Knight<br />
P<strong>res</strong>ident<br />
ACA VIC<br />
A message<br />
from Luke<br />
I’m encouraging as many<br />
people as possible across<br />
Australia to come up to<br />
Darwin and explore the<br />
Territory’s military history,<br />
with up to $1000 off your<br />
travel costs, thanks to the<br />
NT Government.<br />
Did you know that Darwin<br />
was Australia’s battlefield<br />
in World War Two? It had<br />
more bombs dropped on it<br />
over 18 months than Pearl<br />
Harbor.<br />
I hope as many Aussies as<br />
possible can get up here to<br />
find out more, and to join<br />
us in commemorating the<br />
79 th anniversary of the<br />
Bombing of Darwin on<br />
February 19.<br />
Invite your friends up to<br />
the Top End to explore our<br />
iconic national parks, swim<br />
in f<strong>res</strong>h, cool waterholes,<br />
take an unforgettable<br />
outback road trip, discover<br />
our Indigenous heritage<br />
and culture, wander<br />
through our colourful local<br />
markets, and explore the<br />
sites that make the Top End<br />
such an important part of<br />
Australia’s <strong>Commando</strong> and<br />
WWII history.<br />
Whether that’s visiting the<br />
Darwin Military Museum<br />
and Defence of Darwin<br />
Experience at East Point or<br />
Darwin’s Aviation Museum<br />
in Winnellie or RFDS<br />
Darwin Tourist Facility and<br />
the WWII Oil Storage<br />
Tunnels at the Waterfront,<br />
there’s something for<br />
everyone. Find out more<br />
here:<br />
northernterritory.com/prom<br />
otions/summer-sale<br />
Luke Gosling MP<br />
Federal Member<br />
for Solomon<br />
Co-Chair Parliamentary<br />
Friends of Veterans<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>4Life<br />
Luke Gosling is the<br />
Federal Member of<br />
Parliament for Darwin<br />
and Palmerston and<br />
served in the ADF for<br />
13 years.<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 13
SIGNIFICANT COMMANDO DATES<br />
JULY to SEPTEMBER<br />
JULY<br />
<strong>July</strong> 1942<br />
2/8 th Independent Company (Ind Coy) the Double<br />
Whites was raised at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria.<br />
The 2/8th Ind Coy is the last Ind Coy to be raised<br />
during WW2.<br />
1 <strong>July</strong> 1942<br />
133 men of No 1 Independent Company drown<br />
when the MV Montevideo Maru sank after being<br />
torpedoed by USS Sturgeon off the coast of the<br />
Philippines.<br />
17 <strong>July</strong> 1942<br />
Four operatives of ISD are landed in Portuguese<br />
Timor as part of Operation Lizard from the MV Kuru.<br />
They RV with Sparrow Force sometime later in<br />
Mape. This is the first Operation by ISD later SRD (Z<br />
Special Unit) during WW2.<br />
22 <strong>July</strong> 1943<br />
The 2/8 th (Cav) <strong>Commando</strong> Squadron (later just<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Squadron (Cdo Sqn)), sailed for Lea,<br />
New Guinea via Milne Bay on board the SS<br />
Ormiston.<br />
1 <strong>July</strong> 1945<br />
2/3 rd & 2/5 th Cdo Sqn’s landed on Green Beach in<br />
Balikpapan.<br />
7 <strong>July</strong> 1945<br />
The 10 remaining Z Special Unit members of<br />
Operation Rimau Are Executed in Singapore.<br />
<strong>July</strong> to August 1945<br />
2/6 th Cav <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment in action defending<br />
Bandi Plantation during the Aitape - Wewak<br />
Campaign.<br />
7 <strong>July</strong> 1955<br />
2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company (Melbourne) was raised at<br />
Victoria Barracks, Melbourne VIC.<br />
27 <strong>July</strong> 1955<br />
The Commandant Royal Marines grants approval for<br />
Australian <strong>Commando</strong>s to wear the Sherwood<br />
Green Beret once they were deemed <strong>Commando</strong><br />
Qualified.<br />
14 <strong>July</strong> 1956<br />
CAPT George Cardy of 1 <strong>Commando</strong> Company is<br />
p<strong>res</strong>ented the first Sherwood Green <strong>Commando</strong><br />
Beret to an Australian <strong>Commando</strong>. .<br />
22 <strong>July</strong> 2002<br />
Tactical Assault Group – East (TAG-E) (Charlie<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Company (CCC)), 4 RAR <strong>Commando</strong> is<br />
now ‘Operational’ and is the Federal Governments<br />
Force of Choice for a <strong>res</strong>olution to a Domestic<br />
Counter Terrorism Incidents in Australia.<br />
09/10 <strong>July</strong> 2006<br />
A Platoon from Delta <strong>Commando</strong> Company (DCC),<br />
4 RAR <strong>Commando</strong> are surrounded and fighting<br />
heavy insurgent numbers whilst providing the Quick<br />
Reaction Force (QRF) for a Canadian Special<br />
Operation Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) unit in<br />
the Chora Valley of Urazghan Province, Afghanistan<br />
during what was known as Operation Nile. During<br />
the Operation, three USAF SOC AC-130 'Spectre'<br />
Gunships went 'Winchester' (empty of ammunition)<br />
whilst supporting the Operation. This Operation<br />
occurred to set the conditions for a wider Multi-<br />
National Coalition effort that was part of the<br />
Combined Joint Task Force – Afghanistan,<br />
Operation Mountain Thrust. Miraculously not one of<br />
the <strong>Commando</strong>s was Killed or Seriously Wounded<br />
during the heavy fighting.<br />
AUGUST<br />
2 August 1942<br />
2/6 th Ind Coy deploys to New Guinea on board MS<br />
Tasman.<br />
August 1943<br />
2/4 th Cdo Sqn lands in Milne Bay, New Guinea<br />
2/5 th Ind Coy reforms as the 2/5 th Cdo Sqn of the 2/7 th<br />
Cav <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment at Wongabel on the<br />
Atherton Tablelands after returning from New<br />
Guinea.<br />
3 August 1942<br />
Z Special Unit training is moved to the house on the<br />
hill in Fairview, Cairns. Also known as Z Experimental<br />
Station (ZES).<br />
(Continued next page)<br />
14 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
Significant <strong>Commando</strong> Dates<br />
AUGUST (cont’d)<br />
6 August 1945<br />
At 0815 Japanese Standard Time, the Atomic Bomb<br />
“Little Boy” is dropped from USAAF B-29<br />
Superfort<strong>res</strong>s (Enola Gay) on the Japanese city of<br />
Hiroshima, killing over 66,000 people.<br />
9 August 1945<br />
The Atomic Bomb “Fat Man” is dropped from<br />
USAAF B-29 Superfort<strong>res</strong>s (Bocks Car) on the<br />
Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing approx. 40,000<br />
people.<br />
15 August 1945<br />
Offensive action against Japan ends and is com -<br />
monly known as Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day),<br />
later known as Victory in the Pacific Day (VP Day).<br />
August/September 2005<br />
Alpha <strong>Commando</strong> Company (ACC), 4 RAR<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Deploys to Urzghan Province, Afghanis -<br />
tan as part of Special Forces Task Group (SFTG)<br />
Rotation I.<br />
SEPTEMBER<br />
September 1942<br />
Camp Z at Refuge Bay, NSW was established. From<br />
here the Z Special Unit operators selected for<br />
Operation Jaywick began their training. Some of the<br />
Z Special unit members departed from Camp Z<br />
onboard the MV Krait for Cairns on<br />
18 January 1943.<br />
23/24 September 1942<br />
2 nd /4 th Independent Company lands on the beach<br />
just west of the village of Betano, Portugese Timor<br />
from HMAS Voyager to replace the 2 nd /2 nd<br />
Independent Company. HMAS Voyager becomes<br />
aground and both Independent Company’s begin<br />
to fight against the Japanese.<br />
24 September 1943<br />
After a relatively uneventful voyage, Krait arrived off<br />
Singapore. That night, six men left the boat and<br />
paddled 50 kilomet<strong>res</strong> to establish a forward base<br />
in a cave on a small island near the harbour.<br />
26/27 September 1943<br />
Six members of Z Special Unit led by LTCOL Lyons<br />
conduct raids using three folboats and carrying<br />
limpet mines on Japanese Shipping in Singapore<br />
Harbour as part of Operation Jaywick. In the<br />
<strong>res</strong>ulting explosions, the limpet mines allegedly<br />
sank or seriously damaged seven Japanese ships,<br />
comprising over 39,000 tons between them. The six<br />
Z Special operatives waited until the commotion<br />
over the attack had subsided and then returned to<br />
the MV Krait which they reached on 2 October 1943.<br />
4 September 1944<br />
2/4 th Cdo Sqn landed at Lae during the Salamaua-<br />
Lae campaign. This was the first Australian<br />
amphibious landing since Gallipoli in 1915.<br />
11 September 1944<br />
23 men of Z Special Unit depart Garden Island in WA<br />
aboard HMS Porpoise as part of Operation Rimau,<br />
the second raid on Singapore Harbour.<br />
2 September 1945<br />
Japan formally signs the instrument of surrender<br />
onboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Harbour, ending<br />
WW2, thus ending the combat operations and the<br />
beginning of the demobilisation and eventual<br />
disbandment of the <strong>Commando</strong> Squadrons &<br />
Regiments and M & Z Special units. Japanese formal<br />
surrenders continued until 22 Feb 1946.<br />
11 September 2001<br />
19 Islamic Terrorists flew four commercial passenger<br />
jets into three buildings & a field in The United<br />
States, which intern began The Longest War in<br />
Australia’s Military History & forever changed the<br />
way Australia’s <strong>Commando</strong> Regiments operated &<br />
onducted their Operations.<br />
2 September 1943<br />
14 members of Z Special Unit depart Exmouth<br />
aboard the MV Krait the first raid into Singapore<br />
Harbour.<br />
19/20 September 1943<br />
2/6 th Cdo Sqn in action during the battle of Kaiapit,<br />
New Guinea.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 15
COMMANDOS FOR LIFE ~ JULY to SEPTEMBER<br />
01 <strong>July</strong> 2014<br />
LCPL Todd Chidgey<br />
Alpha <strong>Commando</strong> Company<br />
2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
Died of Wounds<br />
Kabul Province, Afghanistan<br />
04 <strong>July</strong> 2011<br />
SGT Todd Langley<br />
Charlie <strong>Commando</strong> Company<br />
2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
Killed in Action<br />
Helmand Province, Afghanistan<br />
15 <strong>July</strong> 2017<br />
SGT Ian Turner<br />
Bravo <strong>Commando</strong> Company<br />
2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
Died in Service<br />
Sydney, New South Wales<br />
16 <strong>July</strong> 2014<br />
SGT Gary Francis<br />
Operational Support Company<br />
2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
Killed in Training<br />
Mount Cook, New Zealand<br />
27 August 2017<br />
WO2 Mick Craig, CSM<br />
2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
Attached to 1 st <strong>Commando</strong> Regt.<br />
Died in Service<br />
Swansea, New South Wales<br />
25 September 1983<br />
PTE Sean Ryan<br />
1 Company<br />
1 st <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
Died in Training<br />
Holsworthy, New South Wales<br />
30 August 2012<br />
LCPL Mervyn McDonald & PTE Nathan Gallagher<br />
Alpha <strong>Commando</strong> Company, 2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment<br />
Killed in Action, Helmand Province, Afghanistan<br />
22 September 1966<br />
SGT Daniel Lorkin<br />
2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company<br />
Killed in Training<br />
Melbourne, Victoria<br />
16 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
Dick, dad, pop, uncle, father-in-law and<br />
husband. No matter which one he was to all<br />
of us he loved us and we will never meet<br />
anyone like my dad again. Fortunately, I was able to<br />
spend more time with dad in his twilight years, sharing<br />
many stories and laughs over many cups of tea. Dad<br />
was adventurous, <strong>res</strong>ourceful, brave and loyal. He was<br />
a natural scholar of history and geography and was a<br />
natural born mathematician, a highly intelligent man.<br />
As a young boy he was shaped to become the<br />
strong and adventurous man he grew into by his early<br />
years of exploring and running free in the bushland<br />
adjoining the North West Arm of Grays Point and on<br />
the sho<strong>res</strong> of Port Hacking and Gymea Bay. Running<br />
into trouble one day in the water that was too deep for<br />
a young boy, dad bounced himself off the sandy floor<br />
bed of the bay one bounce at a time until he made it<br />
back to shore where his home was waiting not far away.<br />
His mother, Annie, would row him across the bay each<br />
day to school except on the days when she declared,<br />
‘there’s too many sharks in the bay today Dickie, I’m<br />
not rowing across there’. This didn’t worry dad too<br />
much, he just headed off into the bush for the day on<br />
another adventure lasting the whole day long.<br />
A few years into WW2 dad was working on the<br />
platform of Janalli Station in Sutherland when he heard<br />
on the radio that Japanese submarines had entered<br />
Sydney Harbour, he was 17 years old. He made up his<br />
mind there and then that he would enlist, which he did<br />
as soon as he turned 18. After completing his army<br />
training, he spent quite a few years in Borneo with the<br />
2/11 th <strong>Commando</strong> Squadron as a Forward Scout. He<br />
turned 21 while he was there, with those who became<br />
his lifelong mates, Cliffy Hampton, George Rosa,<br />
Johnny Woods, Ted and Bluey to name a few, friends<br />
through thick and thin for close to 7 decades. They<br />
came together in Sydney every ANZAC Day to march,<br />
remember and celebrate. After the march they would<br />
congregate at the Tattersalls Club and enjoy a cruise<br />
on his beloved Sydney Harbour, enjoying being<br />
together again to reminisce. Great years. The WW2<br />
Anniversary trip, ‘Operation Trek Back’ in 1993 up in<br />
North QLD where they had completed a large part of<br />
the Army training many years before was one of Dick’s<br />
fondest memories.<br />
Returning from Borneo after many years away was<br />
the start of a new life, which Dick began after meeting<br />
19-year-old Edith at the dance hall. Edith was to<br />
become his sweetheart and wife for 73 years which<br />
were packed full of countless adventu<strong>res</strong>, including<br />
COMMANDO VALE<br />
VALE – NX157807 LESLIE RICHARD ‘DICK’ HYSLOP<br />
2/11 th <strong>Commando</strong> Squadron (WW2)<br />
22 October 1924 – 08 April <strong>2021</strong>, Aged 96<br />
By Anna Rosen (Daughter)<br />
Dick Hyslop (2 nd from right) at an ANZAC Day Service with some<br />
mates of 2/11 th Cdo Sqn, in Sydney during the 80’s.<br />
starting and raising a family, travelling and working all<br />
around the country as well as growing old together.<br />
Dad’s heart was captured by the west out on the sheep<br />
stations roaming the 100,000 acre paddocks with his<br />
constant companion and cherished border collie,<br />
Chloe. He would be out from dawn until dusk, fixing<br />
fences, checking that the bo<strong>res</strong> were all working,<br />
rounding up sheep and enjoying a cup of billy tea<br />
made on the campfire. Often times he’d feel a bout of<br />
malaria coming on so he would pull the saddle of his<br />
horse, lay down under a shady mulga tree (his favourite<br />
tree) with his head <strong>res</strong>ting on the saddle. His trusty<br />
horse would head back to the homestead and help<br />
would turn up a bit down the track after they saw the<br />
horse return without his rider. He loved it out there and<br />
came very close to claiming a ‘small allotment’ of<br />
100,000 ac<strong>res</strong> offered to returned serviceman for a<br />
time. He saw the advertisement in the paper when he<br />
was working way out west, but post wasn’t what it is<br />
today and the scheme had just wound up when they<br />
received his application, so he just missed out. That<br />
didn’t stop dad from being a part of it and enjoying his<br />
country, he spoke of his love of the Australian land -<br />
scape and of Dundoo Station, right up until his last<br />
days.<br />
Memories of his two trips right around Australia,<br />
kids in tow, stayed with him forever. After 20 or so years<br />
of living in Bundaberg they made their way south and<br />
settled first in Sydney and then the Central Coast which<br />
was to be home for the next 45 years. Every other time<br />
you’d share a cup of tea with dad he would surprise<br />
you with stories of some amazing job and experience<br />
he’d had over the years. His favourite job, apart from<br />
the sheep stations of course, was when he was a<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 17
stevedore at the wharf in Sydney, there were strikes at<br />
the time to do with the wharf not wanting to al<strong>low</strong><br />
supply of products (lead I think) that would end up<br />
being used as bullets against the allied forces. He said<br />
it was the best job he ever had, he had terrific mates<br />
down there and enjoyed the work.<br />
For the last 10 years of his working life he worked at<br />
Sara Lee, fixing and solving the many problems that<br />
arose with the production line until he retired. We all<br />
enjoyed an uninterrupted supply of Sara Lee apple pies<br />
and desserts for many years, something I am still trying<br />
to kick the habit of! Dad then retired in 1985 at 60 and<br />
took off on a much-deserved trip around the country<br />
with mum and 14-year-old daughter Anna.<br />
Returning to the Central Coast he was a regular<br />
down at Umina Beach every morning enjoying his<br />
ocean swim and catching a few waves. He was often<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
down at his special spot on the waterfront in Woy Woy<br />
where he enjoyed his 70 th birthday celebrations with<br />
the whole family. He enjoyed many a day down at the<br />
Koolewong fo<strong>res</strong>hore watching the boats bobbing up<br />
and down while drinking a cup of tea and reading the<br />
paper. Dick stayed at home after he voluntarily gave up<br />
his licence at 93 but was always happy to see his kids<br />
and had a great love for all his family members. His<br />
love for Edith was strong and was evident until the last<br />
days.<br />
Thank you, dad, for all that you’ve given us with<br />
your fair, kind nature, honesty, hard work, good humour<br />
and loyalty, strength and bravery. The world won’t be<br />
the same without dad, but it is a better place for him<br />
having been here.<br />
We will remember him.<br />
Love always.<br />
VALE – MAJOR JAMES FRANCIS ‘TAIPAN’ TRUSCOTT, OAM.<br />
1st Field Engineer Regiment / SASR / 2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company<br />
26 May 1964 – 28 April <strong>2021</strong>, Aged 64<br />
By MAJ Rick Moor (Retd) ASASA - ACT<br />
“In the end it is not the years in your life that count, it is the life in your years” – Abraham Lincoln<br />
Vale Jim Truscott, OAM who passed away<br />
suddenly on the 28 th April <strong>2021</strong>. At the time<br />
of his death Jim was on an unsupported push<br />
bike tour of the Mungo Loop with two close friends.<br />
They were fol<strong>low</strong>ing the footsteps of the Burke and<br />
Wills exp<strong>edition</strong> and were approximately 80km north<br />
of Balranald nearing the end of their first day’s ride<br />
when Jim collapsed. They’d had a great day, perfect<br />
autumn conditions, much friendly banter, enjoying life<br />
to the full far from the madding crowd. Jim passed as<br />
he lived – with his boots on, riding into the setting sun,<br />
on an adventure.<br />
Jim was well known for his drive, enthusiasm and<br />
dogged determination. He was in many ways a renais -<br />
sance man – a very professional but un con ven tional<br />
soldier; intrepid and daring adventurer; somewhat<br />
