1964

Having spent six months sleeping in a hammock there were certain advantages in returning to Somerset . A comfortable bed , hot shower in the morning and fresh food would be high on my list .

However , after the vibrancy of my experiences in Hong Kong , Malaya , Singapore and Borneo it took a bit of adjusting to soldiering back in UK especially when the new adjutant , Niel Crumbie , announced he was going to make life hell for subalterns .

I had a new sense of freedom as I had bought my first car for the grand sum of £ 220 (six months savings from Borneo ) . It was ;like having that bicycle all over again . No longer those hideous train journeys with trunks and drunks . At long last I could have a regular girlfriend .

In B Company we had a new company commander who came to us from the Essex Regiment I think . He was a nice guy but was really passed it . He had got the MC during the Emergency in Malaya but had been badly shot up in the process and I don't think ever really recovered .

One could  say 1964 was rather a dull year compared to others . I suppose the highlights were : I went to Buckingham Palace and saw the Queen ; Dorothy graduated as a doctor and I got promoted to lieutenant . It was the year I first met Miss Paterson ( Feb ) !

Historical markers would be : Labour came to power in elections that year : things starting to hot up for the Americans in Vietnam ; PLO founded; Khruschev opens Aswan Dam in Egypt but later replaced by Brezhnev ; problems in Rhodesia with Ian Smith and civil rights gaining momentum in America . It was also the  Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile we uncultured subalterns listened to the Beatles , Cilla Black and Roy Orbison ." That Was The Week That Was" ended.

I went on one long coursee to be trained on anti-tank weapons and mortars .

My social life did improve mainly due to being mobile but that was all to end when in 1965 we deployed to Aden .

THE LAST LAP

If it had not been for the last six weeks I think the Leicesters tour in Borneo would have been described as fairly average for an infantry battalion . However , things did hot on that last lap
with much of it emanating from Ba Kelalan and my key source Sara Dakong .

As I mentioned earlier I had no written orders but on that initial briefing at the Haunted House CSM Smith had stated that we were not allowed within three miles of the border .

This had to be taken with a pinch of salt as in Ba Kelalan the airstrip was only 3km from the border . On the patrols I went on with the SAS we never crossed the border .

When I tasked my own sections I kept them well back from the border unless I was leading them myself . Sometime in Dec 63 whilst on patrol just on the border I located a vacated Indonesian observation post . There were three bashas and up a tree an observation platform .I climbed the ladder up to this observation post ( OP) and using my binoculars could see to the north our little fort by the airstrip . This felt pretty annoying like having a "peeping tom" on your doorstep . We thought we were secure in our fort yet all the time we were being observed .I did not know how long this OP had been in place or when it had been last used .We could not have been engaged by direct fire weapons from this location as the range was too great but the OP could have been used for directing artillery .  Before leaving I booby -trapped the three bashas using 36 grenades . This can be a bit scary as once armed you tip toe back hoping your vibration will not trigger the grenade . Early on in the tour we almost had a serious accident when a soldier forgot to take out the fuse before he did the striker test . He ended up with grenade smouldering in his hand . I was standing next to him and yelled throw it which he did over the wire . Nobody was hurt but it was a close run thing .

Remember years later in 1973 interviewing a young IRA bomber who we had caught in Londonderry. I asked him if he ever got scared making bombs ? He then told me how he had been making this bomb on his bed at home and before inserting the detonator he thought he would check his circuits using a torch bulb .It lit up, he had not wired his bomb correctly and if the detonator had been in he would have gone to his maker. I digress back to the story .

A short time later Sara Dakong came to me to tell me he had located a position where the Indonesians had established a medium machine gun (MMG) position near the border . I took him on patrol and from an adjacent ridge I could see this MMG mounted on a tripod . I had to climb a tree to get a good look . I think the next day my own commanding officer , Peter Badger , came in on I think his second visit . I told him I had located this MMG and did he want me to take it out . I did stress is was probably on the other side of the border . His response was if it is a well planned attack I will back you up which when you think about it was kind of funny . However I took it as a YES .

