The following article is taken from SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN, July 1995 issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the taking of Balikpapan.
Things an infantry man never forgets
My most vivid memory would be the happenings to Don Company on 3rd July, 1945. We had landed at Balikpapan the day before, having left Morotai on 25th June. I was Number 2 on the Bren in Number 1 Section, 16th Platoon. Our section leader was Tom Bryan. From memory our section was in a sort of gully about 150 metres from Nurse Hill. Tom said, ‘We are going in. Put your bayonets on, we may have to skewer some of these blokes.’ I don’t think he had moved forwards ten yards when Tom Bryan was shot through the mouth and he died instantly.
Garney Tobin then took over as Section Leader. Reg Anderson, Number 1 Bren gunner, and I took cover behind a fallen tree while intense Jap fire whizzed over our heads. During a lull in the fire, Reg said, ‘Let’s go!’ and off to within twenty yards of the crest of the hill. The Japs were yelling out in their own lingo but Reg got away a full magazine from the Bren while I got half-a-dozen pot shots from my .303. A Jap slug went right through my felt hat (Reg and I both had felt hats) knocking it right off my head. I turned to Reg and said, ‘Look at that!’ His head fell to one side – he had been shot through the eye. I managed to pull him down below the ridge but it was sometime later that I realised he had died.
My attempts to recover the Bren were futile because of the heavy fire. I had no idea where the rest of my section were but I ran into Captain George Henderson, our company officer in charge, and on hearing my story suggested I make another attempt to recover the Bren. While crawling back up the hill I ran into Bob Horswood and some of his section coming down who told me, ‘Don’t go any further, the Japs are coming down.’
I later re-joined Number 1 Section. Garney Tobin had done a marvellous job that day getting the section out. We took Nurse Hill next day.
Reg Anderson was 20 years. I was 19 and Tom Bryan was in his 30s.
By Ken Gladstone, Don Company
NOTES:
Balikpapan: a town in East Kalimantan province of Borneo; site of an important oil refinery captured by Japanese forces in 1942
Morotai: small island in the Maluku Islands captured from the Japanese in September, 1944; used as a base for the liberation of The Philippines
Number 1, Number 2: a Bren gun required two men to operate it – one to aim and fire, the other to keep the ammunition supplied
Tom Bryan: TM Bryan QX16774
Nurse Hill: Nurse, Nail and Nobody were army code-names for certain geographical features
Garney Tobin: Corporal Garnet Tobin, NX85775
Reg Anderson: RA Anderson, QX62771
George Henderson: Captain GA Henderson, QX4144
Bob Horswood: Lance Corporal RJ Horswood, QX18225
Ken Gladstone: KN Gladstone, NX202679