reluctant engineer; amateur but <strong>res</strong>pected historian<br />
and author; red wine connoisseur; highly successful<br />
businessman; and committed community member; but<br />
above all, son, brother, husband, father, grandfather<br />
and friend.<br />
Jim first served in the Marist Brothers Ash Grove<br />
school cadet unit then the Queensland University<br />
Regiment before entering the Royal Military College<br />
(RMC) Duntroon as a third class cadet in 1975. He<br />
graduated in 1977 and was awarded a BE (Hons) in<br />
1978 (he later completed a BA out of inte<strong>res</strong>t). Jim<br />
subsequently served as a Troop Commander in 1 Field<br />
Squadron of the 1 st Field Engineer Regiment and as an<br />
observer with the Commonwealth Monitoring Force in<br />
Rhodesia attached to a mixed race field propaganda<br />
unit before completing SAS selection and serving as<br />
Jim during a mountaineering exp<strong>edition</strong><br />
the Operations Officer in 3 SAS Squadron. He along<br />
with his Officer Commanding will be long remembered<br />
for organising and overseeing “Exercise Biltong<br />
Watcher”, an epic in the Northern Territory that even<br />
included airstrikes by B52s operating from Guam. Jim<br />
subsequently served as the Garrison Engineer in New -<br />
castle and on the Operations Staff in Field Force Com -<br />
mand, Army Headquarters and Headquarters Special<br />
Forces. Fol<strong>low</strong>ing these postings, he vowed to never<br />
again serve in the “Big Army” or as a “Staff Wally”. He<br />
achieved legendary status as the Officer Commanding<br />
2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company with his many innovative and<br />
realistic exercises often involving short notice call out.<br />
He also served in the Pilbara Regiment as a Surveil -<br />
lance Squadron Commander then in the Northern Ter -<br />
ritory as a Civil Affairs Officer before returning to SASR<br />
18 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
as the Operations Officer. It is during this last posting<br />
that his ingenuity, knowledge and experience came to<br />
the fore as he led the regimental planning team for the<br />
deployment to the Middle East to enforce the no fly<br />
zone, the initial entry by the ADF into East Timor and<br />
the counter terrorist support to the 2000 Sydney<br />
Olympics. But above all Jim’s core professional inte<strong>res</strong>t<br />
lay in Special Warfare. He starred on the Special War -<br />
fare Course, taught himself ‘jungle’ Indonesian and<br />
studied in detail the activities of the Services Recon -<br />
naissance Department (SRD) during WW2. He was a<br />
known “Friend of Z” and had befriended, supported<br />
and interviewed many of the original operatives. He<br />
had also conducted a long distance sea kayak trip from<br />
Singapore through the Indonesian archipelago tracing<br />
the route of the escaping OP RIMAU party, spent two<br />
months walking through the jungles of Borneo re -<br />
tracing the steps of the OP SEMUT operatives and<br />
inter viewing the few surviving guerrillas and their<br />
families and had recently travelled to East Timor to<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch a battle field guide covering the activities of<br />
the Independent Companies and SRD in WW2, TNI<br />
and Falantil during the Independence War and finally<br />
INTERFET and UNTAET post 1999. As a<br />
Special Forces Officer, Jim was one of the<br />
few truly unconventional thinkers, and he<br />
pushed and prodded SASR and Com -<br />
mandos toward more advanced<br />
capabilities, often with complete<br />
disregard to his own career. A<br />
subordinate at the time recounts that it<br />
was always a joy and terror to be a junior<br />
officer within his command or earshot.<br />
Jim was also a passionate, committed<br />
and enthu siastic mountaineer, rock<br />
climber and Nordic skier. As a cadet at<br />
Duntroon, he was a founding member of<br />
the RMC Mountaineering Club,<br />
instrumental in the re-establishment of<br />
the Army Alpine Association (AAA) and<br />
the instigator of the famous RMC August<br />
Epic. He was a fierce and dedicated<br />
climber and mountaineer his entire life.<br />
Anyone who knew Jim will have a<br />
favourite tale of his eccentricities, his at<br />
times manic drive and his fiery intellect,<br />
his endless energy, great projects and<br />
causes and his legendary wordsmithing.<br />
He was always driving hard, whether<br />
rustling up a team to tackle Carstenz’s<br />
Pyramid; signing off on C130 flights for<br />
Eve<strong>res</strong>t logistics or hitting up Big Ben Pies<br />
to sponsor an exp<strong>edition</strong> to the remote<br />
volcano of the same name. Jim’s list of<br />
achievements is lengthy. As a<br />
mountaineer and climber, he first headed<br />
to the Southern Alps of New Zealand in<br />
December 1974. He then spent many<br />
summers in the 70’s and early 80’s in the<br />
Southern Alps. While recovering from a major injury<br />
incurred solo climbing near Majors Creek, Jim made an<br />
early ascent of Ball’s Pyramid, this in turn after a<br />
disastrous and near death experience attempting to<br />
sail to the remote sea stack. In 1981 he survived an<br />
avalanche at Camp 2 on Ganesh IV (7102 m) in Nepal.<br />
Tragically Dave Sloane was not so lucky and was swept<br />
to his death. Jim was a member of the successful<br />
exp<strong>edition</strong> to Broad Peak (8047 m) in Pakistan in 1986,<br />
at that stage only the second 8000 meter peak climbed<br />
by an Australian team. Jim was also a member of the<br />
successful 1988 Australian Bicentennial Eve<strong>res</strong>t Expedi -<br />
tion, the second ascent of the mountain by an Aust -<br />
ralian team and the only ascent of the mountain<br />
accomplished without local high altitude porters. He<br />
was awarded an Order of Australia Medal and Chief of<br />
the Defence Force Commendation for his organising<br />
efforts and participation in this activity. Subsequently,<br />
he climbed Aconcagua in Argentina (the highest moun -<br />
tain in the America’s) in 1990, Carstenz Pyramid in Irian<br />
Jaya (the highest mountain in South East Asia) in 1991<br />
then Nanda Devi East on a multi-national exp<strong>edition</strong><br />
with the Indian Army in 1996.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 19
He was also a voracious rock climber, putting up<br />
hundreds of new rock climbing routes wherever he was<br />
based from Kangaroo Point and Frog Butt<strong>res</strong>s in south<br />
east Queensland, the Sydney Sea Cliffs and Blue<br />
Mountains in New South Wales, Arapiles and the<br />
Grampians in Victoria, the remote Western Australia<br />
northwest coast, to the Perth Hills and his beloved<br />
Southwest. Generations of future climbers will puzzle at<br />
his climb names and wonder at his route selection and<br />
bolting practices. Jim knew a quality route when he<br />
saw it, but didn’t mind putting up the odd scrappy<br />
climb – one climbing partner recalls getting told to<br />
bring a shovel when joining him on one of his Perth<br />
Hills new routing adventu<strong>res</strong>. Many a climbing partner<br />
will recall that it was always prudent to double check<br />
Jim’s belay stances and to be wary of his pick of climbs,<br />
as the call “your lead” would oft come at an in oppor -<br />
tune moment. They will also recall many a session in<br />
the Dugandan, Natimuk and Mt Vic pubs con templa -<br />
ting their failu<strong>res</strong>, celebrating their successes and<br />
building Dutch courage for future ventu<strong>res</strong>. In the 70’s,<br />
80’s and early 90’s Jim was also a committed and<br />
competitive Nordic skier. He organised and competed<br />
in many Inter-Service events, rep<strong>res</strong>enting Army on<br />
numerous occasions and finishing in the top 30 in NSW<br />
state championships several times in the 1980’s. On<br />
one occasion he, along with a friend, skied from<br />
Kiandra to Mt Kosciusko in 18 hours. In 1989 he also<br />
led a ski mountaineering trip to Mt Shasta in California.<br />
Jim had in addition to tracing the route of the OP<br />
RIMAU operatives conducted several remote sea kayak<br />
trips including to the Monte Bello Islands and two<br />
attempts to cross the Tor<strong>res</strong> Strait. He also rafted the<br />
Franklin in Tasmania before it became popular.<br />
Immediately fol<strong>low</strong>ing the Sydney Olympics Jim left<br />
the Army and entered business as a crisis management<br />
consultant, first with a British multinational company,<br />
before setting up his own firm “Truscott Crisis<br />
Leaders”. After a lean start Jim through sheer deter -<br />
mination and exceptionally hard work established a<br />
very successful consultancy with a clientele that in -<br />
cluded many of the world’s leading multi-national com -<br />
panies. His straightforward and sometimes abrupt style<br />
was not everyone’s cup of tea but his advice and<br />
training was highly valued by many mining and off<br />
shore oil and gas companies operating in the remote<br />
corners of the world. Jim was known to cover 10<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
countries in 7 days, conduct day trips to Singapore and<br />
travel to Europe for one day jobs. His ideas, advice,<br />
guidance and training significantly enhanced the<br />
emergency <strong>res</strong>ponse capabilities and safety of many<br />
work places around the globe.<br />
Jim was a prolific writer. A cursory inspection of<br />
professional journals and newsletters will feature Jim<br />
Truscott. Jim’s thoughts on Special Operations pub -<br />
lished under his nom de guerre “Taipan” and his<br />
accounts of his personal adventu<strong>res</strong> informed and<br />
inspired many. He was also a prolific reviewer and<br />
authored several books including his autobiography<br />
“Snakes in the Jungle – Special Operations in War<br />
and Business”, an account of OP SEMUT titled “Voices<br />
from Borneo – The Japanese War” and a business<br />
sales guide titled “Who Da<strong>res</strong> Sell, Wins - Mastering<br />
True Sales in Management”. At the time of his death,<br />
he was finalising a detailed “Battlefield Guide of<br />
East Timor”. His writing was always erudite, often<br />
lengthy and sometimes unprintable. As you considered<br />
his ideas and read of his adventu<strong>res</strong>, as you listened to<br />
his proposals and stories, you were sometimes stunned<br />
by his audacity but more often left enriched by his<br />
grasp of history, military capabilities, mountain<br />
geography and business practices, giddy in the wake<br />
of his often preposterous ideas and actions, and<br />
unsettled by how boring your own mind and life<br />
appeared next to his.<br />
Fol<strong>low</strong>ing the recent sale of his business Jim<br />
qualified as a Surf Life Saver and served as a hose man<br />
in the Darlington Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade. He was<br />
also actively working with the 2/2 nd <strong>Commando</strong> Com -<br />
pany Association in an attempt to have the unit<br />
awarded a Unit Citation for Gallantry for their actions as<br />
an Independent Company in Timor in 1942 and the<br />
HMAS Armidale Association on a project to locate the<br />
wreck.<br />
Above all, Jim was a family man, devoted to his<br />
wife, children and grandchildren. He was a man to<br />
fol<strong>low</strong> and learn from, both in his words and deeds.<br />
You had to be quick to keep up and fol<strong>low</strong> his thinking,<br />
but he suffered fools better than he made out, and we<br />
are all the better for his friendship and life. His passing<br />
not only brings a great sadness to his family and close<br />
friends but leaves an enormous gap for many across<br />
military, veteran, business and adventure communities.<br />
Vale Jim Truscott, gone but not forgotten.<br />
VALE – 378511 PTE ROBERT (BOB) GEORGE DUNBALL<br />
1 Medium Workshops / 2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company<br />
15 October 1939 - 7 June <strong>2021</strong>, Aged 81<br />
By Dick Pelling ACA VIC<br />
Bob did his National Service from the 3 rd<br />
January 1959 to 20 th March 1959. His posting<br />
during that time was the 20 National Service<br />
Training Battalion 03 January 1959 , 1 Medium Work -<br />
shop 21 March 1959 and then Bob was posted to the<br />
Citizen Military Forces (CMF) as it was called back then,<br />
signing up for 2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company on 21 March<br />
1959. For his service, Bob was awarded the Australian<br />
20 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
Defence Medal and the Anniversary of<br />
National Service Medal.<br />
As Bob said, “I was called up for<br />
National Service on the 3 rd January<br />
1959 with 20 th Battalion E Company<br />
RAEME and posted to Puckapunyal<br />
where I shared the hut with Glen Doyle,<br />
and 14 others. After 3 months I was<br />
posted to Medium Workshops RAEME<br />
at Yarraville with Glen Doyle. However,<br />
Glen came up with this great idea of<br />
joining the <strong>Commando</strong>s, so off we<br />
went, we never ever reported to 1<br />
Medium Workshops and went straight<br />
to Ripponlea instead. Glen and I lived<br />
around Essendon and we travelled together to the<br />
unit”.<br />
Remarkably, only three weeks after transferring into<br />
the <strong>Commando</strong>s, Bob and Glen were selected for the<br />
17/59 Basic Parachute Course alongside Ian Wis -<br />
chusen, Peter Harvie of media fame who more recently<br />
was a trustee of the <strong>Commando</strong> Welfare Trust, and<br />
their company Adjutant Captain John ‘Jack’ Fletcher,<br />
who was soon to be awarded the George Medal for his<br />
bravery during the Rip incident.<br />
The 17 th of February 1960 Rip incident has ever<br />
since been in Bob’s memory and he recalled that night<br />
when they were <strong>res</strong>cued:<br />
"How long we drifted after that I cannot remember<br />
but it was quite some time and the waves were by now<br />
huge and at times, we floated over them and at other<br />
times great mountains of water crashed down on us. By<br />
now I thought that we would be lucky to get out of the<br />
situation. We spotted an ocean liner with search lights<br />
and we all whistled very loudly but the ship didn’t seem<br />
to see or hear us. Joe Lamb, after great difficulty,<br />
managed to get a .303 rifle loaded and fired some<br />
blanks, which alerted the ship. It was a great feeling to<br />
see the search lights hit us and Joe was very popular<br />
for his effort under du<strong>res</strong>s. The liner was the Toscano<br />
which had a boarding line along the ship and a Jacob’s<br />
ladder hanging down. The sea was so rough at times<br />
we could see the propellers of the 20,000-ton ship and<br />
the next minute we were nearly on the bridge. The ship<br />
was heaving from side to side which made it very<br />
difficult to get near. Roger Wood had managed to hold<br />
the Zodiac to the boarding line, enabling one man at a<br />
time to scramble up the Jacob’s ladder.<br />
This was frightening. As the ship rolled the ladder<br />
then shot out at an angle causing the person on the<br />
ladder to hit the side of the ship, Roger was the last<br />
man in the Zodiac and as he grabbed the Jacob’s<br />
ladder a huge wave hit the side of ship causing him to<br />
dangle dangerously on the ladder. A crew member,<br />
Ascione Pasquale, was <strong>low</strong>ered down and reached<br />
Roger but another huge wave hit and when it receded<br />
only Pasquale was left dangling. But for Roger perhaps<br />
many more may have been killed. If anyone deserved a<br />
bravery award more, then Roger deserved one.<br />
Bob Dunball<br />
We were taken to the ship’s hospital<br />
in poor physical condition due to the<br />
exposure of wind and water and were<br />
stripped and rubbed with huge rough<br />
mittens and given cognac. Some of the<br />
crew thought that we were American<br />
Marines raiding Australia, but this was<br />
soon corrected.”<br />
For many years Bob has kept in<br />
contact with Joe Lamb up until Joe’s<br />
death in 2020, but continued to keep in<br />
contact with Joe's daughter Jasmine.<br />
Bob's attendance at the last Rip<br />
service in <strong>2021</strong> where he was one of the<br />
few remaining survivors was in doubt,<br />
due to his condition, but regardless, he attended with<br />
his wife Suzie, and daughter Karen.<br />
For many years Bob was an AFL football Umpire<br />
and the AFL Umpi<strong>res</strong>' Association awarded Bob a Life<br />
Membership, a Lifetime Achievement Award, and he<br />
was inducted into the Umpi<strong>res</strong> Hall of Fame. Bob was<br />
a member of Legacy (and Nepean Area Captain) and<br />
was <strong>res</strong>ponsible for the good care of many Legacy<br />
Widows.<br />
Come race a well bred filly by<br />
CHURCHILL<br />
From a winning SNITZEL Mare<br />
CLOUDWATCH<br />
Pedigree littered with multiple<br />
2yo winners<br />
To be trained by TONY GOLLAN<br />
Sha<strong>res</strong> from only $2,950 inc GST<br />
Contact Cameron Bennett 0406 568 500<br />
www.flyingstartsyndications.com.au<br />
AFS - 336964<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 21
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22 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
THE COMMANDOS MARINE<br />
The French Navy’s Special Forces<br />
The <strong>Commando</strong>s Marine are the Special<br />
Operation Forces (SOF) of the French Navy.<br />
The <strong>Commando</strong>s Marine are nicknamed Bérets<br />
Verts (Green Berets). They operate under the Naval<br />
Riflemen and Special Operations Forces Command<br />
(FORFUSCO) and form part of the French Special<br />
Operations Command.<br />
History<br />
The <strong>Commando</strong>s Marine were formed in 1942<br />
during World War II in the United Kingdom and were<br />
modelled on the British Army <strong>Commando</strong>s (who were<br />
founded in 1940). They were formed from Free French<br />
volunteers from different services, mainly from Navy<br />
Fusiliers Marins (Naval Infantry), other navy specialities<br />
and even from the Army. They were trained at the<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Training Centre in Achnacarry, Scotland and<br />
joined No. 10 (Inter-Allied) <strong>Commando</strong> as the 1st and<br />
the 8th Troops. To commemorate this, the beret of the<br />
French Naval <strong>Commando</strong>s is worn pulled to the right<br />
with the badge worn over the left eye or temple, the<br />
opposite of all other French military units.<br />
The 1st BFMC (Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s, <strong>Commando</strong> Naval Riflemen Battalion)<br />
took part in the Normandy Landing on D-Day under the<br />
command of Lieutenant Commander (LT COMD)<br />
Philippe Kieffer, on Sword, and were for the occasion<br />
integrated in No. 4 <strong>Commando</strong>. They further parti ci -<br />
pated in the Netherlands campaign, still associated with<br />
No. 4 <strong>Commando</strong>. When the British <strong>Commando</strong> Units<br />
were disbanded at the conclusion of World War II, the<br />
two French Troops (forming the 1st BFMC) were<br />
repatriated to France to relieve in position the 1st RFM<br />
(1st Naval Infantry Regiment) departing for Indochina.<br />
Most of them demobilised or returned to their services<br />
(army or other navy specialities) but now Commander<br />
(COMDR) Philippe Kieffer<br />
made the case to the<br />
French Ministry of the Navy<br />
that a <strong>Commando</strong> Corps<br />
was a capacity required to<br />
counter the guerrilla<br />
warfare in Indochina. The<br />
surviving members of the<br />
1st BFMC formed the core<br />