On the 1st of Jan 1964 I set off with six men and one of my Sarawak Ranger trackers . Just the other side of the border we located the MMG . I left five of the patrol on top of a ridge and went forward with the tracker and Pte Danny Dance. We did a series of hooks through the jungle to get closer to the gun coming back to the ridge track to check our position .As we were making  quite a lot of noise I decided to drop the tracker off and go forward with just Dance . We got within about 50 m of the gun which had a cover over it when an Indonesian came up took the cover off , fiddled about and then replaced the cover . He then headed directly towards us. With the lay of the land he would disappear and then reappear . I got in a position to shoot but he must have stopped for a pee and went back . I got out a small camera and took some photographs . Then I looked across the track & saw Dance lying on his back smoking a cigarette . He was a cool customer who had been in the Israeli Army and the French Foreign Legion . I indicated to Dance that smoking was bad for our health ! I then indicated that we would walk down the track .I think Dance now started to flap a bit because he did enquire in stage whispers whether I had cocked my rifle and did I know what the hell I was doing . I responded affirmative . What I had failed to inform him was that I new the Indonesians were having an inter platoon football match and a sort of stand down day it being New Years Day .

We moved down the track which sort of dipped and then I heard these voices above us. I popped my head up and spotted four Indonesians in a basha lying on their backs . I indicated to Dance four fingers . He had a grenade out ready to throw it : I gave him thumbs down as I thought fragments would come back on us . By means of hand signals I indicated I would jump up and that he would go round the other side . We worked well together somehow Dance and I were instinctively on net . I jumped up and they sure were surprised. The problem was I was not sure what to do next manily due to lack of linguistic skills .Events took over as the second in dived for his weapon ; I shot him and the two furthest away from me dived out the other side only to be shot in the head by Dance . I shot the fourth and then we instinctively knew it was time to get the hell out of it so started to run up the track on this spur towards the MMG. Dance got there first and started taking the  off the cover whilst I stopped two throw a couple of grenades back the way we had come. As we could not unlock the MMG from its tripod we decided to abandon it and get out . We had only about 400m to go to get to safety over a crest line. But suddenly the bullets came whistling over our heads from another machine gun we had not located . We both dived off the track and landed on top of each other. Strangely we both thought we had heard someone say I am hit and started examining each other for wounds . Neither of us had been hit . I said to Dance lets check our magazines . They were both empty ! Our only form of escape was to cross this narrow ravine which was about 18 ft deep and the bottom was covered in what could best be described as bramble bushes . A large fallen tree straddled this ravine . We both gingerly crossed over on this log . If we had fallen off that would have been end game ,the Indonesians in pursuit would have executed us entangled at the bottom of the ravine . We ran for about 15min just get away from the area and then stopped for a breather . We then had a bit of an argument as to which was the best way back . Sense prevailed and we relied on the compass . In theory if we went north for 30 min and then due east we should end up in the Ba Kelalan valley .It worked but what a relief when we hit the home run .

Back at base the next relief was that the rest of the patrol had made their own way back and were safe but the tracker was missing . It would be dark soon but I started to organise a fresh patrol to go and find him . Then we spotted him; the tracker was jauntily making his way back having stopped at several longhouses to celebrate . I sure was glad to see him as all were home safely.

That night we slept in our trenches just as a precaution . That is except for Dance : I got Sergeant Rankin to give him a bottle of rum and he deservedly retired to his hammock .

Because it was dark it was too late to get though to battalion headquarters on the radio and I was unable to give them any details till the next morning . Sergeant Rankin had informed them he had heard firing but knew no details . Now certainly for me things seemed to get difficult because I got no messages back from battalion headquarters for about 36 hours . I did get a signal from the commanding officer of 22 SAS saying well done.( Lt Col John Woodhouse ) .

Later another officer told me that my CO had gone loopy and threatened to Court Martial me but changed his mind when the Brigadier thought it was ok . Later Peter Badger was to claim that when he was questioned by Admiral Sir Varyl Begg ( Commander Fareast ) to the effect " Did he not have control of his own officers " he Badger had responded : " Nelson was famed for turning a blind eye ." Again I am not sure if this story is true .

It is only many years later when Nick van der Bijl was researching for his book Confrontation did I discover that my attack was quoted as an example of what could be done and helped to persuade Dennis Healey , the then Labour Minister of Defence, to sanction Operation Claret whereby cross border attacks of up to company strength to a depth of 10 km were authorised (big change from two ).

I did feel pretty nervous for next few days : bit of shock settling in . It did cross my mind a cat has nine lives , I am 21 and have lost one--eight more to go .

Dance and I were flown up to Long Semado to meet the then Conservative Secretary of State for Defence, Peter Thorneycroft . However , before I went I got a letter from the John Parsons , my first  company commander who was now second in command of the battalion . In it he told me to make it clear to Thorneycroft that the MMG had been on our side of the border . Often wonder how many second lieutenants have been instructed to " fib " to senior politicians ! In the photograph from left to right in the foreground is : Bill Brown my fifth company commander ; Peter Thorneycroft : my commanding officer Peter Badger with the map and me .

