HOME WE CAME

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24535, 7 April 1945, Page 5

HOME WE CAME

PACIFIC ADVJENTURE

. “Home she rolls,’’.said the soldier. “Listen to them, cheering—l don t think!”

' The Japanese, of whom there were supposed to be more than 100» were reported to be in the, vicinity of the mission. This was in the inner coast towards the sou|jnernpart of the island. And the carrier platoop was attached to a battalion attacking from the western arm. We had a march of some eight miles to join our battalion, and the sweat simply poured off us as we walked along the jungle track. At one halt We passed some 60 or 70 natives, among whom were some attractive girls, dressed, in skirts only. The troops took a fresh interest in life and the platoon humorist asked for 10 minutes’ leave. The battalion was camped near the sea and I reported to the adjutant about 4 p.m. We were only half welcome, because they reckoned they could clean up any Japfe without the. help, of any brigade people. But they gave us a job on their left flank, advancing along the shore to the mission. We were shown our position for that night, and I was very uneasy, because, as far as I could see from the map, the gunners were ranging on the very spot at .which we bivvied. This view was confirmed just before dusk, wheii shells began to arrive all about us.,. .Fortunately most landed in the wafer; blit’some did not and .we beat a retreat inland and dug in for the night;-. Just before dark one of the sentries ■'aSw a Jap about 50 yards away, but we let him go rather than make a noise. - Next morning at dawn the whole show opened up. Some of the mortar bombs, fell just behind us, and the heavy rain caused the smoke to hang low. We advanced through choking vapours and through terrific obstacles. The jungle was choked with fallen trees and the swamp was difficult. But ■we went right through to the mission in good time, without seeing any Japs. So things fell pretty flat and the troops explored the buildings while the officers had a conference. Officers are always having conferences. The upshot was that all hands returned to the last night’s camp and had,a good feed and went to sleep. * No Japs Here—

After short patrols next day, the island was . declared cleg): of Japs, and we took things, easy. The plataan had a job finding a suitable place for Brigade Headquarters. ' About eleven; o’clock "next morning the platoon was resting under ‘some mahogany trees, and some of the men decided to go for a swim. As the first man approached the beach he was surprised to see a, soldier aiming a' rifle at him from behind a tree. • He said, “Hold it ” But the other::chap .didn’t hold it. He was a Jap. But he missed with his two shots, the platoon formed lip and proceeded to search. The search wa| successful—too success*

(Specially Written for “The Press.”)

[By BRUCE STRONACH.] , VIII

fpl, and in a few minutes two men were badly wounded and the rest m perimeter around about 60 Japs.

—Except Hostile Ones The. 1 jungle was absolutely impenetrable at this place and we had no communications and no mortars. Some Vickers gunners were handy and we let them have a go, and then some tanks came along. They brought our wounded out, and as our strength was 16 at this time, we were glad to see them. After four hours ■ some reinforcements arrived and it was not before time, as the platoon had been under fire, for that time, and if the Japs had thought of coming after us, we would have got only second prize. We withdrew then to let the mortars have a go, and- to make a long story short they did a‘ good job and an assault found 60 dead Japs. Two got away in a -canoe, but were collected by a Pl. boat later on. There was a little trouble aboift who was going to bury the Japs, those who hack killed them arguing that ttr kill them was enough, and the rest saying, “You kill ’em—you bury ’em.” They were finally pushed over the cliff by a bulldozer. Our casualties were, not high; but there were several killed and that is high enough, f Finish So that action finished the Japs on Nissan. Those, with a group on Sau Island and another on Sirot Island, were all that were there," although we kept catching odd-single ones for weeks afterwards, , Next day we started to make a camp. It was a good one, and in it, we lived for two and a half months. As soon as the airstrip was finished, the. Jap air raids ceased-and life became civilised. Our P.T. boat friends had moved up and we met them again. They had been on leave to New Zealand and' found it good. . From our camp, |3uka was clearly visible some "mornings and other mornings there was no sign. Out of the sea we got quite a lot of fish, bonito chiefly, which are very good eating. Terrific thunder and lightning storms and very heavy rain were frequent, and we had. one semi-hurricane. Trees snapped off all around us. and it was difficult to find a safe place. We left Nissan months later with no regrets and set sail for . New Zealand on a Liberty ship. She was very slow, but landed us in Caledonia again after a week at sea. The place was-full of luxuries and everyone made a fuss of us for nearly half an-hour. And after a spell in hospital with a few abscesses and rashes and. a little- malaria, home we came. : ,-.. These short writings; have described something of what happened to a small group of men. They have skipped all the gory and tragic side, of .things. Security and regulations make- them tough to write. ■ This was the lighter side. That’s all. • ■

THE FIRST CONVOY BOLLS OVER STILWBLL ROAD,—The ac- | companying j picture* show the. flm -convoy to travel over the Stilwell' ■ road, which ;wa« named In '* honour :of United States General JosephW‘Stilwell by the Chinese President, ; Chiang Kai-shek, detouring -around , a new causeway ...during the, trip., from India to Knnhing. China. The | panorama on the right shows.how i the roadi winds through Jungles,, up j ; mountains and across riven and

“FRONT-LINB DOCTOR." —Many New Zealahderswillbe interested in a recent issue of “Picture Post/*, London, portraying as Its frontispiece, '“The, Front-line Doctor.” It is a photograph of Major J, L. Nicol, M.C., son-Jn-law of the late Dr. J. J. Brownlee; M.D., of Christchurch. Major Nlcol’s wife and three children are living at Clifton; Sumner. This photograph' was taken at the height of the Battle of FalalseGap, Normandy, when civilian •. as .well: a» military wounded were being treated in a partly-demolished farmhouse. After, publication of thls frontispfece in “Picture Post,” the editor of: that publication wrote as follows: ‘‘‘Scores of> readers have written to appreciation : of. the- picture -> of a front-line doctor, which appeared as the cover of : pur issue of October 7. They that the . picture symbolised all that Is/ best in the tradition of medicine, andjnany say i they gained comfort ..from the spirit of sympathetic care and kindImess towards the wounded which it seemed to sum up. The doctor who was pictured—Major J. t. Nicot.” .f • 1 >'\ t* *' 1,, “ .yt