leadership and the cad<strong>res</strong><br />
for the <strong>Commando</strong> Training<br />
School to be created in<br />
Algeria in 1946 (Siroco<br />
LT COMD Philippe Kieffer Center, Matifou Cape).<br />
Post WW2<br />
Another branch comes from a Naval Recon nais sance<br />
Unit created in December 1944, Company NYO, formed<br />
from volunteers from different parts of the Navy, mainly<br />
Naval Riflemen (Fusiliers Marins) and Naval Artillery. This<br />
unit later renamed as<br />
Company Merlet (the name of<br />
its founder and commanding<br />
officer, Lieute nant (Navy) Jean<br />
Merlet), fought in Italy before<br />
em barking for Indochina in<br />
Sep tember 1945. It was re -<br />
The Beret Badge of the<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s Marine<br />
named Company Jaubert, then naturally became Com -<br />
mando Jaubert, the first unit to be constituted as<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> when the French Navy decided to create a<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Corps in 1946. Com mander Pierre Pon -<br />
chardier and his Special Air Service Battalion aka SAS-B<br />
(also nicknamed Tigers Com mandos), created in early<br />
1945, fought in Indo china until 1946 before the<br />
battalion was disbanded. Pon chardier was a visionary of<br />
modern Special Opera tion Forces (SOF). Although he<br />
was not subordinated to a Naval Rifleman chain of<br />
command, he ran large-scale operations in conjunction<br />
and with the support of Compagnie Merlet/Jaubert and<br />
the 1st RFM. His auda city, the innovation of the TTPs<br />
and the course of actions he applied in guerrilla warfare<br />
and Counter Insurgency Warfare (COIN) set the spirit<br />
and were disseminated to the overall <strong>Commando</strong>s<br />
Marine organisation.<br />
By a 19 May 1947 decision, the Ministry of the Navy<br />
decision created five "<strong>Commando</strong> Marine" units,<br />
organised and designed as the former British Com -<br />
mandos. The French Navy transformed several Fusiliers<br />
Marins companies (Naval Riflemen) already combatting<br />
in Indochina (including Company Jaubert) or based<br />
aboard French Navy destroyers (to become Com mando<br />
Trepel and <strong>Commando</strong> de Penfentenyo) and gradually<br />
renewed their personnel with commando-qualified<br />
recruits after the Siroco Center (<strong>Commando</strong> Course) was<br />
commissioned. <strong>Commando</strong> François and <strong>Commando</strong><br />
Hubert were formed from scratch. Although <strong>Commando</strong><br />
Jaubert was already trained for parachute and airborne<br />
operations, <strong>Commando</strong> Hubert became the official<br />
Paratrooper <strong>Commando</strong> unit for the French Navy. For<br />
this reason, they integ rated by preference and priority<br />
former Ponchardier SAS-B members, who were already<br />
jump qualified.<br />
Each <strong>Commando</strong>s Marine bears the name of an<br />
officer killed in action during the World War II or during<br />
the Indochina campaign:<br />
• Captain Charles Trepel was an Army officer<br />
(artillery), Free French Forces; commanding officer of<br />
the 8th Troop (French), No. 10 <strong>Commando</strong> (Interallied).<br />
MIA/KIA 28 February 1944 during a night<br />
reconnaissance raid in Wassenaar, the Netherlands.<br />
• Lieutenant Augustin Hubert was an Army officer<br />
(infantry), Free French Forces; platoon leader in the<br />
K-Gun Troop (French) operating in support of Troop<br />
1 and 8 (French) integrated for D-Day to the No. 4<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>. He was killed 6 June 1944 (D-Day), in<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 23
the first hour of combat, when the French Troops<br />
were manoeuvring to seize the Casino of Ouistreham<br />
near Sword Beach, Normandy France.<br />
• Commander François Jaubert was a Naval Rifleman<br />
officer, commanding the Riverine Flotilla in<br />
Indochina, severely wounded during a joint opera -<br />
tion with Compagnie Merlet, Ponchardier SAS-B and<br />
the 1st RFM and his Flotilla. He died of his wounds<br />
25 January 1946.<br />
• Lieutenant (junior grade) Alain de Penfentenyo was<br />
a Navy officer, commanding officer of an LCVP<br />
platoon, killed in action during a riverine raid on the<br />
Donai river, Indo China (Vietnam), 14 February 1946.<br />
• Lieutenant (junior grade) Louis de Montfort was a<br />
Company Merlet Platoon Commander. After his<br />
commander was wounded and evacuated de<br />
Montfort took command and was killed leading the<br />
Company in Haiphong, Indo Chine (Vietnam) 26<br />
November 1946.<br />
• Lieutenant Jacques François was a Navy officer,<br />
commanding the 1st Amphibious Flotilla North. He<br />
was killed leading his unit, on the Nam-Dinh-Giang<br />
River Indo China (Vietnam) 6 January 1947.<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> François suffered dramatic losses on 29<br />
May 1951 when it faced the attack of the 308th Vietminh<br />
Division in Ninh Bình, Indochina (Vietnam). Only 29<br />
survived, five were taken prisoner for months, 40 were<br />
killed and nine were declared MIA. Their sacrifice<br />
disrupted the surprise effect and unveiled General<br />
Giap's plans for the battle of Day. It gave French<br />
General de Lattre time to organise his counterattack.<br />
This <strong>Commando</strong> unit was disbanded in May 1953.<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Hubert officially became a combat<br />
swim mer unit on 30 March 1953. It was a joint unit<br />
composed of Navy and Army (SDEC, secret service)<br />
combat swimmers. The army branch later separated to<br />
establish their base in Aspretto, Corsica (France) and<br />
today in Quélern, Brittany (France).<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Kieffer was created on 6 June 2008 in<br />
Ouistreham during the D-Day com me moration cere -<br />
mony.<br />
In May of 2019, four host ages were freed from terror -<br />
ists during an operation in Burkina Faso. French<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s took down the location in Burkina Faso<br />
which was considered a terrorist camp. Two operatives<br />
from "Hubert" Underwater Operations <strong>Commando</strong><br />
were killed in<br />
the operation<br />
which took<br />
place in the<br />
early morning<br />
hours of Friday<br />
morning.<br />
Recruitment<br />
Most of the<br />
recruits must<br />
have com -<br />
Tribute to <strong>Commando</strong> Kieffer,<br />
6 June 2009 in Ouistreham Fance<br />
pleted the Fusiliers-Marins Basic Training and served at<br />
least nine months of service. They have to enter a<br />
Special Forces basic training course, called Stage<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> (commando training) and reputed to be<br />
one of the toughest among the NATO Special<br />
Operation Forces. In 2016, the Stage <strong>Commando</strong> had<br />
an attrition rate of 82%. The SOF Basic Training is open<br />
to sailors or enlisted from other Navy specialties.<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Kieffer recruits’ specialists and experts from<br />
other specialties in the Navy or other services. They<br />
must go through the same training pipeline to earn the<br />
green beret and be deployed overseas.<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> training is the gateway to the Special<br />
Operations Forces for the Naval Riflemen. Conducted at<br />
the Fusilier Marins school at Lorient on the Atlantic<br />
coast, it provides upon successful completion entry to<br />
the <strong>Commando</strong>s and the right to wear the green beret.<br />
Lasting 20 weeks, it includes;<br />
• One week of <strong>Commando</strong> testing,<br />
• Six weeks of screening and preparatory training,<br />
• Four weeks of evaluation,<br />
• Seven weeks of the actual SOF course, and<br />
• Two weeks of parachute training.<br />
During this period, any mistake can instantly<br />
disqualify the candidate. The ultimate goal of this<br />
training is to detect individuals with the physical,<br />
intellectual and psychological potential needed to serve<br />
in the <strong>Commando</strong>s Marine. The historical roots of<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> training date back to the Second World<br />
War, when Fusilier-Marins volunteers from the Free<br />
French Navy went to the <strong>Commando</strong> training center in<br />
Achnacarry, Scotland. Since then, the <strong>Commando</strong>s<br />
Marine have kept by tradition the green beret pulled<br />
right with the bronze shield badge on the left, the only<br />
such exception in the French armed forces. They have<br />
retained the principle of exceptional training without<br />
compromise, based on immersion in a highly st<strong>res</strong>sful<br />
environment, close to the conditions of combat<br />
operations.<br />
The prospective <strong>Commando</strong>s in training are<br />
constantly under st<strong>res</strong>s and p<strong>res</strong>sure from instructors<br />
leaving them no <strong>res</strong>pite. All activities are timed and<br />
scored: marching tens of kilometers with equipment and<br />
weapon in all weathers, obstacle courses and night<br />
navigation exercises. The training is punctuated by<br />
firearms training and assault tactics, climbing and<br />
rappelling, boat handling, explosives instruction and<br />
hand-to-hand combat. The instructors are experienced<br />
operatives assigned to the <strong>Commando</strong> School who<br />
monitor and punish failure with extra-hard physical<br />
activity.<br />
The <strong>Commando</strong>s Marine have evolved to be broadly<br />
comparable to the British Special Boat Service.<br />
The <strong>Commando</strong>s Marine Composition<br />
Their personnel are distributed between seven<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Units (Company+ size), named after former<br />
French <strong>Commando</strong> officers killed in action, and are<br />
dedicated Maritime Counter Terrorist (MCT) units:<br />
24 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
<strong>Commando</strong> Hubert<br />
Since the 1950s, the combat swimmer unit of the<br />
French Navy have been formed as <strong>Commando</strong> Hubert,<br />
also known as French commando frogmen, the only<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s Marine unit having combat swimmers. The<br />
tip of the spear of the overall <strong>Commando</strong>s Marine<br />
organization, their military capacities are broader than<br />
combat swimming operations. They are publicly known<br />
to be a Special Mission Unit supporting Counter<br />
Terrorism along with GIGN 3 . Jacques-Yves Cousteau was<br />
a naval officer in World War II and helped to set up<br />
France's <strong>Commando</strong> frogmen. France further<br />
1<br />
Similar to 2nd <strong>Commando</strong> Regiments, Tactical Assault Group-East<br />
(TAG-E).<br />
2<br />
Similar to Australia’s Special Operations Logistics Squadron (SOLS).<br />
3<br />
Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie national (GIGN) English:<br />
(National Gendarmerie Intervention Group) is the elite police tactical<br />
unit of the French National Gendarmerie. Its missions include counterterror<br />
ism, hostage <strong>res</strong>cue, surveillance of national threats, protection of<br />
government officials, and targeting organized crime.<br />
developed the role of commando frogmen in the First<br />
Indochina War. The French intelligence service DGSE<br />
also has combat-swimmers brought together in the<br />
Centre Parachutiste d'Entraînement aux Opérations<br />
Maritimes (CPEOM, "maritime operations training<br />
parachutist center") at Roscanvel.<br />
While these are the only French combat-diver units,<br />
other French units have divers, including:<br />
• Military Engineer units of the French Army have two<br />
types of divers:<br />
o the spécialistes d'aide au franchissement (SAF,<br />
"specialists for help in clearing"): swimmers<br />
trained to recon and clear banks and bridges to<br />
permit their use by military vehicles.<br />
o the nageurs d'intervention offensive (NIO,<br />
swimmers "for offensive actions"): they accom -<br />
plish missions similar to combat swimmers but in<br />
rivers and estuaries, to destroy bridges inside<br />
enemy territory for example and belong to an<br />
engineer-regiment.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 25
• Some commando units like the commando group of<br />
the 2nd foreign parachutist regiment and the special<br />
unit forces of the Army and the Air Force have<br />
offensive divers.<br />
• GIGN and RAID 4 counter-terrorist groups have divers<br />
trained to assault a hijacked ship in support of<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Hubert.<br />
List of operations<br />
• 1982-1984: Lebanon<br />
• 1987: Actions in the Persian Gulf.<br />
• 1988 May 5: a hostage <strong>res</strong>cue in New Caledonia: see<br />
Ouvéa cave hostage taking.<br />
• 1991: Embargo in the Persian Gulf.<br />
• 1992 December - 1993: Somalia: Operation Restore<br />
Hope.<br />
• 1994: Rwanda: evacuating foreign nationals caught<br />
up in a civil war.<br />
• 1997 March - 2000: Mission Alba in Albania.<br />
• 1999: Operation Allied Force in FR Yugoslavia.<br />
• 2001 <strong>July</strong>: Security at the G8 meeting in Genoa in<br />
Italy.<br />
• 2001 October: Afghanistan and/or Philippines:<br />
Operation Enduring Freedom.<br />
• 2008 September: French naval commandos freed<br />
two hostages (Jean-Yves and Bernadette Delanne)<br />
held by Somali pirates aboard their yacht off the<br />
coast of Somalia, killing one gunman and capturing<br />
six.<br />
• Since January 2013 : Multiple counter-terrorist<br />
operations during the Mali war , part of Operation<br />
Serval and Operation Barkhane.<br />
• May 2019: Burkina Faso hostage <strong>res</strong>cue by<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Hubert.<br />
4<br />
Recherche, Assistance, Intervention, Dissuasion ("Research,<br />
Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence"), commonly abbreviated RAID, is<br />
an elite tactical unit of the French National Police.<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
Article Source:<br />
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26 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
COMMANDO PILGRIMAGE TO TIDAL RIVER<br />
An Add<strong>res</strong>s to <strong>Commando</strong>s by LT Peter Ryan, MM. MiD. (Retd)<br />
24 September 2000<br />
Forward by MAJ Brian Liddy (Retd) – ACA Public Officer<br />
Today is the second time the<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s have invited<br />
me to speak at their moving<br />
annual pilgrimage, which is a great<br />
honour. I hope I don’t owe it merely<br />
to forgetfulness on the part of<br />
someone on your committee. Some<br />
people – certainly I am not one of<br />
them – have a sort of genius for<br />
add<strong>res</strong>sing a parade. One who did<br />
was Captain “Bully” Hayes, MC, of<br />
the 2/6 Battalion. As their ship sped<br />
them across the Mediterranean,<br />
thrust without warning into Churchill’s<br />
tragic Greek campaign of 1941,<br />
Colonel Wrigley ordered Bully to give<br />
the Battalion a good general back -<br />
ground briefing on the country where<br />
they would soon be fighting; Greece.<br />
Bully Hayes, a farmer from Gipps -<br />
land, was a great infantry officer,<br />
though hardly a scholar. But, as always, he rose bravely<br />
to any unexpected task. Let me give you just the<br />
flavour of what the troops on deck heard that day:<br />
“Shut up there in the rear rank and pay attention!<br />
Now, we’re off to Greece, and you men have to<br />
remember that Greeks aren’t like the <strong>res</strong>t of us, and<br />
they’re not all in the fish and chips business, either.<br />
They have a great military tradition, the Greeks.<br />
They’re currently belting the daylights out of the<br />
Italians, just as they thrashed the Turks and Persians in<br />
the past. They are fighting alongside us as friends and<br />
allies. The Greeks are strong on culture. For instance,<br />
they invented democracy and the Olympic Games,<br />
though I haven’t heard of them winning too many gold<br />
medals lately. They had wonderful buildings, the<br />
Parthenon, for instance. Damn near two and a-half<br />
thousand years old and a bit clapped-out now. Well,<br />
that’s government departments for you --- same in<br />
Greece as everywhere else. From photographs of their<br />
sheep, their agriculture must be bloody terrible.<br />
They’ve got goats and mules, too, which bugger land<br />
nearly as fast as rabbits; wouldn’t be surprised if the<br />
rabbits are out of control in Greece, too. The Greeks<br />
put turpentine in their wine because they like it that<br />
way see. They make some watery beer like that horse<br />
p*#+ from New South Wales. Their favourite food is<br />
octopus and squids; well, that’s their business, and<br />
better than frogs and snails, which is all we’d get to eat<br />
if we were sent to France.”<br />
And he broke the parade off with a firm: “No use<br />
Peter Ryan, MM. MiD. Circa 1945<br />
Image supplied by MAJ Brian Liddy (Retd)<br />
asking any questions. You all know as<br />
much about Greece as I do now.”<br />
What you’ve just heard comes<br />
from Jo Gullett’s marvellous little<br />
book about his own soldiering, called<br />
Not as a Duty Only. Jo was one of our<br />
greatest fighting soldiers, and his<br />
book, long out of print, is to appear<br />
in a new <strong>edition</strong> next year. When Jo’s<br />
Battalion went to New Guinea in<br />
1943, and were fighting in the Lae-<br />
Wau-Salamana area, they met Aust -<br />
ralian Independent Companies for<br />
the first time. The experience -- need<br />
I explain it to this assembly? – was a<br />
bit of a shock. Colonel Wood, the<br />
new CO, wouldn’t have a bar of these<br />
scruffy, unregimented no-hopers.<br />
“Just look at that man there, Gullett!<br />
Unshaven! He’s cut the legs off his<br />
issue trousers to make shorts! For<br />
God’s sake look at this next one! A bird of bloody<br />
paradise plume stuck in his slouch hat!” Apart from his<br />
scathing distaste for all <strong>Commando</strong>s as individuals,<br />
“Freddy” Wood – (I hasten to add that I certainly never<br />
called him “Freddy” to his face, and I dare say that<br />
nobody else did either, unless it might have been Mrs.<br />
Wood) – Freddy was doctrinally and on principle<br />
opposed to the very existence of Independent<br />
Companies, and to any other military entity which had<br />
the faintest whiff about it of “Special Forces” or<br />
“irregulars”. “We don’t need them! They only get in<br />
the road! There isn’t anything they can do that we can’t<br />
do better as a proper Infantry Battalion!’.<br />
There may, of course, be at times a grain of truth in<br />
the Colonel’s disparagement. Some of the very small<br />
and highly specialized cloak-and-dagger shows were<br />
indeed run by prima donnas in battled<strong>res</strong>s. Some of<br />
them spent so much time watching each other that<br />
they could pay very little attention to the enemy. They<br />
made perfect material for the satire of novelist Evelyn<br />
Waugh, who was indeed himself a Special Forces man.<br />
In my experience, this sort of taint never touched our<br />
Independent Companies. Certainly, they relished the<br />
freedom they often had to fight in their own way, but<br />
they were serious military performers, and their record<br />
shows it. Colonel Wood was a fine Battalion Com -<br />
mander, but in this <strong>res</strong>pect, he had a blind spot, and his<br />
judgement was unfair. It was unfair to men who, for<br />