Dance and I only spent one night in Long Semado and then flew back to Ba Kelalan . Helicopters played an important in the campaign in Borneo . They were mainly Whirlwinds and Wessex flown by the RAF and Feet Air Arm . The RAF did have a twin rotor helicopter called the Belvedere but it kept crashing and was nicknamed the flying widow . What we really wanted was the American Chinook but it was 20 years later   that the first ones came into service with the RAF. One pilot who was a great favourite with the infantry was Chunky Lord not just because he was a good RAF pilot but he really under understood what it was like for the infantry on the ground . In the back of his helicopter he always had fresh eggs and bread . Also he had a guitar and if grounded because of bad weather would entertain the troops with his folk music .

When the Beverly's came over to give us our weekly airdrop we would throw colour smoke to give them wind direction . Our location was tricky as after ejecting the shutes they had to make a steep turn to avoid crossing the border . We could speak to the pilots on the radio using a special crystal. I remember congratulating one pilot as everything had landed on the airstrip . The reply came back in a strong Australian accent "Glad to be of service mate ." During Confrontation the Australian Air Force and SAS were involved . One Australian SAS patrol had a fatal contact with a rogue elephant . Elephants were not indigenous to Borneo but had been brought in by the Japanese for logging and at the end of the war had gone wild .

Sara Dakong was to turn up trumps again for he was able to tell me that a group of 40 had left Pa Bawn four days ago . They were a mixture of Regular Indonesian Troops (TNI) and ex rebels (TNKU). Their target was Pensiangan which was another of our platoon bases . Based on this information a battalion operation was mounted and assisted by the SAS Mike Peel , another platoon commander in B Coy , caught up with this group and attacked them .

My platoon was not involved and our only scare near the end was when an Indonesian fighter ( Mustang ) flew over the border and headed for an RAF Beverly en route to Bario . Fortunately it veered off and and went back .

It was now the end of Jan 64 and getting time to hand over to 2/7 GR . Somehow I have found that near the end of tours things can not necessary go askew but the balance of equilibrium changes . An SAS four man patrol arrived and I was not sure what their task was to be . The Gurkha platoon commander arrived and somehow went off my interpreter Musa . I never got to the bottom of it . However , the villagers organised a great feast for my platoon and I was presented with that hat .

We flew out to B Coy base at  Limbang where the rest of the Coy had been for the bulk of the tour. I linked up with the trunk I had left behind in Hong Kong . Nobody had bothered to open it and air my clothes most of which were covered in mildew including my smart light weight suit .

That night after supper I sat on the veranda of the Officers' & Sergeants Mess and felt a great weight had been taken off my shoulders . I got very drunk with C/Sgt Hill .The next morning we had a proper muster parade with all four platoons present . No 5 platoon had not done drill for five months .

My last task was to go to Brunei and settle our NAFFI account with the Paymaster . This entailed a two hour trip in a long narrow log boat . As I watched the alligators slip into the water I appreciated we had all gone through a different set of experiences . Ba Kelalan was to become a Company Base with its own artillery . I was lucky that it had been a platoon base .

Things moved quickly as we staged through Brunei and then by river to Labuan Island and the large airport. Then about 48 hrs later we arrived at Stanstead in the rain . My last visual memory of Borneo was of the Golden Mosque . Back in UK it was as if one had moved from a technicolour word into a black & white one.

Customs were not worried about the soldiers' pangas and blow pipes but did get twitchy about the poison for the darts .

It would be thirty years before I returned to Borneo . One thing that did shock us was the news that President Kennedy had been assasinated in Dallas .

GAINING INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence is usually referred to as being Background or Current . Background is everything about a country or area : history , geography , politics , economy , religion , customs etc . Today it is amazing what you can ascertain on Google or the CIA Web Site . Current intelligence is something you can act on ie Where is Bin Laden . Compared with the 1960 s there has been a technological revolution . Although , I presume that in Borneo we were listening to Indonesian radio traffic intelligence in the main was acquired from human sources .

