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The Forum > General Discussion > ANZAC Day - What does it mean to you, and your Families?

ANZAC Day - What does it mean to you, and your Families?

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Dear o sung wu,

Intellectual? Hardly. Just blessed/cursed with a curious mind.

I think once you accept that the colonialist mindset that united countries like the US, UK, Australia, many European nations and included Japan then you gain a different perspective.

That Australia would arm Japanese POWs in Indonesia to put down an independence movement is sobering. It was done in order to hold on to the country until the Dutch could come and take back control. More European lives were lost in Indonesia trying to return that colonial control than were lost during the entire war.

It is interesting to learn you were part of Operation Claret. I would love to hear your thoughts on the conflict. Did you know much of the history of Sarawak? James Brooke is someone worth reading about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brooke

These were lines drawn on a map by European colonists. I'm not sure how much the locals were wedded to them and neither am I sure you would have had much chance to talk to them and get their view.
Posted by SteeleRedux, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 11:14:31 AM
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'Jimmy' BROOKE's 'The White Rajar' as he was called... Hi there STEELEDEDUX...'Claret' was a cross border ops mainly with our SASR and the Poms. Allegedly they crossed into Kalimanten and that's in Indonesian Territory which made Pres. Sukarno quite cross apparently. In fact on New Years eve in 1964, he made this extraordinary statement to the effect '...before the cock crows thrice; on the 1st of January 1965, Malaya will form part of Indonesia...', through that particular indiscretion,we were all ordered to stand-to!

All joking aside the Indonesian soldier is no push-over, they're quite tough little buggers and don't lack courage.

I must confess I didn't bother learning much about local history anyway, as we were lifted, in and out of Kuching, like a 'Honeymooner's Pr..k', subject to 'operational exigencies' was the language they used. One thing I did pick up, the entire BROOKES family, they'd been there for some time, and were looked upon relatively kindly by the locals.

To be honest, mostly our AOR was along the Malay/Thai Border, search & destroy communist terrorists and/or Indonesian infiltrators. We moved from FSB's at - Kroh; Kemar; Grik; and Tapong, plus others I can't recall. We operated in the densest bush I've ever seen in my life, with a preponderance of exotic flora and fauna you might only see in books or film. I was privileged see, from a height of 150ft in a UH-1B, wild elephants washing and frolicking in jungle streams, together with tigers darting here and there, in breaks in the jungle canopy. Amazing wildlife.

We had good times and bad (sad) times?

One of our first casualties was a SASR Trooper in Sarawak, gored by an Elephant musking apparently, and he suffered from horrific injuries as a result.
Posted by o sung wu, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 2:14:11 PM
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OSW, Is Mise, Hasbeen, SteeleRedux...G'day & hope all is well in your loc.

Many of my training staff at Balcombe were veterans of Korea, Malaya & more recently Vietnam, as it had ended a few years prior. During my 2 years here, there were many 'war stories' related to young apprentices. Our RSM was Norm Goldspink, ex 3 RAR, Kapyong & our CSM Alan 'Jock' Kelly was one of the soldiers shot by Viet Cong in the incident that earned Maj Peter Badcoe his Victoria Cross. When one sees recently healed war wounds on people, it gives another perspective on the damage that human beings can inflict on one another and a healthy respect for firearms.

A bit later in my career, when posted to Campbell Barracks during the 80's I met many of the names and faces behind the legends.

One yarn I do remember is the time the RAAF sent up a helo with a couple of coils of barbed wire at the ready. Apparently the Indonesians were a bit out on their "aerial navigation" and prone to wandering over the border. From a few hundred feet above, one of the 'Boys' let go a coil of Bobbly wire which inexplicably wound its way around an Indonesian helicopter rotor blade..with obvious results. The cross border incursions by the Indons came to a halt thereafter.

Diverging from the thread here, but it bothers me greatly that our successive governments are feting the Indonesian Military and more specifically their Kopassus troops on our shores.

As a young tacker I listened to crusty old Chiefs around the bars of various RAN CPO's messes saying that it was not China we should be wary of, but Indonesia. This was the 1960's mind you.

Today we read in the news that China is eyeing off Vanuatu and other potential bases in the South Pacific.

Something rather sinister in all of this I find, what say you?
Posted by Albie Manton in Darwin, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 3:52:50 PM
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G'day hare ALBIE MANTON OF Darwin...

The bespectacled Maj. Peter BADCOE was a legend among the AATTV. as well as the Army itself. A quietly spoken bloke ordinarily, but could raise hell when required, and I think he was the second member in the Team to receive the VC? Like the others in the AATTV, he was awarded his Victoria Cross posthumously sadly, and never lived to receive the honours bestowed on others with such an award. They named the R & R facility at Vung Tau after him, with a really brilliant swimming pool and all the things that went with it.

And you're right too ALBIE, what was officially reported to Canberra and reality, sometime was well wide of the mark. After all we can't upset those ranking Officers in HQ Canberra, with stories of less than pleasant activities now could we?

Apropos the (martial) intentions of either China or Indonesia, both nations have huge land Armies. However, it's China alone who can also back itself up with a formidable Air Force and Navy. However not Indonesia at this time. And I don't trust either of them at all!

Thank you so much for your contribution ALBIE, I really appreciate it.
Posted by o sung wu, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 6:12:59 PM
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"Gee, and here I've (Issy) been thinking that the fact that North Korea invaded South Korea"

Issy, we sent you (only you no one else) over there to stop them from coming over the boarder (that was your job), what happened, now Cousin Kimmy has got the bomb, gee very disappointing! 60 years later it looks like we'll have to send The Donald over to sort out Cousin Kimmy. what went wrong? A bit of a cock up, don't you think.

We should have known when you didn't stop the Kaiser in 1914.
Posted by Paul1405, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 4:27:19 AM
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Albie, o sung wu,

I'm pretty sure that I met Norm Goldspink a few times and I had a lot to do with some of the lads from Balcome, I got my share of them each year in Engineering at 2 Base Wksp, R.A.E.M.E, Moorebank.
99.9% good as they came and the 0.1% came good during their 12 months with us.

I knew Peter Badcoe very well and used to service his firearms, he always made sure that they were in tip-top order.
He was probably the only Officer in the Australian Army who had a Spanish CETEME rifle as a personal weapon choice.
http://www.military-today.com/firearms/cetme.htm
He also carried his service 9mm Browning, a Smith & Wesson revolver
(.357 Magnum, as I remember) and a small Bayard pistol behind his belt buckle as a last-ditch chance (a la Paladin).
Peter always reminded me of a businessman, of a Bank Manager.
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2017/03/major-peter-badcoe-vc-50-years-since-his-feats-of-soldiering-and-leadership-became-legend.html

When we heard that he had been killed in action, it was a very sad moment.
Posted by Is Mise, Wednesday, 11 April 2018 9:45:01 AM
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