months on end, had conducted the only offensive<br />
actions against the Japanese of all the Allies in the<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 27
entire South West Pacific Area. It was unfair to men<br />
who had so neatly smashed up the Japanese base in<br />
Salamana in June 1942, with great slaughter of the<br />
enemy and just one man wounded on our side; unfair<br />
to men whose patrolling and bush work had kept the<br />
vital town and airstrip at Wau in our hands, and who,<br />
when the 2/6 Battalion arrived, taught its soldiers the<br />
actualities of jungle warfare. It was they – had the<br />
Colonel paused a moment to reflect – who, against the<br />
odds of malaria, hunger and loneliness, had hung<br />
grimly on to the very patch of land where his own<br />
battalion headquarters now stood.<br />
On a personal note, it just occurs to me that<br />
Freddy’s view was a bit unfair to my own little force of<br />
five barefooted black policemen. It would be hard to<br />
find irregulars who were more irregular than that crew<br />
of tough eggs, yet in the week or so we worked for<br />
Freddy their short-cut tracks and native intelligence<br />
saved his Battalion miles of unnecessary walking, and<br />
quite possibly saved some casualties too. But what was<br />
Jo Gullett’s view of all this? Jo was among the very<br />
bravest of the many brave men I knew, and yet I doubt<br />
whether he ever quite faced up to an argument with his<br />
Colonel on a matter of military doctrine. It would have<br />
done no good if he had. Wood was a man of strong<br />
mind, as a Battalion Commander must be, and he was<br />
supported by the thinking of many senior military<br />
commanders.<br />
Thirty-five years later, however, when Jo came to<br />
write his memoirs, his recollections of the commandos<br />
were warm and appreciative. He praised their<br />
toughness and endurance, and their determination to<br />
stick it out on poor rations and short ammunition, and<br />
the discouragements of feelings left out on a limb and<br />
alone. He readily acknowledged all the help his<br />
Battalion got from the <strong>Commando</strong>s’ knowledge of the<br />
country, and the cunning needed to stay alive in it. He<br />
mentions warmly the individual Independent Company<br />
soldiers with whom he worked side by side in the bush.<br />
Yarning with him after the war, it was plain to me that<br />
he had never forgotten that the actions in which he<br />
won his MC, and was promoted on the spot to com -<br />
mand his company, had been fought with the loyal help<br />
and hard experience of his Colonel’s derided irregulars.<br />
Today, the Australian government is reviewing our<br />
defence policy and the structure of our military forces.<br />
Most of us will say: “And about time, too.” The public<br />
is being encouraged to contribute its own views, and<br />
men who served now have a chance to speak up. Yet<br />
the technical complexity of modern military forces<br />
makes it very hard to reach a useful conclusion. Were<br />
our submarines (even when modified) a wise<br />
acquisition? Should we have an aircraft carrier --- or<br />
maybe two of them? Ought we to be looking at new<br />
tanks, or will the Leopards jog along for a few more<br />
years? Will “over-the-horizon” radar really perform the<br />
wonders claimed by its supporters? The mind of the<br />
ordinary citizen reels, but the mind of the admirals,<br />
generals and air marshals are hardly at one, either. But<br />
it is some reassurance to hear the big questions at least<br />
being asked.<br />
For myself, I simply have a hunch that we will more<br />
and more be well served by compact, versatile and<br />
self-contained army units. They will be useful in such<br />
places as Timor, where trouble is far from over, in Irian<br />
Jaya (or West Papua); in the Pacific island generally,<br />
and (one hates to say it) perhaps in Papua New Guinea.<br />
All these are areas in which we would hardly wish (or be<br />
able) to deploy whole divisions, but where entities<br />
<strong>res</strong>embling the Independent Companies might be just<br />
the answer. They would probably be somewhat larger<br />
in numerical strength, and more sophisticated in<br />
equipment and communications. But they would have<br />
that self-reliant spirit; that urge to get the job done.<br />
Those of us who are left, and who learned that spirit<br />
in our youth, have one last <strong>res</strong>ponsibility: to hand on<br />
the tradition: to see that the next generation of our<br />
soldiers knows that a worthy standard was set for them.<br />
Let us go home today with a warming thought: Jo<br />
Gullett fought in four separate theat<strong>res</strong> of war, and was<br />
three times seriously wounded. His distinguished<br />
service almost entirely fol<strong>low</strong>ed strict regimental lines,<br />
yet this great soldier thought well of the <strong>Commando</strong>s,<br />
and he did not stint his praise.<br />
Obituary Peter Ryan (04 September 1923 – 13 December 2015)<br />
by Rowan Callick from The Australian 17 December 2015<br />
Peter Ryan, who died on Sunday aged 92, was a<br />
rare hero, of both words and action; a great<br />
Australian, convivial and combative, and a<br />
persistent reminder of the days when Australia was<br />
inextricably — and in Ryan’s view, epically — linked<br />
with its difficult and brilliant colony, Papua New<br />
Guinea. He never forgot the PNG villagers who acted<br />
as his guardian angels when, aged 18 to 20, he was<br />
deployed to garner intelligence behind Japanese lines<br />
in the jungles west and north of Lae. He described how<br />
“at the end of a week of being hunted by the<br />
Japanese, assisted by tracker dogs, I sought refuge by<br />
climbing a stupendous dry cascade of huge boulders,<br />
as it ascended ever higher up a mountainside” to<br />
about 10,000 feet (3048m). A great voice seemed to<br />
boom in his ear: “You’ve reached the end of the<br />
Earth!” His answer was: “If ever I get out of this, I’ll<br />
never travel anywhere again.” And he kept his pledge.<br />
No tours of America or Europe.<br />
But he did return again and again to thank, and<br />
simply to chat in pidgin with, those Papua New<br />
Guineans. In one village he helped fund a new primary<br />
school, which the grateful recipients named in his<br />
honour the Peter Ryan Memorial School, which he<br />
28 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
elished officially opening. On another such visit, he<br />
was staying overnight at the Gateway Hotel adjacent to<br />
Port Mo<strong>res</strong>by’s Jacksons airport, preparing to fly on to<br />
Lae the next morning, and thence up into the moun -<br />
tains. He was dining alone, and he noticed that half a<br />
dozen Japanese men of similar age were eating at a<br />
nearby table. They were struggling to communicate<br />
their orders in English but managed much better in Tok<br />
Pisin (pidgin). Ryan guessed, correctly, that they also<br />
had done war service in PNG and introduced himself<br />
after their meals were completed — all speaking in Tok<br />
Pisin. They were members of a signals platoon that had<br />
been based at Salamaua. He then explained his role.<br />
One of the Japanese recalled the morse code radio call<br />
sign used by an Australian whom they had viewed back<br />
then as a particular pest, always evading the patrols<br />
they sent to silence him. “Em mi tasol,” revealed Ryan.<br />
“That’s me. If it’s taken you 41 years to find me, it’s no<br />
wonder you lost the bloody war, isn’t it?” Roars of<br />
laughter all around. The former enemies drank whisky<br />
together and reminisced well into the night.<br />
Ryan was one of the reasons I<br />
migrated to Australia from PNG,<br />
where I had worked for a decade, and<br />
where he had sought me out on his<br />
visits for chats. If there were more<br />
Australians like him, I thought … But<br />
of course, there was only one Peter<br />
Ryan. When I arrived in Australia, he<br />
arranged lunches at his favourite<br />
haunts — old-world classic Italian<br />
<strong>res</strong>taurants such as the Latin and the<br />
Society, where all the staff seemed to<br />
know him. His extraordinary life<br />
started to emerge, piece by piece, in<br />
the context of my broader education<br />
in the ways and the characters of<br />
bohemian Australia and beyond.<br />
Ryan grew up in Glen Iris, in<br />
eastern Melbourne. His father Ted<br />
taught him to speak Tok Pisin, having<br />
served in World War I as a lieutenant<br />
on the staff of the “Tropical Force”, which garrisoned<br />
Rabaul, then capital of German New Guinea, after its<br />
capture. Ted Ryan died when Peter was just 13 —<br />
inevitably leaving him, says historian Bob Murray, with<br />
“a lasting pain”, as well as an enduring sense of<br />
longing for the country that had so attracted his father.<br />
1<br />
Fear Drive My Feet is Peter Ryan’s enduring account of his time<br />
patrolling isolated regions of New Guinea during World War II. Far from<br />
his fel<strong>low</strong> Australians and with Japanese forces closing in around him, the<br />
eighteen-year-old Ryan endu<strong>res</strong> the hardships of the jungle, overcoming<br />
loneliness, fatigue and fear with quiet courage. He finds beauty in the<br />
rugged mountain landscapes of New Guinea, and admi<strong>res</strong> the charm<br />
and <strong>res</strong>ourcefulness of its people. Rarely out of print in the past four<br />
decades, Fear Drive My Feet is a classic memoir of the war in the Pacific,<br />
a major work of Australian war literature. For the work he describes in this<br />
book, Peter Ryan was awarded the Military Medal and Mentioned In<br />
Dispatches.<br />
Fear Drive My Feet, by Peter Ryan<br />
Peter Ryan left school at 16 and was working at what he<br />
called “a dull job” as a junior clerk in Victoria’s Crown<br />
Law Department when he enlisted, soon before Japan<br />
entered the war in 1941. He was rapidly sent to Port<br />
Mo<strong>res</strong>by after com pleting basic training. He wrote the<br />
Australian World War II classic Fear Drive My Feet 1<br />
when he was 21, soon after the events it enthrallingly<br />
relays. It took Ryan a further 14 years to have it<br />
published, but since then it has been through several<br />
<strong>edition</strong>s and has been republished this year as a Text<br />
Classic <strong>edition</strong>. Its title derived from the Book of Job,<br />
18:11: “Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,<br />
and shall drive him to his feet.”<br />
For the bravery and persistence with which he<br />
overcame the fear driving his feet, he was awarded the<br />
Military Medal (MM). Ryan writes in the book: “Nobody<br />
thought it very strange then, least of all myself, to send<br />
someone into that country without such basic neces -<br />
sities as food, maps and compass. When you are 18<br />
the fact that quite stupid people can play chuck<br />
ha’penny with your life doesn’t seem too unjust. This is<br />
partly because the thrill of the<br />
adventure is more dangerously<br />
intoxicating than liquor, and you<br />
aren’t too closely in touch with reality.<br />
You stride down the jungle trail full of<br />
confidence, a pioneer, a new David<br />
Livingstone; you feel exactly like your<br />
favourite hero from the Boy’s Own<br />
Paper.” But “the hangover from this<br />
kind of binge is unpleasant”. The<br />
excite ment vanishes, “leaving behind<br />
an empty flatness that was only one<br />
degree removed from despair”. Ryan<br />
thus swiftly came face to face with<br />
reality, with the need to marshal<br />
skilfully the <strong>res</strong>ources — including his<br />
PNG comrades — on which he would<br />
depend for survival. He retained a<br />
close inte<strong>res</strong>t in the constantly<br />
colourful ravelling and unravelling of<br />
PNG, and kept in touch as best he<br />
could with the PNG police constables and others<br />
whom he first met during the war, until they faded as<br />
he lived on. Ryan, while a constantly engaged and<br />
amusing observer of human foibles, was overall a glasshalf-empty<br />
kind of analyst, especially about govern -<br />
ments, politicians and others with tickets on them -<br />
selves. In his last communication with me a few weeks<br />
ago, inevitably interspersing Tok Pisin with English, he<br />
wrote of a recent, slightly upbeat article of mine from<br />
Port Mo<strong>res</strong>by: “My gut feeling is that most of it will<br />
wash up fairly badly. But then, after all it is PNG.”<br />
Peter Pierce, editor of the Cambridge History of<br />
Australian Literature, writes in his introduction to the<br />
republished book, which he views as Australia’s finest<br />
war memoir, “This is a visceral but also an exp<strong>res</strong> -<br />
sionistic journey — into a landscape of terror and<br />
exhilaration … “Ryan’s youthful spirit is tested relent -<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 29
lessly: he has to judge whom to trust,<br />
what path to fol<strong>low</strong>, where danger<br />
might lie.” The book concludes:<br />
“Man is very brave. His patience and<br />
endurance are truly wonderful.<br />
Perhaps he will learn, one day, that<br />
wars and calamities of nature are not<br />
the only occa sions when such<br />
qualities are needed.” Ryan him self<br />
certainly enlisted those qualities<br />
during his long and varied working<br />
life, which had not even begun in<br />
earnest by the time he had written his<br />
magnum opus.<br />
After the Japanese were expelled<br />
from PNG, Ryan taught Tok Pisin at<br />
Duntroon in Canberra, where he<br />
became a friend of politician-poet Paul Hasluck. He<br />
was then invited to join the Directorate of Research and<br />
Civil Affairs, which provided policy advice out of<br />
Melbourne’s Victoria Barracks. This “oddball unit”, as<br />
Ryan later described it, was commanded by Colonel<br />
Alf Conlon, whom half a century later he regarded as<br />
“even today, mysterious”. Still only 21 when the war<br />
ended, Ryan took a history degree with honours at the<br />
University of Melbourne, studying alongside many<br />
other war veterans. He joined the Labour Club, helping<br />
defend it against communist takeover attempts. He<br />
also in this period married the indefatigable Gladys<br />
Davidson — always known as “Davey” — and they<br />
raised a daughter, Sally, and a son, Andrew. All survive<br />
him. Ryan was a dapper d<strong>res</strong>ser, an urbane figure who<br />
nevertheless loved, besides his family and his books,<br />
the countryside, horses and dogs. Over the dozen<br />
years after graduating, he made a living by writing and<br />
by small-scale publishing, managing for “a small<br />
syndicate of well-off Melbourne lefty journalists” Atlas<br />
Publications, which included Captain Atom comics,<br />
Miss Young Romance comics, Heart-Throb photonovels,<br />
Gunsmoke western novelettes, and a racing<br />
guide. Murray describes Ryan as “a man incapable of<br />
writing an ugly sentence”.<br />
He became account executive at Melbourne’s<br />
largest advertising agency, handling companies such as<br />
Heinz and Shell. During this period, he also wrote the<br />
witty and spiky Melbourne Spy column in the<br />
fortnightly liberal publication Nation, run by Tom<br />
Fitzgerald — enjoying the considerable speculation as<br />
to the Spy’s identity. He moved into more corporate<br />
glamour by becoming public relations chief for ICI,<br />
working from 1958 in the company’s 20-storey HQ in<br />
East Melbourne that was Australia’s first great<br />
modernist building. In 1962, Melbourne University<br />
P<strong>res</strong>s boldly appointed 38-year-old Ryan as its<br />
publisher. The gamble — “the luckiest break of my<br />
working life”, he said — was successful, with Ryan<br />
helping deliver a wave of important and profitable<br />
works across the next 27 years, until he retired in 1989.<br />
Ryan was excited by publishing, having, as he wrote in<br />
Peter Ryan when Director of<br />
Melbourne University P<strong>res</strong>sThe correct<br />
number of men was in fact 74.<br />
his memoir Final Proof, passionately<br />
shared with Edward Gibbon “the<br />
early and invincible love of reading”.<br />
His MUP authors included Macfarlane<br />
Burnet, Gus Nossal, Norman Lindsay,<br />
Alec Hope, Michael Cannon, Ken<br />
Inglis, Hasluck, Geoffrey Serle and<br />
David Malouf. He also published his<br />
own pet project, the magisterial<br />
Encyclopaedia of Papua and New<br />
Guinea, and Manning Clark’s sixvolume<br />
A History of Australia.<br />
It would be disproportionate to<br />
weigh Ryan’s remarkable life solely by<br />
his having first published, then<br />
rubbished, Clark. But when he wrote<br />
in September 1993 in Quadrant —<br />
where he soon began a regular column that he<br />
continued until his death — that Clark’s work was “an<br />
imposition on Australian credulity — more plainly, a<br />
fraud”, he would have anticipated the unfriendly fire<br />
that would <strong>res</strong>ult. Ryan had studied under Clark at<br />
Melbourne University. The History was a valuable<br />
money-spinner for the p<strong>res</strong>s, which was contractually<br />
committed to completing its publication. And Ryan<br />
admitted to liking Clark, “the camaraderie somehow<br />
enduring from our earlier roistering days”. He was<br />
appalled to discover, chatting as the final volume was<br />
awaiting its birth, that Clark — who had p<strong>res</strong>ented<br />
Labour leader Bert Evatt “in a saintly light, ‘the image<br />
of Christ in his heart’ … but his opponent RG Menzies<br />
as an imperialistic booby” — after reading the Menzies<br />
diaries and papers, was having second thoughts. “He<br />
was, as always, imperturbable. ‘Ah, yes … Well, I don’t<br />
think my readers would be greatly pleased now to see<br />
me praising Menzies’ … It was the last straw.”<br />
Eventually, Ryan could contain his critique no longer.<br />
By then he had become secretary of the board of<br />
examiners for Victorian barristers and solicitors in what<br />
for others might be twilight years. No quiet life for him,<br />
though, as he fought in his columns the history and<br />
culture wars. Ryan’s eyes remained bright with mischief<br />
until the end. He was a quintessential brave Australian.<br />
Editor’s Note: Peter Ryan’s book is still available on<br />
Amazon & Google Books<br />
30 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
THE LAST COASTWATCHER<br />
Rabaul Under Japanese Occupation<br />
By Mr James ‘Jim’ Burrowes, OAM. – M Special Unit, WW2<br />
On 23 January 1942, just 46 days after Pearl<br />
Harbor when the Japanese Navy had taken<br />
all before it, the bastion town of the South<br />
Pacific, Rabaul, fell to the Japanese invasion force of<br />
5,000 troops. Pandemonium reined after its com -<br />
manding Officer, Colonel J. Scanlon, issued the igno -<br />
minious order that very afternoon of ‘Every man for<br />
himself!’ The consequences were dire! Of the 1,485 Lark<br />
Force troops, which included 273 men from the 1st<br />
Independent Company, and the 275 civilians of Rabaul –<br />
a total of 1,758 – only 422 (24%) survived. Thus, 1,338<br />
(76%) were casualties. This was the greatest Australian<br />
military disaster of the war against Japan in World War II<br />
(compared with Buna-Gona 967, Malaya 700 and<br />
Kokoda 625) with the sinking of the Japanese POW ship<br />
Montevideo Maru with 1,053 victims – which included<br />
132 men from the Independent Company and 208 (20%)<br />
who were non-combatant civilians – the greatest<br />
Australian maritime disaster (compared with HMAS<br />
Sydney 645).Bully Hayes, a farmer from Gipps land, was<br />