In my area you had to turn the clock back to the War against the Japanese . An SAS officer , Tom Harrison , and his team were parachuted into Bario to make contact with the Kelabits who were harbouring downed American aircrew and protecting them from capture by the Japanese . The SAS also organised them to ambush Jap patrols using their blowpipes . In some longhouses you  still see the shrunken heads of Japanese soldiers . At the end of the War Tom Harrison stayed on in Sarawak and became the curator of the Museum in Kuching  ,the capital . However , in 1963 he came out of retirement and helped mobilise his old mates the Kelabits to intercept the rebels fleeing from Brunei after their failed revolt . He also passed onto the SAS some of his old contacts amongst both Kelabits and Muruts .

One of these contacts was Sara Dakung who lived near the border in Ba Kelalan. I had met  him through CSM Smith and it was eventually information from him that led to Mike Peel and I getting the MC indifferent contacts .

The bonding between Brits and these highland tribes during the War was to pay dividends eighteen years later . However , one thing was clear to me and that was that the local women were off limits and I stressed this to my platoon. If they had established relationships it would have upset the local bucks and intelligence would dry up. It was important to respect peoples customs. The Muruts were exceptionally polite people and saying please and thank you in their language was important , respecting women and giving them privacy when they bathed in the river , not swearing , all these little things were important .Perhaps another thing in our favour was that the Indonesian troops opposite were from Java and were Muslim.

Indonesia is a vast conglomerate and identity is complex. Where we were Muruts lived on both sides of the border. One amusing story is of a tribe who lived in Indonesia ( Kalimantan ) who approached a Political Official in Sarawak and indicated they wanted to live in Sarawak . He stressed how difficult it would be with visas etc . They responded you have got it all wrong we do not want to move we want you to move the border .

The Border Scouts were of some concern . I had inherited 20 from the SAS . They came from different kampongs up and down the valley and varied in age from fifteen to forty . They were not really soldiers but were a source of intelligence .Only about five were any good in the jungle .

This is where another character comes into the picture . The big chief General WC Walker had put a bachelor British Gurkha Lieutenant Colonel John Cross in charge of the Borer Scouts . He was an eccentric character and spoke thirteen different languages . Well I was told he was coming to see me and expected him to arrive by helicopter . Well one of my sentries spotted these two figures coming down the valley : it was John Cross with his Gurkha orderly who had walked from Long Semado two days away . He stayed overnight and we had long talks . Having not talked to another officer for some time it was like a health tonic . I explained  my concerns about the Border Scouts and one fear was that living near the border could easily be kidnapped by the Indonesians . In the end we concocted a plan whereby we got the Border Scouts to burn their uniforms : leaked to the Indonesians we had had a mutiny but continued to use the Scouts as a covert source of information . Not sure how it really worked in the end as we then handed over to 2/7 GR.

When the SAS left the Sqn Comd ,Bill Dodd came in and stressed my job was to gain intelligence. He did not really explain how you did it so I had to start working it out for myself . I wished that after the Jungle Warfare Course I had been sent on a Malay language course , that sure would have helped . I was concerned that an Indonesian Intelligence Sergeant , Paul Padan , had been through my area and gone as far north as Long Semado posing as a trader .

My first move was to get all the headman together and explain it was crucial I be informed of any strangers entering the valley and that they were to use the Border Scouts as runners. I then made contact with Sara Dakong to establish a relationship . He would come in now and again to get ammunition for the pump shotgun the SAS had given him .

Whilst over time informants increased Sara Dakong remained our most valuable source . The Indonesian Paul Padan tried to cultivate our medical dresser but he reported all contact to me . Near the end we did have a girl Mikel Ganang who did the laundry for my opposite number in the Indonesian Army .

We did spend a lot of time on patrol .Some of this was high visibility going from kampong to kampong which was to boost confidence and be part of deterrence but we also climbed up onto the hills which flanked the valley to check for any signs of infiltration . Half way through the tour I was given two Iban trackers from the Sarawak Rangers .These guys were fantastic . I know all the theory about tracking but am frankly quite useless. These trackers could provide you with the most incredible information. In the end I never went anywhere without one .

The key in some ways was you had 800 eyes and ears in the valley and you had to keep them on side.Hearts and Minds was the great cry . Not all my schemes worked. I had arranged for the RAF to drop a 40 gallon drum of kerosene as a Christmas present for the locals but the parachute drifted and landed in a paddy field , split open and ruined all the rice . I then got into the issue of compensation . How much is a paddy field worth : they did not teach you that at Sandhurst .

