New Zealand Soldiers On Roading Project In Malaya

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29383, 9 December 1960, Page 14

New Zealand Soldiers On Roading Project In Malaya

[Army Information Serviccl

TAIPING (Malaya). New Zealand soldiers are making a road through the dense jungles of North Perak, Malaya, to provide access for Commonwealth troops operating in the heart of an area previously inaccessible except by air. All men of the 2nd Battalion, New Zealand Regiment, this is their first taste of engineering, but other Commonwealth troops have worked on clearing the old jungle road, neglected since the beginning of the terrorist emergency more than 12 years ago. Just out of the jungle after one month spent in rebuilding the road is the battalion’s mortar platoon of which Private R. Gleeson, of Christchurch, Private R. Kenny, of Ashburton, and Private B. Sherbourne, of Temuka, are members. The platoon has had a tough, but successful job cutting 2600 yards of the road, the second step of the New Zealand portion of 15 miles. Running east' from the Perak river, some 90 miles north through the jungle from the New Zealand base in Taiping, the road originally ran to a tin mine’ which was closed when the Communists began their reign of terror. Now New Zealand, Australian and British troops from the 2Cth Commonwealth Brigade have each been given a section of the road to reopen. When it is completed, three-ton trucks will be able to reach the heart of this area with trobps, supplies and equipment, normally airdropped at considerable cost.

The mortar platoon of the 2nd Battalion led by Lieutenant J. D. McGuire, of Wellington, went on to the roadirig project as if for jungle operations. Completely armed they travelled up the Perak river in motor-powered canoes, then trekked along the road as far as the Australians and British had cleared it. Supplied from the air, the platoon camped in bashaS built by aborigines for a New Zealand unit operating against the terrorists in the area.

Two parties under Corporal D. A. Bell, of Napier, and LanceCorporal M. Marsh, of Tauranga, set to clearing the completely overgrown road with bush knives

—tough work when it comes to bamboo thickets and strong young trees. Shovels, picks, crosscut saws, axes, wedges and a block and tackle were the only items that could be brought into the isolated area for clearing fallen trees from the road and building bridges. A 12ft road suitable,. when “flying-fox” bridging is completed, for dry weather transport by light vehicles, was cut for nearly two miles. Eight culverts and four bridges were also laid. Big trees beside the road were cleared with explosives by Sergeant B. Lawrence, of Wairoa, and Private T. Ngata, of Tikitiki, so that sunlight could reach the road surface and keep it dry in season.