a great infantry officer, though hardly a scholar.<br />
My Story Unfolds…….<br />
Once my family learned the fate of my brother Bob –<br />
lost on the Montevideo Maru in 1942 – I had always<br />
wondered how the prisoners fared during the five<br />
months before they were transported. It was not until<br />
August 2008 that I obtained a first-hand account of that<br />
time and events!<br />
A story in our local newspaper by Max Hayes (a<br />
member of the Papua New Guinea Association of<br />
Australia) told of the retrieval of a handkerchief – with a<br />
name and number, VX 19523 B. O’Neil, noted on it –<br />
tossed aside by a prisoner as he was being loaded<br />
onto the Montevideo Maru. This handkerchief was<br />
picked up by a 12-year-old indigenous local, Rudy<br />
Buckley, which put paid to occasional theories that the<br />
men were not lost on the Montevideo Maru but had<br />
been slaughtered. I was able to obtain Rudy’s phone<br />
number (in Kingston, Queensland) and while vacationing<br />
in Coolangatta, I then travelled by bus and rail to meet<br />
up with him, when he was kind enough to pick me up at<br />
the Loganlea rail station and take me to his home to<br />
have a talk.<br />
As background, Rudy is a very <strong>res</strong>ponsible person<br />
with 30 years in electrical maintenance with the<br />
Department of Civil Aviation, both in New Guinea and,<br />
after he and his family relocated to Queensland, in<br />
Australia.<br />
The fol<strong>low</strong>ing notes are based on his comments in<br />
<strong>res</strong>ponse to my questions in 2008. Rudy told me that he<br />
had kept O’Neil’s handkerchief for many years as a<br />
souvenir until he drew attention to it at a recent<br />
Montevideo Maru commemoration in Brisbane at which<br />
One of the two guns at Praed Point ‘guarding’ the entrance to<br />
Simpson Harbour. Photo Curtesy of:<br />
www.lastcoastwatcher.wordp<strong>res</strong>s.com<br />
the handkerchief was displayed. I checked the names of<br />
prisoners listed on the Montevideo Maru, and<br />
confirmed that Cpl O’Neil’s name is on it, as are the<br />
names of my brother and his mates in the Engineers.<br />
Rudy’s comments, which I have briefly paraphrased,<br />
fol<strong>low</strong>:<br />
“During the Japanese occupation of Rabaul, there<br />
were always approximately 100 Japanese ships of all<br />
kinds, including aircraft carriers and battleships, in<br />
Simpson Harbour”.<br />
(Apparently, this included the period fol<strong>low</strong>ing the<br />
Japanese defeat in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May<br />
1942 when the invasion fleet that had been headed for<br />
Port Mo<strong>res</strong>by returned, badly damaged, to Rabaul.)<br />
Rudy confirmed he had watched the prisoners on their<br />
death march to the Harbour and then being barged out<br />
to the ill-fated Montevideo Maru.<br />
I then asked him about life under Japanese occu -<br />
pation, which I believe is the only account of that time.<br />
His wife Mary’s father was Japanese and was deported<br />
along with German nationals to the Cowra enemy<br />
detention centre in New South Wales.<br />
“The Japanese had been bombing Rabaul regularly,<br />
including the hospital, before the invasion, but not<br />
doing too much damage to the airstrip (such as it was),<br />
obviously destined for their future use” he said.<br />
Rudy then went onto say: “The Japanese landed on<br />
23 January 1942 from the north of Simpson Harbour<br />
and on the other side, cutting off Praed Point where two<br />
massive gun barrels pointed menacingly towards the<br />
sea (like Singapore!). The guns never fired a shot, but<br />
the landing in that location would have denied many of<br />
our soldiers any prospect of <strong>res</strong>ponding effectively to<br />
the ‘Every man for himself!’ order”.<br />
“The Japanese soldiers were extremely cruel and not<br />
averse to killing anyone on the spot, including civilians,<br />
who gave them trouble”. In fact, Rudy’s 42-year-old<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 31
father, a mechanic, was killed with many b<strong>low</strong>s from a<br />
tyre lever when he was s<strong>low</strong> in repairing an engine.<br />
“Prior to their shipment on the Montevideo Maru, the<br />
Australian prisoners were used largely in loading and<br />
unloading ships in the Harbour. Countless other<br />
prisoners, including Koreans, British and Indians, had<br />
been imported as slaves and were used to dig all the<br />
tunnels into the mountains around Rabaul. They were<br />
also used to clear all available fields to establish the<br />
growing of rice, tapioca, sweet potatoes and other<br />
vegetables to fulfil the enormous task of feeding over<br />
60,000 of their troops”. “All natives had been relocated<br />
to the Chinese quarter and outer areas. There were no<br />
shops” Rudy explained.<br />
Rudy’s family – his mother, two brothers and two<br />
sisters – survived by selling and bartering rice, fish and<br />
craft products with the Japanese in exchange for tinned<br />
food and other goods. The Japanese had ships pro -<br />
ducing food and treating whales from fishing expe -<br />
ditions. Rudy said “Generally, the Japanese didn’t worry<br />
children and natives and even had a system of feeding<br />
them. They also organised a school to teach the<br />
children the Japanese language, but this didn’t last long<br />
when the school was destroyed in a bombing raid. From<br />
1944 Rabaul was routinely attacked by Allied bombers,<br />
usually from 10am to midday with occasional raids at<br />
night to keep the Japanese ‘on their toes’. Apparently,<br />
they tried to bomb the Matupi volcano to cause an<br />
eruption, without success. During Japanese rule,<br />
approximately 42 US, New Zealand and Australian air -<br />
men who had been shot down were captured and<br />
executed by sword”. Rudy witnessed some of this from<br />
a Japanese truck.<br />
In 1949, Rudy met up with members of the War<br />
Graves Commission visiting Rabaul and was able to<br />
direct them to the site of the burial. It is not impossible<br />
that one of these executed airmen was my twin brother<br />
Flight Sgt Tom Burrowes of the RAAF’s 100 Squadron.<br />
As mentioned elsewhere, Tom went down on his first<br />
mission to Rabaul in a Beaufort bomber from<br />
Goodenough Island. Authors<br />
Comment. Rudy had also seen<br />
the prisoner John Murphy, one<br />
of the Coastwatcher party<br />
leaders captured at Gasmata.<br />
Murphy was court-martialed<br />
after the war for disclosing the<br />
positions of other parties in<br />
enemy occupied New Britain,<br />
but was exonerated.<br />
Rudy also mentioned,<br />
“There was great elation for all<br />
of the surviving indigenous<br />
popu la tion when the war<br />
ended. Apart from the pri -<br />
soners, there had been only<br />
four Europeans in Rabaul since<br />
the departure of the Monte -<br />
video Maru”.<br />
It is worth adding that I have<br />
also spoken to Lex Fraser (since deceased), who had<br />
been the only surviving officer of the Ist Independent<br />
Company prisoners held in Rabaul for the five months<br />
before being transported to Japan (on another ship). He<br />
told of the unspeakable conditions in the prison quarters<br />
of the previously occupied 2/22nd Battalion barracks,<br />
with poor accommodation, no clothing replacement,<br />
meagre food and water, unattainable medical treatment<br />
and supplies…. before their transport and death on the<br />
Montevideo Maru.<br />
(As an aside, the now-leaderless members of the 1st<br />
Independent Company who were not captured were<br />
‘picked up’ by Eric Feldt, Commander of the Coast -<br />
watchers, and transferred to ‘M’ Special Unit to become<br />
the essential military component of the Coastwatching<br />
parties. Their contribution in this role became critical to<br />
the success of the Coastwatchers as explained in ‘How<br />
Survivors of the Ist Independent Company became the<br />
Fourth Dimension of Coastwatchers’.)<br />
It is perhaps also worth briefly noting that, after<br />
capturing Rabaul, the Japanese quickly established a<br />
massive military base to support their navy, air force and<br />
infantry. At its height, the Rabaul base and its<br />
surrounding encampment served 100,000 soldiers and<br />
thousands of other personnel. Because aerial bombard -<br />
ment was the main threat to the island’s remote location,<br />
the Japanese used their own personnel but also much<br />
slave labour (local people, as well as British, Chinese,<br />
Indian, Indonesian and Korean prisoners, many captured<br />
at Singapore) to build an estimated 300 to 500<br />
kilomet<strong>res</strong> of tunnels into the volcanic soil around the<br />
Gazelle Peninsula and the caldera wall surrounding<br />
Rabaul Harbour where a number of facilities – such as<br />
hospital complexes, barracks, storehouses and<br />
command cent<strong>res</strong> – were installed.<br />
It was because of its importance to their military<br />
operations in the South Pacific that my own Coast -<br />
watching party had been deployed to report Japanese<br />
movements to and from Rabaul.<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
32 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
The ‘C’-Word Killed the <strong>Commando</strong> Skydivers’<br />
60 th Birthday<br />
By Kelly Brennan, Supplied by Richard ‘Dick’ Pelling – ACA VIC<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Skydivers in the air again after Lockdown.<br />
Image Courtesy: <strong>Commando</strong> Skydivers<br />
Things often escalate quickly at a boogie 1 .<br />
Not always in a good way. But the swift and<br />
brutal unravelling of the <strong>Commando</strong><br />
Skydivers 60th anniversary will be hard to beat. Even<br />
for a club that’s handled a lot of challenges over six<br />
decades. In Victoria, jumpers had woken to<br />
worrying headlines after a few cases of the new UK<br />
strain of the Coronavirus were linked to a quarantine<br />
hotel in Melbourne, 150km away from the<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Skydivers’ base. “Snap lockdown talks”<br />
screamed the front page of the Herald Sun. “Third<br />
wave fears.” The usual excitement of a boogie<br />
check-in soon won out over any lockdown gloom.<br />
Grey skies were the p<strong>res</strong>sing worry, so the team got<br />
cracking with useful seminars. A couple of old-timers<br />
from the seventies were also there, sharing photos<br />
and stories with the flatties who were preparing to<br />
disperse their mate’s ashes. Numbers were only<br />
slightly down. A few interstaters had pulled out at<br />
the last minute, worried there might be border<br />
closu<strong>res</strong>. But most of the registered players were<br />
there. Thanks to generous funding from the<br />
Australian Parachute Federation (APF) and VTPC, we<br />
had an excellent team of camera people and<br />
coaches across all disciplines. Club volunteers had<br />
moved everything from the usual <strong>Commando</strong>s<br />
hangar into the airport terminal building and we<br />
were ready for three days of awesome coached<br />
skydives from a Caravan.<br />
At 1.00pm, Friday 12 February we gathered<br />
around the TV for the Premier’s news conference.<br />
1<br />
In skydiving language, a boogie is a term for a large skydiving event,<br />
where the skydiving location comes alive with the gathering of unique<br />
airplanes, world-class skydivers, many types of formations and skydiving<br />
events - and fun nightly activities.<br />
More and more leaks to social media sites<br />
suggested a lockdown was likely. Yet we still dared<br />
to hope it would be only for Melbourne and we<br />
could complete our birthday celebrations in<br />
Traralgon. Dan Andrews started late, as usual. There<br />
was a horrible silence as we watched him begin.<br />
“Don’t say it, don’t say it!” pleaded the voices in our<br />
heads as he laboured through the build-up. At<br />
1.16pm, he said it: “From 11.59pm tonight Victoria<br />
– ALL of Victoria – will go to stage 4 <strong>res</strong>trictions.”<br />
Thud. Victorians knew too well what stage 4 meant.<br />
A return to August in 2020, the year we thought was<br />
behind us. As reality hit home, the silence continued.<br />
There were some hugs and tears. Nobody threw<br />
anything at the screen. Everybody started absorbing<br />
what they needed to do. For some, that meant<br />
hitting the road straight away to get back to their<br />
home states. Janine Hayes had the awful task of<br />
cancelling the venue for Saturday nights carefully<br />
planned gala dinner. Most jumpers tried to stay for<br />
just a few hours of fun, but the <strong>low</strong> clouds remained<br />
stubbornly in place. Eventually, Chief Instructor<br />
Craig Trimble reluctantly called it for the day and<br />
sent the plane home. (So, naturally the skies opened<br />
later for a brief but breezy period before sunset.)<br />
Club members carted everything back to the<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s hangar, piece by piece. Then, the last<br />
few disappointed stragglers had a very quiet BBQ at<br />
the aero club, cooked by J9 who kept smiling behind<br />
her mask. “It was fantastic to have everyone come<br />
down,” she said, describing the lockdown as just a<br />
‘hiccup’ in the big picture of the club. “We will be<br />
working towards a new opportunity and will keep<br />
you posted,” she promised. Craig Trimble also<br />
reflected on how he’d been looking forward to<br />
spending the Saturday night in a ‘3 beer and 4 red<br />
wine buzz’, catching up with old friends and<br />
embarrassing his lovely wife. “As ever was with<br />
<strong>Commando</strong>s, the weekend was organized and run<br />
by members who volunteered to make it happen,”<br />
said Craig. “Thank you, members, visitors, students<br />
and past members, for fronting up,” he added.<br />
“Thank you to everyone who packed up and got us<br />
ready to crack open the doors and operate again<br />
next weekend. Thank you all, I’m proud to be a<br />
member of this club.”<br />
So, stay tuned for the Diamond Anniversary 2.0!<br />
The post-pandemic future looks promising with the<br />
current crop of members who persist, no matter<br />
what.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 33
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34 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
A MACHINE GUN SPRAY OF MEMORIES<br />
By David Waterston, 6 RAR (Vietnam) & 2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company<br />
A Brief History on the author. Dave Waterston Joined 2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company (2 Cdo Coy) in 1961, and from<br />
1963-1965 he was a CPL on Fulltime duty. He became a SGT in 1966 again on Full Time Duty (FTD) until 1968,<br />
where he reduced in rank to CPL in the Citizens Military Force (CMF). He joined 6 RAR for 6 months then joined the<br />
Australian Regular Army (ARA) where Dave became a Section Commander in 5 PL, B Coy, 6 RAR. Dave deployed<br />
to South Vietnam (SVN) with 6 RAR in from 1969 to 1970. After SVN, he requested a posting back to 2 Cdo Coy<br />
instead of going to Singapore for 3 years. He was posted 2 Recruit Training Battalion (2 RTB) as Instructor. He was<br />
then Head Hunter for 2 Cdo Coy as the Amphibious Instructor from 1971 to 1973. He became a PL SGT in 3RAR,<br />
then a recruiter at 3 Army Recruiting Unit and 1 RTB as Instructor and then as the Warrant Officer (WO) Infantry at<br />
Melbourne University Regiment (MUR) in Melbourne. Dave then returned to 2 Cdo Coy in 1980 until 1984 as the<br />
AIROPS/CSM and in 1985 to the Officer Cadet Training Unit, then retired from the ARA in 1985. He transferred to<br />
the Army Reserve (ARES) for 3 years on Full Time Duty at SW Wing, Swan Island from 1986 to 1991 then onto 3<br />
Training Group as the Training Development Officer (TDO) till 2001 when he retired from the Army after 40 years<br />
of ARES & ARA service.<br />
The 6 th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6<br />
Bn RAR/NZ (ANZAC) arrived in South Vietnam<br />
in May 1969 and five days later 5 Platoon was<br />
tasked with a Platoon standing patrol around 3 kilo -<br />
met<strong>res</strong> from the base. The area was like a football field<br />
with no cover at all. Around 1700hrs a 105mm shell<br />
landed in the centre of the platoon. We reckoned<br />
'Charlie' was on to us, then it came over the radio,<br />
"Sorry, the NZ gunners had mucked up". No one was<br />
hurt but we were all pretty stunned. Then at first light<br />
the base was hit by 122mm rockets. We observed the<br />
direction of the launch and requested 105mm artillery<br />
support but as the base had been hit all support was<br />
then controlled by the Brigade Commander.<br />
Over the next 12 months our platoon copped two<br />
more 105mm rounds, a batch of 81mm mortars and to<br />
top it off, 155mm US Guns as we had moved into a<br />
Harass and interdiction area. We then had orders to<br />
move and RV with the tanks and APCs. The move was<br />
to take us to the village of XA Binh Ba, meeting up with<br />
the <strong>res</strong>t of the Bn. After a short while the plans were<br />
changed and 5 RAR got the task - 'lucky them', as they<br />
had a bloody great hard battle 1 . For the record 5 RAR<br />
did a house and village search of XA Binh Ba (50 by 700<br />
met<strong>res</strong>) back in August 1966. I have a piece of very<br />
sharp shrapnel to this day in my collection.<br />
Twice during my tour, my section did a standing<br />
patrol (TAOR) at this site in the rubber trees of Long<br />
Tan, 4km from the base, with a river to cross. I only had<br />
seven men in my section so all eyes were open for the<br />
whole 24 hours. (Note - lots of old equipment laying<br />
around after the Battle of Long Tan). We carried plenty<br />
of ammo, 1100 rounds for each GPMG. I had 21<br />
magazines for my M16 as well as Defensive Fire on call.<br />
We operated with only two sections at times thus I had<br />
the two GPMGS. They are a lethal weapon. Gee I love<br />
1<br />
‘This battle became known as the Battle of Binh Ba, fought by D Coy<br />
5 RAR, a Troop of Tanks from C Sqn, 1 Armd Regt & an APC Troop from<br />
3 Cav Regt. The Battle Honour Binh Bah was awarded to 5 RAR, 1 st Armd<br />
Regt & 3 rd Cav Regt for this action).<br />
The author (C) instructing 3Bn/43 ARVN Regt Soldiers on the<br />
M60 GPMG at the Horse Shoe Fire Support Base,<br />
Phuoc Ty Province South Vietnam.<br />
these guns (GPMG M60) they kill more than any rifles<br />
do. The poor Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN)<br />
Platoons only had one GPMG in the whole bloody<br />
Platoon so were severely outgunned by the North<br />
Vietnamese Army (NVA).<br />
Why so much ammo? I remember the Tunnel Rats<br />
section lost three men while on a night standing patrol<br />
forward of Fire Support Base Anderson near Bien Hoe.<br />
We gained a skull from this location which was placed<br />
above our company's Diggers Bar and had red lights<br />
flashing in the eyes and an NVA helmet on top. Dick<br />
Kluczniak, a former 2 Cdo Coy man who was then with<br />
the SAS, came to have a beer with me and could not<br />
drink at the bar, as it made him sick and we had to drink<br />
outside. I passed this story on to Gen Campbell (CDF)<br />
at the <strong>Commando</strong> Dinner last year as he was doing<br />
away with death head badges and similar as used by<br />
the Defence Force. He was shocked that this occurred.<br />
Times have changed!<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 35
B Coy 6 RAR had a major battle in the first three<br />
weeks we were in the country. 5 Platoon earned a<br />
Military Cross for our Platoon Commander - not bad for<br />
the first 21 days in-country. During the battle the OC<br />