BEING A PLATOON COMMANDER IN BORNEO

Despite two years at Sandhurst I suppose it does cross the mind of many a second lieutenant  that simple question " will soldiers be prepared to follow me ?" It might sound arrogant but I never really felt I had a problem . Several factors were in my favour . By the time my platoon arrived in Borneo I had been a platoon commander for a year. I had the Jungle Warfare Course behind me and having been out six weeks ahead of the battalion my background knowledge was considerable . Also if you exclude the platoon sergeant and the section commanders I was , despite being only twenty one , two to three years older than the average soldier . In Ba Kelalan I do not think the soldiers were scared but perhaps apprehensive about what lay ahead . There was certainly that feeling of isolation but providing you gave positive direction and applied common sense they were more than happy to follow you : sometimes leadership can be easy .

I , however, was to get a shock when my platoon arrived . In Somerset and Hong Konk I had got on well with the CSM , David Groves , who had been in Korea . As he seemed to control new  recruits when they arrived I tended to get the best ones . Also over the space of a year I had managed to get my best corporal promoted to sergeant and wangled into the platoon good section commanders . In my absence the new company commander, John Heggs, had reorganised the whole company . The 5 platoon that  arrived at Ba Kelalan I hardly recognised . The new platoon sergeant had been in Korea and was frankly passed his sell buy date . Dear old Cpl Crutchley, who had been in Korea, was one of those NCOs who would never make sergeant and had been made the permanent orderly corporal assisting the CSM was now in the front line rather than relaxing back in Company HQ . Harry Rankin the platoon sergeant could drive the soldiers nuts . After an airdrop the soldiers would go to him to get new socks : he would give them one each ! He was however very good at field defences (Korean experience ) much more knowledgeable than me so over time we came to an arrangement on who did what. I never let him go on patrol and excluded him from any dealings with the locals . One had to keep ones anxieties to oneself and start from almost scratch building a new team . Most of the soldiers came from Leicestershire but I had some from Southern Ireland and even Glasgow . These were guys who had gone to Leicester to seek employment and ended up in the Army .

Presented with this situation one has just to get on with it and start building up a new team . It did mean assessing the strengths and weakness of those I had. One new addition was a 3" mortar team commanded by a fiery Southern Irish corporal . I also got two good signallers from the signal platoon .What I should also have been given was an Army Catering cook but that never happened .

When my platoon arrived by light aircraft they appeared in a state of shock . Probably about forty eight hours previously they had their last fling downtown in Kowloon with the Chinese Bar Girls and here they were in the middle of nowhere . Some had not been careful and got some STD on their last fling . I kept my initial brief fairly simple like : this is Ba Kelalan ; this is your home ; that is the airstrip ; the people are Muruts ; we get an airdrop each week ; the borer is that way and we have an SAS troop with us .My aim was to pass on as much as I knew in digestible chunks. Some SAS troopers were hovering around I suppose curious to have a look at these virgin soldiers .

The immediate priority was to allocate the soldiers accommodation inside our bamboo hut and then allocate them to trenches so they knew where to go if we got attacked . That done we could have a meal.

 We developed set routines standing to in our trenches

 at dawn and dusk . After stand down in the morning it would be tea with a paludrine tablet , clean weapons and then breakfast . In the evening I would brief everyone on the priorities for the next day . Early on I started some basic language training . I got our interpreter , Musa , to start with the basics : good morning , good evening , please and thank you and counting to ten. The soldiers would then repeat these phrases five times . They quickly picked up berapa kati which means how much .

In that first month our priority was to improve the field defences . I had more soldiers than the Gurkhas so we needed to expand . As the Gurkhas were much shorter than us their trenches were too shallow so we had to dig  deeper but hit a water table so had to build up with sandbags . We had problems with dogs coming through the wire and setting off our trip flares so we built a second fence and laced the gap between with a belt of panji bamboo stakes made by the Border Scouts . Then we linked the trenches with communication trenches . Later when I was reinforced with other sections we built another fort on the other side of the airfield . I suppose after two months we were pretty pleased with our efforts that is till the torrential monsoon rains arrived and played havoc with all our good work .

Being at 3,000ft was much healthier than operating a lower levels especially mangrove swamp . We , however, were not immune from malaria , scrub typhus and leptospirosis . Malaria is passed on by the mosquito and it was essential to take paludrine ; scrub typhus was transmitted by mites and the best thing was to spray the seams of your clothes with mite repellent and leptospirosis is linked to rats so avoid crossing rivers near kampongs . Early on I had one case of scrub typhus and the commanding officer threatened to sack me if I had another . Well in the last five airdrop demands I had asked for mite repellent and never got any. Egged on by CSM Smith (SAS) I sent a snaughty signal back ending " appreciate cooperation ." Bit risky for a second lieutenant but mite repellent came in the next airdrop . I did end up in hospital for a week with a fever but ended up discharging myself and hitching a helicopter ride back to Ba Kelalan .I was at  one stage reinforced by a section from the Drums but when I checked them out the whites of their eyes were yellow . They had jaundice and had to be evacuated .

We of course were a curiosity for the locals . They had got used to the Gurkhas many of whom had picked up Malay but they had not encountered a Brit Bn and had never seen a black soldier . I had just one whose nickname was "Sunny."

The large white parachutes which we accumulated had to be returned if and when a helicopter came in but mail would frequently be dropped with small parachutes  every colour of the rainbow. These were a prize commodity as we made hammocks and sleeping bags out of them . They were also used for barter with the locals . Then an edict came out that these small parachutes must be returned . Shortly after I had a rare visit from the Brigadier . As he landed he was surrounded by children and by far the prettiest girl was wearing a dress which consisted of three different colours of parachute . He just smiled and besides I would have blamed the Gurkhas .

I have mentioned that airdrop day was the highlight of the week but it was not just the fresh rations . Mail from home was a key factor and seeing a copy of the Leicester There were no mobile telephones in those days . I think one of the most difficult things I had to do was tell  corporal his mother had died .

Soldiers adopted pets and we had a pet monkey and a cub clouded leopard . Think the soldiers were convinced the platoon sergeant had trained the monkey to steal cigarettes . The monkey used to tease the leopard till one day he was not fast enough and the leopard got him by the throat.

Not all my schemes worked. Early on we kept hens so we could have fresh eggs but they lived in the rafters and crapped all over the place . I ordered a feast but one , Henrieta , was reprieved execution as she deposited like clockwork an egg on Cpl Collins bed every day.

When the SAS moved out things changed as we had to take on more patrols and I was responsible for gaining intelligence . But more of that later .

BA KELALAN

Ba Kelalan was in the 5th Division of Sarawak in the interior highlands at 3,000 ft above sea level and about 4 km from the Indonesian border . In fact just at the convergence of the boundaries of Indonesia , Sarawak and Sabah . It was to be my home for the next six months .

The valley through which the River Ba Kelalan flowed was about fifteen miles long and flanked on either side by jungle covered mountains . The valley itself was cultivated with wet paddy fields . Scattered up and down the valley were about nine kampongs which consisted of two to three long houses .These longhouses were substantial wooden constructions with corrugated iron roofs. There would be up to eight families living in a longhouse The people in the valley were Muruts ,whilst in the adjacent valley in Bario they were Kelabits . I doubt if the people had much sense of a national identity towards Sarawak as as far as they were concerned they were Muruts , Kelabits , Ibans or Dayaks etc.The population of the valley was about 800 to 1,000. The majority would spend their entire life in the valley without leaving it.

In many ways it was like going back in time as there were no roads , no electricity ,no telephones and the Ba Kelalan River was not navigable so no boats . The only way in was to walk or by light aircraft .

Our little fort was a bamboo construction and like everything else on stilts . It overlooked a grass airstrip which was vital to the community . Surrounding the airstrip were a couple of longhouses , a school, small administrative building and a church . The Muruts had been converted to Christianity by an Australian Evangelical Church.

Each kampong had a headman and the chief in the valley was the Pengulu . However , I was to discover he was not necessary the most powerful person in the valley . Tribal politics can get quite complicated.There was a Government Representative or Administrator , three Sarawak Police Field Force and a medical dresser (male nurse ) and that was the basic infrastructure but one had to take into account : the Pengulu , a cabal of kampong headmen , the school teacher and the Murut Evangelical Minister . Even then there were other sub structures and unless you spoke Malaya they could be difficult to penetrate .I did not really trust the Police Field Force and was glad when they were withdrawn .

Even at school one had read about the wild men of Borneo and head hunters . The Muruts were essentially passive hill farmers and if headhunting had gone on it was a thing of the past .Some did go hunting in the jungle with blowpipes and dogs but they tended to be of the older generation. Most were content to cultivate their rice fields with the help of domesticated water buffalo. Their diet would be supplemented by pig meat, fresh eggs and a variety of vegetables . 