Maj Dutchy Holland, ex-SAS, came forward to ask<br />
about the snipers shooting at us. The Pl Commander<br />
and I directed him and as he placed his arm out to look<br />
around the tree he was shot through the arm. Such is<br />
life, he was repatriated home in the first month. Dutchy<br />
took over command of the Coy back in Townsville from<br />
our great Maj Les Kehoe who had been my ADJT/QM<br />
at 2 Cdo Coy. Les had completed two years with the US<br />
SEALs. Les was moved out of 6 RAR by the CO<br />
because he was working his Diggers like a <strong>Commando</strong><br />
Company. Les introduced realistic and imaginative<br />
training at considerable risk to his future career. Yes, he<br />
was hard but it paid off in Nam - he was a great leader<br />
(Editor’s Note – Sounds like another famous OC who<br />
also came from 2 Cdo Coy and was on 6 RARs first tour<br />
to South Vietnam in 1966/67).<br />
Back to B Coy's battle. The<br />
Coy was patrolling in bloody<br />
heavy rain with 6 Pl leading.<br />
They sprung an NVA sentry<br />
hiding under a sheet of plas -<br />
tic. My section came forward<br />
for the attack. With 6 Pl we<br />
covered this sentry through -<br />
out the line-up. My 2IC John<br />
Joyce was to fire the M72 at<br />
Euro boy, PTE Mick Dunn<br />
who was wounded<br />
five times in the<br />
Bunker Attack.<br />
the sentry and that was the<br />
start of our attack with 6Pl.<br />
The 6Pl Sgt 'Butts' Buttery ex-<br />
SAS (we both did our Para<br />
Stick Commanders Course together at PTF in 1965)<br />
told me to drop our packs with his 6Pl group's gear that<br />
was in the open. But I ordered our packs placed away<br />
in the bush.<br />
We attacked the large bunker system and they beat<br />
us back. The remainder of 5 Pl and my section while<br />
waiting to attack again received rounds from across a<br />
clearing to our right (just like being on the<br />
Williamstown Rifle Range in the butts but no mantle to<br />
help). We then attacked again with no luck. Moving<br />
back in a defensive position the NVA snipers held the<br />
upper hand. So good was our training that we only had<br />
four wounded. The worst was Pte Mick Dunn from<br />
Euroa, whose Dad was a doctor there. Mick had the<br />
radio and every time he moved the bloody sniper<br />
punched a round into him. To get Mick out we got him<br />
to drop his gear, with the Platoon firing in the direction<br />
of the snipers. Mick had to hold a handful of his guts<br />
and run around 40 met<strong>res</strong>. He had been hit five times.<br />
Mick stayed in the army for some years after.<br />
Still under fire the Coy pulled back to an LZ to get<br />
the wounded out. My section was on the axis of the<br />
withdrawal and we could see Charlie (slang for Viet<br />
Gong) getting lots of 105mm shells (about 1000<br />
rounds) on their area and the bunkers. As darkness<br />
came on us, we called in “Spooky” a US C47 transport<br />
plane with gatling guns which was an eye-opener. Our<br />
Pl Commanders own words, from his web site, "We<br />
fought in the jungles of Vietnam in a prolonged<br />
engagement with a regular North Vietnamese Army<br />
Heavy Machine Gun Company". He was awarded the<br />
Military Cross. It is, he says, a medal he wears on behalf<br />
of the diggers who fought so courageously alongside<br />
him.<br />
We moved out with a hand on each other's<br />
shoulders to an alteranative night location. CAPT Doug<br />
Byers, MC. was the Coy 2IC and had command of the<br />
Coy - he did an outstanding job. At first light we got<br />
into it again and found many dead bodies, about ten,<br />
to greet us and we had to dig up some as well.<br />
My section's packs were re covered from their<br />
secluded hide, but 6 Platoon's that had been left ex -<br />
posed were miss ing. Charlie had taken their packs, all<br />
new Aussie packs, and the Pl Commander's Hong<br />
Kong pack. Our 5 Pl<br />
had the job to chase<br />
down and recover the<br />
packs and we did. It<br />
took some five days<br />
chasing Charlie and<br />
the only pack not<br />
recovered was the 6<br />
Pl boss's Hong Kong<br />
pack. Charley ate the<br />
rations and left the<br />
My Aussie Pack Side Pouches that<br />
I took back from Charlie.<br />
rubbish along the way, also cutting off the top flaps<br />
with the entrenching tools attached. They set our own<br />
Claymo<strong>res</strong> along the way to s<strong>low</strong> us down and placed<br />
cleaning rods in the ground. I cut two side pouches off<br />
one of the packs and used them throughout my career<br />
and still have them to this day.<br />
We continued on our way and found a great track<br />
well used, setting a Section ambush with the other<br />
Sections and with Pl HQ 100 met<strong>res</strong> to the rear. Over<br />
the next 5 days we knocked off lots of "bad guys", with<br />
only one wounded, an NVA Major from the Rocket Coy<br />
who was shot in the bum. We winched this Major out<br />
and spent many more days at this track. We always<br />
worked with seven days’ supply of rations (three days<br />
Aussie - 9 cans of food, and four days US rations - 36<br />
cans of food!) We had to extend our rations and water<br />
for another three days which happened a lot during our<br />
tour, so the Unit saved lots of ration packs. Food was<br />
no problem, but having no water during this period<br />
was hard. I was licking the leaves at first light each day.<br />
The Coy weakened and we received an airdrop of three<br />
water bladders. On landing one bladder ripped on the<br />
bamboo and was lost. I think even Charlie heard our<br />
sighs. A bit more walking the Jungle then it was back<br />
to base. Our first month in-country went well.<br />
I must say I was shocked to think I still had 11<br />
months of this to go, and yes it was just as busy. I could<br />
write a book - I almost have. Maj Mick Harris took over<br />
the Coy the next day. He became a great leader. Mick<br />
36 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
had spent time with the USMC and some of his<br />
methods showed through. When our Pl was with the<br />
Coy the OC got my section to fol<strong>low</strong> a track for some<br />
3km. We were told to move as fast as we could, the aim<br />
being to bump into Charlie and then the Coy, like the<br />
US Cavalry, would come and help us? One time after<br />
the Coy cleared a bunker system the Coy moved off<br />
but left my section in the bloody bunkers - six guys<br />
separated over three of the many bunkers - and we<br />
were to surprise Charlie, if he came back, and the Coy<br />
would return and help us out.<br />
Mmmm………... No, fortunately Charlie did not<br />
return.<br />
CAPT Doug Byers, MC. trained CPL Len Faver and<br />
me (we were both ex- 2 Cdo Coy) as part of the 6 RAR<br />
cadre (instructor) at JTC (Jungle Training Centre) back<br />
in 1968-69 and worked us bloody hard, which all<br />
contributed to the <strong>res</strong>ults we gained over the 12<br />
months in SVN. 6 RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Bn was issued with<br />
all the latest equipment such as the new Auspacks, the<br />
first in SVN. The Bn killed more NVA in the first month<br />
than the Bn we relieved did in the previous 12 months.<br />
Enemy KIA 99, 3 KIA by Artillery, 10 taken POW, 22<br />
blood trails identified and Hoi Chanh 1. We only lost<br />
one Digger in the Coy the whole year. PTE Barry James<br />
(God Bless) of 4 Pl was lost when his GPMG jammed in<br />
an ambush and he was shot in the head. It was not in<br />
vain as no GPMGs ever had a stoppage in our Coy<br />
during the 11 months after that. The Coy was awarded<br />
2 MC's and 1 MM - more could have been awarded.<br />
The Military Medal was awarded to PTE Fitzpatrick who<br />
years later was the WO Inf at 2 <strong>Commando</strong> Company.<br />
For the record according to the bestseller book,'<br />
Vietnam' by Max Hastings, in 1969 the allies in SVN<br />
killed the highest number of NVA.<br />
A few months into 1970, near the end of my tour in<br />
Vietnam, while on patrol in a creek bed we stopped at<br />
a large clearing on our left and we spotted 5 Charlie’s<br />
moving into a small bunch of trees in the centre. I<br />
placed the section in line with a GPMG at each end and<br />
after contacting Coy asked if there were any troops in<br />
our area. "Mouse Trap" - meaning no - was the answer.<br />
I then gave the order to engage. When they came out<br />
of the trees, we waited for some time so I started to<br />
register a Defensive Fire (DF) on the trees, then a<br />
chopper came in and the five men hitched a ride. We<br />
found out later that they were a New Zealand SAS<br />
patrol. Gee, to this day they do not know how lucky<br />
they were!<br />
During our first battle written above, one of our 5 Pl<br />
CPLs on his second tour received a small cut on his<br />
forehead and was airlifted out with the wounded<br />
diggers. A few days later he was sent home with<br />
dysentery and after a couple of days in Aussie hospital<br />
he was discharged. Because of this my 2IC and great<br />
forward scout LCPL John Joyce agreed that we would<br />
not leave each other in the weeds unless we finished<br />
up WIA or KIA. We had the normal 'flu and other<br />
infections, but two cases I wish to highlight. John was<br />
bitten on the testicular by a<br />
scorpion and it swelled up the<br />
size of a grapefruit. He had to<br />
cut his pants and let it hang<br />
out. This lasted several days<br />
but he stuck to his forward<br />
scout job. A few months later<br />
I had a bad case of dysentery<br />
and had to scrape it out of my<br />
pants but it got so bad that I<br />
cut the backside out of my<br />
trousers so I could relieve my -<br />
A man I owe so much,<br />
John Joyce.<br />
self about every 20 or so minutes. This lasted for some<br />
days, I cleaned out all the section medical kits of<br />
Codeine compound. The best part was a pair of new<br />
trousers at the next <strong>res</strong>upply. At least John and I kept<br />
our word to each other. It was both a sad and good day<br />
when John gained his own section in the Platoon. John<br />
stayed in the Army and retired as a WO1 (RSM<br />
Melbourne University Regt) and has since gone to the<br />
parade ground in the sky, (2017).<br />
A Fine Soldier & A Good Friend<br />
Where do I start? - Well, I was a CPL (CMF) 6 Sect,<br />
5 Pl, B Coy, 6 RAR in Townsville when on a Sunday<br />
night at midnight (I was in bed reading) the door flung<br />
open and standing there was a Digger with the biggest<br />
smile I have ever seen. For the next two hours John<br />
explained his life story and said that he had just<br />
completed the SASR Cadre (now Selection) course but<br />
was not selected as he was too young. John became<br />
my 2IC in SVN and was also my forward scout through<br />
his time with me until he took command of his own<br />
Section. I owe so much to John; on many occasions he<br />
saved me from trouble, and I will mention a few.<br />
I always carried thirty (30) detonators. They were<br />
attached to painted Olive Drab Det Cords of various<br />
lengths in my pack - there were no OH&S regulations<br />
then. At each night ambush I would set up a<br />
mechanical ambush site with possibly 6 Claymo<strong>res</strong> or<br />
more mines linked together, with the master detonator<br />
and cord attached to a flare taped onto a tree. The trip<br />
wire was set at just be<strong>low</strong> waist height. On October 20,<br />
1969 orders arrived at 0400hrs for us to move before<br />
first light to an LZ for redeployment to Tan RV Area. I<br />
moved out onto the track with John covering me as he<br />
always did. In the dark I looked at the wrong tree and<br />
moved towards it, when John yelled out with a very<br />
loud voice that was non-tactical. I froze. The tripwire<br />
was a hand span from my waist! When we had our turn<br />
as 3/43 (ARVN) trainers on the Horseshoe, on arriving<br />
at our location I sent John up to clear the 50 calibre<br />
machine gun which was in our bunker as I was settling<br />
in the <strong>res</strong>t of the section. Suddenly "BANG" - one 50<br />
calibre round exploded into the town of Dat Do.<br />
During our Shoalwater workup prior to SVN, I had the<br />
section trained on the side with .30 and .50cal by SGT<br />
Rex Harris, an APC Boss. He covered the what's and<br />
wherefore, but John must have been dreaming during<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 37
the lesson on .50-cal. We all said nothing when he<br />
came back down the hill!<br />
When we headed into the Mao Taos mountains<br />
(Operation Marsden) on 12 December 1969 our<br />
Section was on the last APC of the armoured column.<br />
We had stopped, waiting for the bridge layer to do its<br />
job. The sun was beating down so I informed the Crew<br />
Commander (a very nervous guy who only had four<br />
weeks to go in-country) to move the carrier over into<br />
the shade off the track, Route 330. We had just moved<br />
over when two rounds of mortar landed in the very<br />
spot we had just left. Later we found out that they were<br />
our own! Friendly fire - the perfect oxymoron! Anyway,<br />
once the rounds landed the Section jumped inside the<br />
carrier and closed down - all except me. I had jumped<br />
off the side. The carrier took off at a great rate of knots<br />
leaving me behind. John in the meantime did a<br />
headcount and I was missing. In fact, I was running in<br />
the mud after the carrier because I was expecting a<br />
hundred VC to come after me, thinking they may be<br />
fol<strong>low</strong>ing what we thought were their mortar rounds.<br />
Finally, the carrier stopped and the personnel door<br />
opened revealing John with his big grin, laughing his<br />
tits off. What a start to an operation. A few days later,<br />
up the mountain I dropped my pack to do a recon.<br />
When I returned, I was explaining what I had seen and<br />
as I reached down for my pack, John tackled me and<br />
we rolled down the slope. I thought he had gone mad<br />
as I pointed my rifle at him. The reason for the attack?<br />
A snake had crawled on to my sweat on the pack and<br />
coiled itself up. It was a two-step Charlie Krait with a<br />
fatal bite. Before Operation Marsden I called into SASR<br />
to find out about the mountains and was informed that<br />
no SAS Patrol had been luckily enough to venture onto<br />
the mountains.<br />
Back in Townsville John and I were walking back<br />
from town with a belly full of beer when we heard<br />
chooks squawking, and with that we soon had a chook<br />
each. Back in our Long Tan lines and into our toilet<br />
block we cleaned the little buggers. Next morning<br />
John took the fowls to Sgt Cook Reynolds and he<br />
placed them in the tray along with his beautiful layout<br />
ration chooks. We had a 3-hour job to clean up the<br />
toilet block as it looked like we had sloughed D445/VC<br />
in there. John collects our car smash chooks and off we<br />
go to Magnetic Island, chooks and beer in hand.<br />
Sunday lunch on the beach, we tried to eat these<br />
rubberized chooks - what a waste of time! The fish<br />
enjoyed them no doubt, All I can say is, crime does not<br />
pay. So many stories one could fill a book.<br />
Before Vietnam<br />
I was a CMF SGT on full time duty (FTD) at 2 Cdo<br />
Coy and was attached to 6 RAR in Townsville for three<br />
months. I had the enemy Pla toon in Shoal Water Bay<br />
for the two pre-SVN and assess ment for 1 and 3 RARs<br />
Bn exercises, "Grass Parrot and "Bell Bird".<br />
After returning to 2 Cdo Coy my last job was to help<br />
move the unit from the McWhae Avenue Depot in<br />
Ripponlea to Fort Gellibrand, Williamstown over the<br />
weekend of 11-12 <strong>July</strong> 1968. I was offered an ARA<br />
posting as a PL SGT to 9RAR but requested a posting<br />
as a CPL to 6RAR. This happened, but I was classified<br />
as a CMF CPL Section Comd (yel<strong>low</strong> paybook) for six<br />
months in the unit with my Diggers earning more pay<br />
than me.<br />
L-R CPL Snow Gannon MID, the author & LCPL John Joyce<br />
at the Horse Shoe Fire Base, South Vietnam 1969.<br />
Author (back left) with other 5 PL members fixing the B Coy Sign<br />
at the entrance of their Lines at Nui Dat, SVN.<br />
38 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
There was panic when I was attending the cadre<br />
(instructors’ course) at JTC under CAPT Doug Byers,<br />
MC. and I had to go into Recruiting in Brisbane to sign<br />
on, as a signal had come through from Army Head<br />
Quarters (AHQ) to give me Group 6 pay outstanding,<br />
with not many Group 6s in the unit. Why did I drop a<br />
rank? Well, the above speaks for itself. The "Dirty Half<br />
Dozen", 6RAR, was such a smooth working machine<br />
and the 10 National Service (NS) intake who we did<br />
CORPS training for in the unit were just great soldiers.<br />
Our B Coy 6 RAR emblem was the Phantom holding a<br />
skull which dated from the start of B Coy back in 1965,<br />
before my time. A photo shows us fixing up the sign at<br />
the entrance to the B Coy Lines at Nui Dat in SVN with<br />
me on the left with some of the boys from 5 Pl.<br />
While I am on a roll, when I was a CPL on FTD in<br />
1964 back at 2 Cdo Coy my boss was WO2 Clem Kealy,<br />
a stalwart of the SASR and PTS RSM in later years.<br />
Clem p<strong>res</strong>ented me with his RAR Badge with the King's<br />
Crown (Edward) and years later when I posted to the<br />
RAR I always wore this badge - no plastic 'Skippy' for<br />
me. Clem did three tours with Australian Army Training<br />
Team Vietnam (AATTV) 2 . In 1999 I contacted Clem and<br />
during our many talks, he stated how amazing were the<br />
Battalion soldiers (he also employed RAR CPLs in his<br />
group) who worked so hard in SVN. He was so proud; I<br />
suppose being ex-3 RAR during the Korean War he<br />
understood.<br />
You will notice the photo of the 2 Cdo Coy sign and<br />
Pegasus the flying h o r s e a t t h e Rippon lea depot.<br />
During my time as a CPL CMF on FTD I wrote away to<br />
Mobil Oil and requested a sign which they delivered. I<br />
painted it with blue hammertone paint then our<br />
ADJT/QM then CAPT Harry Smith (yes, that man!) used<br />
his great art skills and painted the outlines. CPL Dick<br />
Kluczniak (CMF on FTD) and I then installed it on the<br />
hanger wall at the McWhae Avenue Depot at<br />
Ripponlea. So many stories one could fill a book.<br />
https://wet-seal.com.au/become-a-franchisee/franchises-for-sale/<br />
2<br />
Clem Kealy. Australian Army Training Team Vietnam; 29 Jul 1964 - 13<br />
May 1965, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam; 21 Jan 1969 - 17 Dec<br />
1969, and Australian Army Training Team Vietnam; 30 Jan 1970 - 13 Aug<br />
1970. From AWM website, nominal roll.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 39
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40 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
A FEW YARNS FROM<br />
MAJ LUKE GOSLING, OAM. MP. (Retd)<br />
ACA E-Member<br />
Luke Gosling, OAM. MP. is the Federal Member for Solomon, rep<strong>res</strong>enting Darwin and Palmerston.<br />
He served in the ADF for 13 years including 1 st <strong>Commando</strong> Regiment and NORFORCE.<br />
HAPPY 40 th BIRTHDAY, NORFORCE<br />
In the late 1970s, it was recognised that northern<br />
Australia needed a greater military p<strong>res</strong>ence. So,<br />
NORFORCE, or the North West Mobile Force, was<br />
formed on <strong>July</strong> 1, 1981. Its primary purpose was to do<br />
surveillance and reconnaissance work. NORFORCE<br />
operates across an area larger than many European<br />
countries, covering the north-western tip of Western<br />
Australia all the way east across to the Queensland<br />