I have looked up Ba Kelalan on Google and it is amazing to see how it has developed . It still remains pretty isolated although they are trying to develop a tourist industry based on jungle treks.  However, one of the images was of a crashed light aircraft . In my day it was one of the trickiest strips to land on for Army Air Corps pilots . One new development is an annual Apple Festival .

As the British Gurkha officer left shortly after I arrived my little force of two sections of Gurkhas (2/6 GR ) , a Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC ) corporal (SRN qualified ) and a seventeen year old male interpreter (Musa ).

The SAS troop who were commanded by CSM Lawerence Smith opted to live in a nearby re entrant in the jungle . Ba Kelalan was as I have said in the TAOR of A Sqn  22SAS .Although as a second lieutenant I was senior to a CSM he was really the boss and I was , certainly happy to defer to him as he was a veteran of the campaign in Malaya . Many in the troop had been in Malaya and some on that famous operation in Oman to capture the Jebel Akhdar . However , for some Borneo was their first operational tour . When my own platoon arrived our first month was spent improving our field defences but later I got them to go out with the SAS on patrol , initially  day patrols but later for seven days at a time . This was ideal and my soldiers learnt a lot from these more experienced soldiers.

The SAS were structured to gain intelligence . One of the most valuable members of their patrols would be the medic especially if he could speak Malay . Extract a rotten tooth from a Mutut which has been causing him agony and you have a friend for life .

The SAS were designed to operate behind enemy lines but in 1963 cross border operations had not been authorised. After about two months it was decided to pull this SAS troop out and for the remainder of our tour I was in charge of Ba Kelalan. CSM Smith got involved in many other operations and was awarded the MC . Although , the SAS troop had pulled out I was still technically under command of A Sqn . The Sqn Comd was Bill Dodd who much later was my commanding officer in Belfast . Over my time in Borneo I had five different company commanders but due to the lack of helicopters I seldom saw them and really worked direct to battalion headquarters.

The strange thing I did not really have any written directive as to what I was meant to do .This did not really worry me as my task was pretty  obvious : deter-detect-destroy .

We had no maps and made our own. One tended to think on time lines like the the nearest other base was at Long Semado two days to the north.Communications were by means of HF radio but due to the ionosphere you could only get through between 7am and 7 pm.

Our supply chain was air drops . Monday was the highlight of our week -Airdrop Day which meant two days of fresh rations .

MY TIME WITH THE GURKHAS

When India got independence in 1947 some Gurkhas stayed with the Indian Army but four Infantry Regiments came over to the British Army . They were the 2nd , 6th , 7th and 10th Gurkha Rifles. In the 1960s they each had two battalions who were stationed in Hong Kong and Malaya . There was also a Gurkha Engineer Regiment, Signals Regiment and Transport Regiment .

Having originally fought against the Gurkhas we decided it would be a good thing to have the on our side (this was around 1815) and so began a long association . In Borneo we took over from 2/6 GR and handed over to 2/7 GR . During the War there were over a 100,000 Gurkhas in the British Army now they are down to 3,500. They are famed for winning 13 VCs and have a sound reputation which I would not challenge . However , now and again things can go wrong especially if they are not handled properly .

From Singapore I flew to Labuan Island where there was a big logistic base and then made my way by boat to Brunei . Suddenly as you turned a bend in the river there was this magnificent mosque with a golden roof . It was my first and last impression of Borneo . However , I did not spend long there and flew to Sibu in Sarawak where the headquarters of 2/6 GR was located .Shortly afterwards it transpired that there was to be a redeployment so it was not worth sending me up the River Ragang to one of the Gurkha forward companies . As the Gurkhas did not really know what to do with me I mainly ended up collecting visitors from the airport .

As part of decolonisation the British tried to establish Federations in the Caribbean ( Trinidad , Tobago & Jamaica ) ; Africa ( N & S Rhodesia & Malawi ) and in Malaysia ( Malaya , Singapore , Sarawak & Saba). In the end none really worked as conceived . In Malaysia the Sultan of Brunei was not going to join he was not going to share his vast wealth with anyone and Singapore with a predominantly Chinese population decided to go it alone with Lee Kwan Lieu as President .That left Malaya , Sarawak and Sabah . On one of my trips out to the airport I was to encounter a UN Commission which had been sent out to establish if the people of Sarawak wanted to join with Malaya. A large demonstration had been organised primarily by communist Chinese to meet this Commission . At the same time a Gurkha Coy was moving to the airport to redeploy . Hidden behind the airport terminal were two companies of Riot Police. The Gurkhas smiling innocently in their trucks as only Gurkhas can do . The UN group observed this demonstration and then departed. The Riot Police broke cover and the Gurkhas drew their kukris and that was the end of the demonstration.

As part of this redeployment I was pulled back to Brunei Town . This was a fortunate move for me as the other officers in A Coy went off to Tawa in the east I was the only officer left when my own Commanding Officer arrived as part of the advance party . Apart from encountering my first transvite in the OK Bar in Brunei I had kept my nose to what was happening by reading the daily reports from forward locations and studying the map indicating deployments  .I noted there were three independent platoon locations .

When my own CO arrived I went to meet him at the airport and almost forgot to salute him being transfixed by this gorgeous Cathay Pacific air hostess at the top of the steps .

However, about two days later the CO said to me as he was standing next to this large map " Where do you want to go ?" I instantly replied Ba Kelalan. As Ba Kelalan was to be part of the Tactical Area of Operations (TAOR ) of A Sqn SAS  I went to the Haunted House the location of their Headquarters to be briefed . The next day I flew to Ba Ba Kelalan with this SAS troop.

I was lucky to have been in the right place at the right time . My own Coy Comd might not have agreed with the CO preferring to deploy to an independent platoon someone more senior than me. Once ensconced it was going to be difficult to move me . 

JUNGLE WARFARE SCHOOL MALAYA

I went with Capt Bill Brown who was second in command of A Coy and who had done a tour with the Parachute Regiment and Brian Davenport ,a Platoon commander in A Coy, to the Jungle Warfare School in Malacca , Malaya . We were the second tranche of officers/ NCOs to go on the course in preparation for our forthcoming tour in Borneo . The course lasted about six weeks and was mixed with officers and NCOs on the same course . It was truly international with students from : UK , America , Australia , New Zealand , Malaya , Thailand and Sri Lanka .

The only ones I had difficulty with were the Australians ( sorry Kate ) but the officers seemed to have a chip on there shoulder and kept banging on about how they had won the War . On the other hand the Australian NCOs were great .

President Kennedy had just started to get American troops involved in Vietnam , initially Special Forces. The Green Berets had just been formed and deployed ahead of major ground forces . Naturally John Wayne was at the forefront or did that come later ! 
I got on well a Sgt Kelly in the Australian Infantry . I remember we were in the same patrol on this three day navigation exercise . As part of our group was this enormous American in USMC.
He  must have been 6 ft 4 in and belonged to a Recce Unit( presume forerunner of the SEALS ).
He was a really good guy . However , one of the worst types of terrain you can hit are patches of these large ferns that are 10 ft tall. The only way to make progress is for the lead man to raise his rifle above his head and then fall flat. Well whilst negotiating a patch of these ferns this American really got a bad dose of cramps . I looked at Sgt Kelly and he looked at me. Although we did not say a word the thought was crossing our minds "we are going to have to carry this giant out . Well fortunately he recovered but was subsequently killed in Vietnam .

The British a fair amount of residual experience of operating in the jungle with outfits like the Chindits in Burma to the Malayan Emergency . After the War the Chinese Communist who in Malaya who had taken to the jungle and opposed the Japanese expected their reward would be the control of the country even although they were a minority compared with the Malaya population. When this did not happen they went back to the jungle and confrontation lasted till 1958 . It was at this time that the SAS who had been disbanded were reformed to parachute into the jungle and seek them out . Also developed was the Strategic Hamlet concept which the Americans later tried to emulate in Vietnam .

I was really glad I did this course before I went to Borneo.Although ,you cannot learn every thing in six weeks one left with a knowledge of : navigation , tracking , laying ambushes , attacking enemy camps , booby traps etc . It was also my first time away from the battalion after leaving Sandhurst.

What was happening in Blighty whilst I was in the Far east. Britain was refused entry into the EEC ; Kim Philby the MI6 spy escaped to Beirut : there was the Great Train Robbery the Profuma scandal with Christine Keeler . In Iraq General Kassem was assassinated . At Sandhurst the students from Iraq had Kassems photograph on their wall but just in case some of other Generals hidden in their bottom drawer.

In America they closed Alcatraz .

Political correctness was really in vogue then. One officer from Sri Lanka who was reall quite dark and had a waxed moustache said to me " Alan you must appreciate most of my people are Wogs ."

At the end of the course it was not worth sending us back to HK so we stayed in a transit camp in Singapore and awaited being called forward to Borneo . We were to spend six weeks with  2/6 Gurkha Rifles before the Leicesters arrived to take over from them .