border, and down to the South Australian border. At 1.8<br />
million square kilomet<strong>res</strong>, it’s the largest area of any<br />
military unit in the world. The conditions can be harsh<br />
and unforgiving, requiring great skill to navigate and<br />
perform well in the face of extreme temperatu<strong>res</strong> and<br />
deadly creatu<strong>res</strong>.<br />
NORFORCE is also unique in that over 50 per cent of<br />
the recruits are Indigenous Australians. The experience<br />
Ray Leonard, the last<br />
survivor of HMAS Armi -<br />
dale, has passed on, just<br />
shy of his 98 th birthday. He was a<br />
very good man. Ray was there on<br />
1 December 1942, during the<br />
Second World War, in the Timor<br />
Sea north of Darwin when the<br />
Armidale came under sustained<br />
attack by the Japanese.<br />
As the attack unfolded, Ray<br />
witnessed the extraordinary acts<br />
of heroism performed by his 18-<br />
year-old shipmate, Edward<br />
“Teddy” Sheean VC. The Armi -<br />
dale had sailed for Japanese-occupied Timor on 29<br />
November to withdraw the exhausted Australian 2/2<br />
Independent Company. It also intended to evacuate<br />
about 150 Portuguese civilians and 190 Dutch troops,<br />
and land soldiers to reinforce Dutch guerrillas on the<br />
island. But Japanese aircraft began bombing Armidale<br />
and the HMAS Kuru on 1 December. The ships were<br />
separated, and Armidale was attacked by about thirteen<br />
planes, as well as being torpedoed.<br />
The survivors leapt into the sea and were machinegunned<br />
by the Japanese aircraft. Sheean freed a life raft<br />
and then raced back to his gun on the sinking ship.<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
VALE RAY LEONARD<br />
The Last HMAS Adelaide Survivor.<br />
of these talented soldiers when<br />
it comes to knowing local com -<br />
munities and the landscape<br />
give the unit invaluable understanding. NORFORCE has<br />
been active for 40 years, constantly on the lookout for<br />
drug smugglers, foreign threats, illegal fishing and other<br />
suspicious activity, as well as collecting vital military<br />
intelligence.<br />
During my time with NORFORCE, I had the privilege<br />
of working with Yolngu soldiers on their country in North<br />
East Arnhem Land, which is incredible country. They are<br />
still very close to their culture and this experience was a<br />
highlight of my service. So, happy birthday to<br />
NORFORCE! Here’s to at least 40 more wonderful years<br />
and to a strong and continuing relationship with the<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> and Special Operations community.<br />
Although he was wounded in the<br />
chest and back, he shot down a<br />
bomber and kept other planes<br />
away from his comrades in the<br />
water. He was still firing his gun as<br />
Armidale sank into the sea.<br />
Only 49 of the 149 men on<br />
board survived the sinking, and<br />
the fol<strong>low</strong>ing days floating on life<br />
rafts. It was an extraordinary<br />
experience for Ray. After the war,<br />
he fought for many decades to<br />
get recognition for Teddy<br />
Ray Leonard (R) showing his Certificate from ACA VIC<br />
Sheean's heroism, <strong>res</strong>ulting in the<br />
awarding of the Victoria Cross to<br />
Teddy in December last year, after 78 years.<br />
Ray had a long career as a psychologist and helped<br />
countless people, including many veterans. Ray and his<br />
wife, Beryl, were married for 76 years. It was a great<br />
privilege to meet Ray and Beryl with my Dad, John, a<br />
Vietnam Veteran last year. Ray was very proud of the<br />
certificate p<strong>res</strong>ented to him by the Australian<br />
<strong>Commando</strong> Association - Vic (see pic). We extend our<br />
condolences to Beryl and their three children and<br />
extended family. Ray was a great Australian, and his<br />
example shines on as a beacon to the <strong>res</strong>t of us.<br />
Vale Ray Leonard.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 41
Whiskey’s Wish Inc is a<br />
not-for-profit charity,<br />
that was founded in<br />
2014, by the P<strong>res</strong>ident, Scott<br />
Jackman. Whiskey’s Wish Inc.<br />
provides veterans, first <strong>res</strong>ponders,<br />
and correctional officers with a<br />
program that al<strong>low</strong> the recipients to<br />
train their own dogs, as part of their<br />
rehabilitation, to become service<br />
dogs.<br />
The recipients are those who<br />
suffer PTSD, or other mental and<br />
physical brain injuries, as well as assist with mobility<br />
issues, and other disabilities such as deafness,<br />
blindness, and social withdrawal. The organization<br />
hosts training sessions, Australia wide and have many<br />
training sessions and locations available in South East<br />
Queensland.<br />
The training of these dogs varies, with the average<br />
dog taking around 2-3 years to become full accredited.<br />
Recipients must be able to identify 3 tasks, that they<br />
would like their dog to assist with. There are over 400<br />
service dog tasks, we can assist with, for example,<br />
picking up a dropped item, alerting to a person<br />
approaching, or comforting a person after a nightmare,<br />
by applying deep tissue therapy.<br />
As part of the course, recipients are required to<br />
participate in the program, by submitting training logs<br />
weekly and reading and interacting with blogs and<br />
articles, on the Members Only Website, which is a<br />
fantastic training site, to al<strong>low</strong> the recipient to have as<br />
much information as they would like. We will soon be<br />
launching our own You Tube channel, to further<br />
provide our recipients with more valuable information<br />
and support.<br />
WHISKEY’S WISH<br />
Whilst there are criteria for the<br />
preferred age, weight, and size of a<br />
service dog, Whiskey’s Wish Inc. has<br />
had much success, with assisting<br />
recipients with their rehabilitation<br />
journeys. Specialists tell us that their<br />
patients are showing great improve -<br />
ment and that the routine of training<br />
and being <strong>res</strong>ponsible for their dogs,<br />
as wells their own wellbeing as their<br />
own, has improved the person’s quality<br />
of life immensely.<br />
This all comes about from having<br />
quality trainers,<br />
Aust ralia wide, who<br />
are part of the dog<br />
training team. To<br />
assist them and<br />
many others in the<br />
community,<br />
Whiskey’s Wish Inc<br />
are hosting a<br />
Mental Health<br />
Trainers Summit, in<br />
Brisbane, on the 6-<br />
7 October <strong>2021</strong>.<br />
This will be an<br />
invaluable 2-day<br />
Assistance Dog Wil<strong>low</strong>.<br />
conference for Dog<br />
Trainers, inte<strong>res</strong>ted in becoming Service Dog Trainers<br />
and Mental Health practitioners and other referral<br />
agencies throughout Australia, to learn more about<br />
how the program works and what is required.<br />
If you would like any further information about<br />
Whiskey’s Wish Inc, or you would like to donate to this<br />
fantastic cause, please go to the website:<br />
www.whiskeyswish.org.au, and if you are inte<strong>res</strong>ted in<br />
joining the program, please send an email to:<br />
secretary@whiskeyswish.org.au.<br />
Earthworks Training provides RII accreditation<br />
for the Civil Construction Industry on:-<br />
• Tractor • Compactor • Roller • Skid Steer • Backhoe<br />
• Excavator • Wheeled & Tracked Loader • Dozer • Grader<br />
• Scraper • Water Cart • Rigid and Articulated Haul Trucks<br />
• Vehicle Loading Crane • EWPs • Load and Unload Plant<br />
• Telehandler • Asphalt Paver and • Profile Planer.<br />
Greater Sydney, NSW & ACT<br />
The competent operator will receive an RTO Issued<br />
Statement of Attainment, an RII Card and a VOC Card.<br />
Ask us about R.P.L.<br />
Call Lisa 0400 790 894<br />
Call Adam 0415 214 348<br />
SafeWork Assessor - HN827499<br />
42 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
ADDITIONAL COMMANDO NEWS<br />
Australian Army to Buy US Apache AH-64E<br />
Guardian Attack Helicopter<br />
AH-64E Apache Guardians are to replace the<br />
Tiger as Army’s armed reconnaissance<br />
helicopter from 2025, fol<strong>low</strong>ing an an -<br />
nounce ment by Defence Minister Linda Reynolds on<br />
January 15. Senator Reynolds said Army will acquire up<br />
to 29 of the Boeing aircraft to replace the existing 22<br />
Tigers. “The Apache Guardian is the most lethal,<br />
survivable and <strong>low</strong>est-risk option, meeting all of<br />
Defence’s capability, through-life support, security, and<br />
certification requirements,” she said. Apaches were<br />
chosen over other helicopters after meeting the criteria<br />
of being a mature, off-the-shelf system, according to<br />
Senator Reynolds.<br />
“By pursuing a proven and <strong>low</strong>-risk system in the<br />
Apache, Defence will avoid the ongoing cost and<br />
schedule risk typically associated with developmental<br />
platforms,” she said.<br />
With improved sensors, survivability, com munica -<br />
tions suites and attack capabilities, Senator Reynolds<br />
said Apache would strengthen recon naissance to<br />
better shape strategic environments and deter actions<br />
against the national inte<strong>res</strong>t. The Apache is planned to<br />
enter service with 1 Avn Regt from the mid-2020s, with<br />
the Tiger helicopters to be operated and supported<br />
until their planned withdrawal in 2028. Until that time,<br />
Army will continue to rely on the support provided by<br />
the dedicated teams within Army, CASG and Airbus<br />
Australia Pacific to ensure safe and effective Tiger<br />
operations.<br />
AH-64E Guardian Specifications<br />
• Crew - Two.<br />
• Weapon systems - 30mm cannon. 70mm rockets.<br />
AGM-116 Hellfire missiles.<br />
• Sensors - Thermal/Day TV/Laser designation<br />
system and “Longbow” Fire control Radar pro -<br />
viding: longer-range weapons accuracy and allweather/night<br />
fighting capability; detection of<br />
objects (moving or stationary) without being<br />
detected out to a range of 8km; classification and<br />
threat-prioritisation of up to 128 targets in less than<br />
a minute.<br />
• Network capabilities - Integrated sensors,<br />
networking, and digital communications for<br />
situational awareness and management of the<br />
battlespace in real time. Digital transmission of<br />
images and target locations to joint operations<br />
battlefield commanders. Capability to control<br />
unmanned aerial vehicles.<br />
• Medium level flight speed - 150+ knots (279+<br />
kph).<br />
From Army News - February 4, <strong>2021</strong><br />
The Boeing Apache AH-64E Guardian Attack Helicopter<br />
From Wikipedia<br />
Formerly known as AH-64D Block III, in 2012, it was<br />
redesignated as AH-64E Guardian to rep<strong>res</strong>ent its<br />
increased capabilities. The AH-64E featu<strong>res</strong> improved<br />
digital connectivity, the Joint Tactical Information<br />
Distribution System, more powerful T700-GE-701D<br />
engines with upgraded face gear transmission to<br />
accommodate more power, capability to control<br />
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), full IFR capability, and<br />
improved landing gear. New composite rotor blades,<br />
which successfully completed testing in 2004, increase<br />
cruise speed, climb rate, and payload capacity.<br />
Deliveries began in November 2011.<br />
Full-rate production was approved on 24 October<br />
2012, with 634 AH-64Ds to be upgraded to AH-64E<br />
standard and production of 56 new-build AH-64Es to<br />
start in 2019/20. Changes in production lots 4 through<br />
6 shall include a cognitive decision aiding system and<br />
new self-diagnostic abilities. The updated Longbow<br />
radar has an oversea capacity, potentially enabling<br />
naval strikes; an AESA radar is under consideration.<br />
The E model is to be fit for maritime operations.<br />
The Army has exp<strong>res</strong>sed a desire to add extendedrange<br />
fuel tanks to the AH-64E to further increase<br />
range and endurance. AH-64Es are to have the L-3<br />
Communications MUM-TX datalink installed in place of<br />
two previous counterparts, communicating on C, D, L,<br />
and Ku frequency bands to transmit and receive data<br />
and video with all Army UAVs. Lots 5 and 6 will be<br />
equipped with Link 16 data-links. As of April 2020, 500<br />
AH-64E have been delivered.<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 43
RIGHT, left, right, left.<br />
Lines of soldiers attached<br />
to a thick wire in the back<br />
of an aircraft call their steps as<br />
they move towards the side-door.<br />
They’re taking part in a ritual older<br />
than themselves, speaking words<br />
that bring them closer to stepping<br />
out of that door. A red light<br />
switches on. The loadmaster calls<br />
“one minute”, then “action<br />
stations”. “Left, right”; one step<br />
closer. At the front of one line is<br />
the CO – the first of five and the<br />
only one who has jumped before.<br />
The next stick is led by the RSM.<br />
The light turns green and they<br />
step out into nothingness, freefalling<br />
for a few seconds before<br />
the static line pulls their parachute<br />
out to open with the up-rushing<br />
wind. After a few days of bad<br />
weather, the trainees have finally<br />
completed the first jump of their<br />
Military Static-Line Opera tor<br />
course at the ADF Parachuting<br />
School. They descend into<br />
Husbands drop zone next to<br />
HMAS Albatross’ runway, outside<br />
Nowra. This jump was a “clean fatigue jump”, done<br />
without equipment, but over the next few days, they’ll<br />
add weapons and combat equipment, before para -<br />
chuting into water.<br />
If you talk to the trainees, a common theme that got<br />
them over the edge when looking at the ground, 1000ft<br />
be<strong>low</strong>, was the drills hammered into them over the past<br />
week of training. It’s those drills, combined with the<br />
rigorous double and triple equipment checks that the<br />
school prides itself on. WO Static-Line Sgt P said the<br />
ADF Parachuting School<br />
From Army News - February 4, <strong>2021</strong> By SGT Sebastian Beurich<br />
A Special Forces soldier prepa<strong>res</strong> to land after<br />
conducting a military static line parachute jump from<br />
a CASA C-212 Aviocar at the ADF Parachuting<br />
School, HMAS Albatross.<br />
Photo: Sgt Sebastian Beurich<br />
training lives up to the school<br />
motto of, “Knowledge Dispels<br />
Fear”. “Students who haven’t<br />
parachuted before are always<br />
going to have a bit of appre -<br />
hension when stepping out of the<br />
aircraft,” Sgt P said. “Our<br />
instructors are able to alleviate a<br />
lot of that by the level of<br />
instruction we give and the pro -<br />
fessionalism they display.<br />
“Likewise, our aircraft drill is<br />
just that – a drill. They’re calling<br />
out all the checks on the equip -<br />
ment and making sure it’s<br />
checked by their supervisors,<br />
which gives them a level of<br />
confidence prior to exiting the<br />
aircraft.”<br />
Before they strap on a para -<br />
chute, trainees conduct ground<br />
training in a C-130 mock-up,<br />
practising what happens in the<br />
aircraft, how to exit and different<br />
drills they may require in flight.<br />
“One thousand, two thousand,<br />
three thousand, four thousand,<br />
canopy okay”, they chant,<br />
measuring the expected time of<br />
flight for the main chute to deploy. They practise for<br />
landing scenarios such as wi<strong>res</strong>, trees, unexpected water<br />
and avoiding collision with another paratrooper. The T-<br />
11 static-line parachutes they jump with aren’t steerable,<br />
but trainees learn techniques to influence their direction.<br />
When they’re versed on flight, they move into practising<br />
landing drills, mounting and dismounting swinging rigs<br />
under the watchful eyes of their instructors, who give tips<br />
on how to make a landing more comfortable.<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
Searching for a ‘Bushie’ Replacement<br />
Many of us who have deployed from Iraq to<br />
Timor and everywhere in between have<br />
thanked the ‘Bushie’ for her ability to move at<br />
speed, give us warmth or AC, carried tons of ammo<br />
when needed and in those trying times, she has kept<br />
many of us alive when the LRPV or SRV would have been<br />
our coffin.<br />
AUSTRALIA: The Australian Defence Force is<br />
undertaking preliminary investigation under its Bush -<br />
master Protected Mobility Vehicle - Medium (PMV-M)<br />
replacement program. The Australian Defence Force is<br />
planning to replace all of its 985 surviving Bushmaster<br />
From australiandefender.com 5 March <strong>2021</strong><br />
PMV-Ms under Project Land 4107 Phase 1 prior to the<br />
vehicles reaching their service life of type in the early<br />
2030s.<br />
The Bushmaster PMV-M replacement program is<br />
unavoidable because the vehicle does not have the<br />
organic digital infrastructure or power generation capa -<br />
city to al<strong>low</strong> it to become a fully integrated node within<br />
the Australian Defence Force's digital command and<br />
control system - an essential prerequisite to near future<br />
combat employment. Department of Defence schedules<br />
plan for a replacement capability for the Bush master to<br />
enter service in the 2028/29 period. Since 2004, the<br />
Australian Army and RAAF have acquired a total fleet of<br />
44 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
1052 Bushmaster PMV-Ms under multiple acquisition<br />
contracts within the original Project Land 116 and the<br />
fol<strong>low</strong>-on Project Land 121 involving 5 'build' con -<br />
figurations of vehicles.<br />
The Australian Army is currently involved in a<br />
standardisation program for all of its Bushmasters desig -<br />
nated the Bushmaster Common Configuration to<br />
rationalise the type's support infrastructure require ments<br />
and ensure that every vehicle has the complete schedule<br />
of survivability, reliability and tactical up grades. The<br />
Bushmaster Common Configuration will also introduce<br />
featu<strong>res</strong> of the latest Thales Bushmaster MR6 vehicle<br />
including the much need Auxiliary Power Unit and all<br />
vehicles will receive the wiring and hull modifications to<br />
al<strong>low</strong> the integration of the EOS R400S Mark II Remote<br />
Weapons Station.<br />
The Bushmaster Common Configuration will not<br />
immediately include the integration of a hard kill Active<br />
Protection System like the Elbit IMI Iron First - Light<br />
Decoupled (IF-LD) which was revealed in the 2020 Force<br />
Structure Plan, that capability will be integrated into the<br />
fleet under a future as yet undisclosed project within<br />
Defence's Integrated Investment Program which has not<br />
yet had final approval.<br />
The ADF's currently Inservice<br />
Bushmaster digital framework is<br />
too primitive to be fully compliant<br />
with the full spectrum capabilities<br />
introduced in the Australian<br />
Generic Vehicle Architecture (AS<br />
GVA) on the Hawkei, but elements<br />
of the digital system will be in -<br />
corporated in a number of in -<br />
cremental steps. Thales Aust ralia,<br />
the current owner and Bushmaster<br />
manu facturer, has prepositioned<br />
itself for Project Land 4107 by<br />
implementing its own develop -<br />
ment program for an evolved Bushmaster capability in<br />
the more powerful and digitally networked Bushmaster<br />
MR6.<br />
Any future Project Land 4107 Phase 1 is likely to be<br />
an evolution of the MR6 rather than a direct build of its<br />
current specifications due to the very rapid tech nol ogical<br />
advances in military equipment currently under way. At<br />
first glance the Bushmaster MR6 looks very similar to the<br />
familiar ADF Bushmaster, but the new vehicle offers<br />
significant capability improvements over the battle<br />
proven Bushie that has been in service since 2005.<br />
The Bushmaster MR6 takes all of the elements that<br />
made the Bushmaster PMV-M a legend during the<br />
Global War on Terror, putting them together with a<br />
refined new hull, improved armour, upgraded driveline<br />
and suspension and full 21st Century digital systems<br />
integration. The original Bushmaster PMV-M deep V hull<br />
design has been tweaked, leveraging data gained from<br />
the more than 40 IED attacks on Bushmasters in Iraq and<br />
Afghanistan. The new hull is certified to a higher<br />
STANAG level and the original armour has been<br />
augmented to a (classified) higher specification against<br />
ballistic threats. The MR6 is equipped with an<br />
The Thales Australia Bushmaster MR6 in its 2018<br />
configuration. The MR6 is fully digital and can plug<br />
directly into the ADF's networked command and<br />
control system.<br />
Pic Courtesy Thales<br />
undisclosed anti-Rocket Propelled Grenade system<br />
which is rumoured to deliver high immunity to PG7 and<br />
above RPG projectiles. An enhanced Fire Supp<strong>res</strong>sion<br />
System offers significant improvements with both a<br />
quicker initiation <strong>res</strong>ponse and greater supp<strong>res</strong>sion<br />
capacity.<br />
The most obvious visual change with the MR6 is the<br />
expanded mission bay, which has been extended to<br />
accommodate up to ten fully equipped dismounted<br />
combatants on blast attenuating seats with additional<br />
head height. The rear mission bay door has been<br />
enlarged, al<strong>low</strong>ing for significantly easier mounting/<br />
dismounting of the vehicle. The MR6 also featu<strong>res</strong><br />
separate driver and vehicle commander access doors,<br />
al<strong>low</strong>ing the vehicle crew to operate the vehicle without<br />
passing through the mission bay. A revised and<br />
upgraded suspension system delivers a 2000kg<br />
improvement in payload while significantly expanding<br />
off road capability. The MR6 can ford water obstacles up<br />
to 1.5 met<strong>res</strong> in depth as opposed to the Bush master<br />
PMV-M which is limited to 1.2 metre fording.<br />
The larger vehicle is powered by the uprated 330hp<br />
Caterpillar 3126E ATAAC 2001 (Euro3 compliant) diesel<br />
engine running through options of the ZF 6HP5<br />
ECOMAT transmission. The Bush -<br />
master MR6 is being offered in 12<br />
variants including Troop Carrier,<br />
Mortar, Ambulance, Command<br />
and Control, Direct Fire Weapons,<br />
Combat Engineer, Electrical and<br />
Mechanical Engineer/Recovery,<br />
Surveillance, Counter IED/EOD,<br />
Route Clearance and Logistic.<br />
Where the MR6 radically departs<br />
from its proven predecessor is in<br />
its integrated digital manage -<br />
ment system which has been<br />
leveraged from the C4I digital<br />
management system developed for the Hawkei PMV-<br />
Light. All digital functions on the new MR6 are interfaced<br />
through two multifunction LED screens used by the<br />
driver and the vehicle commander. All navigation,<br />
surveillance, blue force tracking and Remote Weapons<br />
System software and vision feeds, are accessed via the<br />
single screen. The single screen radically reduces clutter<br />
in the vehicle cabin.<br />
The suite of digitised communications, sensor,<br />
weapons and navigation systems and the increased<br />
electricity they demand is satisfied by a larger 360amp<br />
alternator and a new 8kW APU stand-alone power<br />
generator. The Bushmaster PMV is an astounding<br />
Australian military equipment success story, emerging<br />
from the Global War on Terror with a stellar reputation<br />
for reliability and crew survivability after approximately<br />
40 vehicles lost in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali and<br />
Syria with only one known fatal casualty.<br />
The Australian Defence Force credits the Bush master<br />
PMV-M with saving the lives of over 300 Australian<br />
personnel in recent combat operations, all of which<br />
would likely have become high level casualties in any<br />
other Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle.<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 45
46 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
BOOK REVIEW: “SEMUT”<br />
The Untold Story of a Secret Australian Operation in WWII Borneo<br />
One of the ongoing ironies of<br />
war is that it has been and<br />
remains a catalyst for great<br />
literature. Semut by Christine Helliwell fol -<br />
<strong>low</strong>s this fine tradition. As Paul Ham notes<br />
on the cover – ‘A superb read, brilliantly<br />
<strong>res</strong>earched, written in prose as sharp as a<br />
machete.’ So, it is most apt that the<br />
epigraph at the start of the book is from<br />
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Not<br />
only is the setting and psychological<br />
tension similar, jungle covered mountains<br />
interspersed with mighty raging rivers and<br />
a loss of innocence, but the style is equally<br />
evocative. Christine’s description of Bor -<br />
neo: ‘<strong>res</strong>ting languidly across the equator … with the<br />
meandering flotilla of Indonesia to the south’; and the<br />
countryside - ‘all around were endless battalions of<br />
trees, marching from the riverbanks to the distant hills’<br />
– takes one back to another era and another place.<br />
Likewise, her description of the reconnaissance teams<br />
parachute insertion into Borneo awakens fading<br />
memories of similar experiences:<br />
‘The Liberators crossed the coast of British North<br />
Borneo into enemy airspace around dawn, the rugged<br />
mountains of the interior directly ahead in the growing<br />
light. Reaching the sandstone and shale mass of Mt<br />
Mulu, second-highest summit in Sarawak, they turned<br />
southeast towards the great peaks of the Tama Abu<br />
Range. And there, as expected, gleaming white in the<br />
morning sun, were the twin fingers of Batu Lawi. As the<br />
nervous tension ratcheted up, the planes came over<br />
the range and into the air above the valley. And<br />
hallelujah, for the first time the pilots had clear sight of<br />
the drop zone. The Semut men were already up,<br />
stretching, adjusting their parachute harnesses,<br />
moving to the bomb bay out which they would be<br />
despatched, the Liberator crew joshing them, as was<br />
customary in such times of tension. The plane com -<br />
manded by Pockley stalled, with consummate skill,<br />
over a stretch of inviting grassland be<strong>low</strong>, and<br />
dropped its human cargo of four.’<br />
By Professor Christine Helliwell<br />
Reviewed by Mr Rick Moor<br />
But the strength of this account over all<br />
others is that it also looks at the story from<br />
the perspective of the local indigenous<br />
inhabitants:<br />
‘It was early morning when Keling<br />
Langit heard the sound again. The young<br />
Kelabit woman paused at her work amid<br />
the cool slush of the rice field. Yesterday’s<br />
eerie echo had returned, moving back<br />
and forth above the clouds that hung<br />
across her valley high on the Kelabit<br />
Plateau. It was like nothing she had ever<br />
heard before: quite different from the<br />
rhythmic whooshes of the hornbills’ wings<br />
as they flew across the valley in the<br />
evenings, or the s<strong>low</strong>ly climaxing whoops of the<br />
gibbons as they called to one another in the jungle<br />
trees at dawn. This was a strange reverberating roar<br />
that filled the valley, overwhelming all other sounds.<br />
Peering skyward Keling Langit saw, to her horror,<br />
several giant white figu<strong>res</strong> materialise through the<br />
cloud. They <strong>res</strong>embled the pale spirit beings said to<br />
have once inhabited the area, their superhuman<br />
exploits remembered in song during long evenings in<br />
her Bario longhouse home. Closer and closer they<br />
came, descending s<strong>low</strong>ly and silently like birds<br />
stooping to land. Keling Langit felt such terror that she<br />
began to weep.’<br />
While elements of Operation Semut have been told<br />
in the past, the activities of the Semut II and Semut III<br />
parties have never before been fully <strong>res</strong>earched or<br />
properly examined. This book brings closure to this<br />
small but important and very unique chapter in<br />
Australia’s and the region’s military history. The book is<br />
the first of a planned set of two, and covers the<br />
background, planning, wartime history, strategic and<br />
political drivers, personal recollections, and tactical<br />
actions of the special operations conducted by the<br />
Services Reconnaissance Department (also known as<br />
Special Operations Australia and manned primarily by<br />
personnel from Z Special Unit) in Sarawak from March<br />
to October 1945. Importantly it also provides an<br />
(Continued on page 49)<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 47
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https://www.tsvflight.com.au/contact/
overview of the colonial history of Sarawak, the ethnic<br />
groups inhabiting the land: their enmities and alliances;<br />
cultural and spiritual beliefs and living conditions; and<br />
their motivations for joining the allied cause. As such it<br />
is more than a military history; it is also significant<br />
<strong>res</strong>ource for all with an inte<strong>res</strong>t in understanding<br />
guerrilla or more specifically special warfare (that is the<br />
sponsorship and use of irregular indigenous forces in<br />
the prosecution of military operations against a<br />
common foe).<br />
While the world and warfare has changed signi -<br />
ficantly since 1945 many of the lessons, especially<br />
those relating to Guerrilla/Special Warfare outlined in<br />
this book remain relevant today. At a personal level the<br />
importance of humility and humour; the need for<br />
toughness of body, mind and spirit; and critical role of<br />
local knowledge and a common language, usually<br />
theirs not ours, stand out. Likewise, the need for<br />
special operations teams to have dedicated transport<br />
assets, whether air, land or sea combined with reliable<br />
communications are reinforced. And more importantly<br />
the need for the conventional and unconventional<br />
forces to have common and supporting objectives<br />
when operating in the same theatre is and will remain<br />
paramount. Finally political and military leaders,<br />
planners and operatives need to understand that at its<br />
core Guerrilla/Special Warfare is inherently political and<br />
that while military success is important so too is the<br />
need to harness and protect the civilian population.<br />
For without their support there can be no guerrilla<br />
movement and while you might win the battle without<br />
them you will not win the peace.<br />
But perhaps the most striking aspect of this story is<br />
the dilemma p<strong>res</strong>ented by the conduct of headhunting<br />
by the indigenous guerrilla forces and the potential for<br />
critics to accuse the author of engaging in moral<br />
relativism for explaining and in part justifying the<br />
practice. By way of explanation “the term ‘moral rela -<br />
tivism’ is understood in a variety of ways. Most often it<br />
is associated with an empirical thesis that there are<br />
deep and widespread moral disagreements and a<br />
metaethical thesis that the truth or justification of moral<br />
judgments is not absolute, but relative to the moral<br />
standard of some person or group of persons.” 1 This is<br />
highlighted in the fol<strong>low</strong>ing account of an early raid<br />
conducted by Semut II:<br />
‘But then, disaster: sudden movement and a light<br />
not far from the fort – the radio hut! A voice sprang<br />
shockingly out of the murk, then more movement and<br />
another shout. With the element of surprise lost,<br />
Sheppard hoisted his gun and began to fire on both<br />
fort and hut. Those with him fol<strong>low</strong>ed suit, producing<br />
a massive burst of gunfire. They were almost at the fort<br />
when a Japanese soldier ran out of its door imme -<br />
diately in front. Pipen shot him dead at almost pointblank<br />
range. There was now pandemonium: in the dim<br />
light it was difficult to tell who was friend and who foe.<br />
The Kayans and Kenyahs (Dayak tribes) nevertheless<br />
moved quickly to surround the two buildings, in line<br />
with their instructions … Other Japanese fell: some to<br />
gunfire, some to parang … And then, quiet: profound<br />
in the wake of the noise and confusion … Sheppard<br />
called his troops to order on the clear ground beside<br />
the fort. It was then that he noticed: two of them held<br />
human heads.’<br />
It is not for me in this review to make a judgement<br />
either way, but the case p<strong>res</strong>ented in the book is<br />
compelling and highlights the physical, mental and<br />
ethical complexities of the battlefield, especially when<br />
isolated and working with personnel who have different<br />
cultural and spiritual beliefs and practices. The<br />
historical context must also be remembered. As the<br />
author notes – “all wars are cruel, but the war against<br />
the Japanese throughout the jungles of the Pacific –<br />
including Borneo – was especially so. ‘Kill or be killed.<br />
No quarter, no surrender. Take no prisoners. Fight to<br />
the bitter end. These were everyday words in the<br />
combat areas. As World War Two recedes in time and<br />
scholars dig at the formal documents, it is easy to<br />
forget the visceral emotions and sheer race hate that<br />
gripped all participants.’”<br />
Professor Helliwell is to be congratulated on writing<br />
such a fine book. I have no doubt that it will become a<br />
classic and be highly prized especially by aficionados<br />
of the genera. It will certainly occupy pride of place in<br />
my Guerrilla Warfare library alongside The Seven Pillars<br />
of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, Battle for the Bundu by<br />
Charles Miller, Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy Maclean,<br />
They Fought Alone by John Keats and Once a Warrior<br />
King by David Donovan. I can’t wait for volume 2 and<br />
the story of the Semut I and IV parties.<br />
Semut by Christine Helliwell is highly recom -<br />
mended. In fact it is a must read. It will be available to<br />
the general public from 2 <strong>July</strong> <strong>2021</strong> – see…<br />
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/semut-<br />
9780143790020<br />
COMMANDO FOR LIFE<br />
1<br />
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 49
Leaving the ADF<br />
At some point in their career, all ADF members will<br />
leave the military and transition to civilian life. It’s a<br />
significant decision that can involve your family.<br />
Planning early will make sure you’re informed and<br />
ready to enter the next phase of your life.<br />
You must complete your transition with ADF<br />
Transition Support Services so you understand the<br />
process, your administrative requirements, and the<br />
support available to you. We encouage you to involve<br />
your family throughout your transition experience.<br />
Transition support network<br />
Transitioning to civilian life is a shared <strong>res</strong>ponsibility.<br />
When you decide to leave the ADF you should engage<br />
with your family, your Unit, and ADF Transition Support<br />
Services.<br />
Your Unit can speak to you about the transition<br />
process and connect you with your local ADF Transition<br />
Centre. Your Centre will introduce you to a Transition<br />
Support Officer who will help you and your family<br />
through the transition process and:<br />
• provide you with an individual transition plan<br />
• offer career coaching during your transition and<br />
up to 12 months afterwards<br />
• help you meet your administrative requirements<br />
• help you leave with all documentation like<br />
service, medical, and training records<br />
• facilitate connections to Defence and govern -<br />
ment support services<br />
nationally throughout the year. You’ll receive<br />
information from Defence and other organisaitons on<br />
topics like finance and superannuation, health,<br />
relocating, employment, and ex-service organisation<br />
support.<br />
ADF Member and Family Transition Guide<br />
The ADF Member and Family Transition Guide – A<br />
Practical Manual to Transitioning contains detailed<br />
information on the transition process for ADF<br />
members. The Guidce includes information on support<br />
services and administrative reuqirement. It includes<br />
checklists to help you navigate transition process.<br />
ADF Transition Seminar<br />
You and your family can attend an ADF Transition<br />
Serminar at any time during your ADF career to help<br />
you prepare for your transition. Seminars are held<br />
COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong> 51
The Positive Relationship between<br />
Physical Activity and PTSD<br />
Exercise has a positive clinical effect<br />
on dep<strong>res</strong>sive symptoms and may<br />
be as effective as psychological or<br />
pharmaceutical therapies for some<br />
individuals with PTSD.<br />
Rosebaum et al, 2014 suggests<br />
Physical activity/exercise is a highly<br />
effective method in reducing<br />
symptoms of dep<strong>res</strong>sion and for<br />
people experiencing other mental<br />
health disorders.<br />
Evidence demonstrates that an<br />
appropriate exercise intervention<br />
can achieve significant benefits to<br />
symptoms, dep<strong>res</strong>sion, anxiety and<br />
st<strong>res</strong>s, changes in body shape and<br />
sedentary time associated with<br />
PTSD, and non-significant trends for<br />
sleep quality improvement according<br />
to Rosenbaum, 2013.<br />
The associated symptoms and the<br />
improvements may be related to<br />
psychosocial benefits of the<br />
intervention, rather than functional<br />
capacity, but there is also a strong<br />
empirical (observational) link<br />
between improvements in functional<br />
capacity and psychological status<br />
according to the author, 2016.<br />
People with PTSD are four times as<br />
likely to have type 2 diabetes<br />
(Lukaschek et al, 2013) and rates of<br />
overweight and obesity are as high<br />
as 92%.<br />
To add to these statistics, sufferers<br />
of PTSD are shown to be less<br />
physically active due to a number of<br />
factors including pain, dysfunctional<br />
and general lack of desire or both,<br />
according Boscarino et al, 2004.<br />
Adding some form of regular<br />
physical activity can have a<br />
significant effect on a sufferer of<br />
PTSD. It’s important to note, the<br />
type of activity doesn’t matter, what<br />
matters is that the person is moving<br />
and also having fun doing it.<br />
If you would like to become<br />
physically active again and help to<br />
combat some of your PTSD related<br />
symptoms then please consult your<br />
GP and discuss your options for<br />
referral to another health care<br />
professional (exercise physiologist<br />
or physiotherapist) for help with your<br />
other associated or co-morbid<br />
conditions ie <strong>low</strong>er back pain,<br />
arthritis and or obesity.<br />
52 COMMANDO ~ The Magazine of the Australian <strong>Commando</strong> Association ~ Edition 7 I <strong>2021</strong>
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