Gentlemen, a little something I dug up from my archives. I think some of those twits you have over there would do well to read it and try to understand what a veteran's service means to him. If you feel it might do some good feel free to pass it along to the little shits.
'Twas January 2004. Max Hagan, a veteran of the Malayan Emergency, knowing that his end was near, felt the need to pen the following letter. Max was dying from the cancer that had riddled his body. Max believed that his cancer was caused from the chemicals (almost identical to the Agent Orange that had caused so much grief in Viet Nam) sprayed by the British, along road verges etc, in order to deny cover to the CTs in likely ambush areas.
With the lack of recognition given to veterans of some campaigns, Max wanted to pass on to his daughters – and indeed Australians in general – an understanding of an important part of his life.
This is Max’s story, as he wrote it:
Open letter to my daughters Lee-Anne, Danelle & Narelle & all Australians on behalf of the Malayan veterans. No War Memorial in Canberra, nothing at all.
The Malayan Emergency was not forgotten. It is the war we never mention. Australians, as part of the British Commonwealth, fought and were given the General Service Medal.
The Emergency was a cruel and vicious conflict. As the Communist Terrorists, having no Christian beliefs, held little regard for the lives of others. The history of their activities rivals that of Atilla the Hun for bloodthirstiness. Men, women and children, none were spared in bringing to Malaya the ‘wonderful benefits of communism’ and the communist state. Not only the ‘British oppressors’, but the gentle Malays and the industrious Chinese were to become victims of communist savagery. Murders and maiming became a common method of intimidating the village people and co-ercing them into supplying the terrorists with food and ammunition.
Methods included hacking off the arms of a village headman whilst every villager was forced to look on. Or the disembowelling of women and strangling of small children, none were spared in bringing to Malaya ‘the wonderful benefits of communism’ and the communist state. Not only the ‘British oppressors’, but the gentle Malays and the industrious Chinese were to become victims of communist savagery. Murders and maiming became a common method of intimidating the village people and co-ercing them into supplying the terrorists with food and ammunition.
Methods included hacking off the arms of a village headman whilst every villager was forced to look on, the disembowelling of women and strangling of small children. One terrorist, named Ah Hoi, was known as ‘The Baby Killer’. His specialty was to slit open the belly of a pregnant woman, tear the living foetus from the womb and bash it to death before the eyes of the dying mother.
The first Australians on the ground to take enemy fire was the 126 Transport Platoon. They were doing independent ammo runs up the Cameron Highlands Road in Perak. They gave a lift to 50 British SAS Troopers and Iban trackers. They were ambushed at the 50 mile peg by terrorists, with hot metal flying everywhere. Out jumped the SAS, surprise! Away went the terrorists, leaving behind some blood. None of our blokes hit, trucks copped a lot of holes. Just another day.
An ambush saw Sergeant C.C. Anderson, one of the few aboriginal NCOs in the Army at that time, killed. He received the posthumous award, MID. Later, 2RAR moved into Sungei Siput, in Perak. An action took place known as ‘The Pipe-line Ambush’. Three Australians were killed and one wounded.
The RAN was there – HMAS Quadrant, Arunta, Warramunga and Tobruk - in support of RN Frigates, Police launches, harbour defence vessels, plus bombardments of terrorist camps. The RAAF was there for the 12 years. Resupply to ground troops, strikes on communist hide-outs. In less than eight years they flew 4,000 sorties and dropped 34 million pounds of bombs.
The CTs employed devilish new twists in their ambush against Commonwealth troops. Ambushers hid on one side of the road, then our troops would instinctively jump out the opposite side when ambushed to where the terrorists had planted pointed stakes in the undergrowth, onto these men would be impaled. Another technique was the’ Venus Fly Trap’ where the lead man of a patrol would fall into a carefully disguised pit lined with sharpened bamboo stakes that would embed into their sides like teeth. The force of the fall allowed them to bend, but then they closed in, making the slightest movement excruciatingly painful.
Artillery units on foot patrols as infantry. Snakes, tigers, wild boar, leeches and insects. Black, thick jungle. The enemy – the fear. No resupply continued for another seven days. Carrying 80 lbs of gear. Aussie soldiers are good, bloody good!
All Corps of the Australian Defence Force served. Sisters of the Royal Australian Nursing Corps, Dental and Field Ambulance, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. All were held in high esteem.
4,420 Australians served in this conflict. The lessons learnt were to prove valuable to Australian soldiers a decade later in South Viet Nam. Sadly the lessons were costly: 9 RAAF, 27 soldiers killed on active service and 57 injured. These Australians rightly occupy a place among their mates from other conflicts. A solid place in Australian history.
A War or Emergency? It was a war, but there was a curious reason why it was never declared one. Out of regards for the London insurance market, on which the Malayan economy, based on rubber and tin, relied for cover. No-one used the word ‘war’. The misnomer continued for 12 years for the simple reason that insurance rates covered losses of stock and equipment through riot and civil commotion in an emergency, but not in a civil war.
Total terrorist casualties: 13,157
Total Security Forces casualties: 4,425
Total civilian casualties: 4,658
Total incidence: 21,022
Contacts: 8.739
The paramount ruler of Malaya, the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, said that the debt that the people of this country owed to the Security Forces, both Malayan and Commonwealth, for their sustained and courageous effort over the 12 years cannot be over-emphasised.
Throughout the long campaign every terrorist killed or captured was the result of patience, determination and skill.. With the terrorists becoming fewer and fewer as time went by, the grimy sweat and toil of unceasing patrols, follow-ups, operations etc, became more gruelling. In no other war could any fighting force have displayed more power of endurance and sheer guts than the troops and police from the British Commonwealth who scored victory over communist domination in Malaya.
The Government sent us to Malaya to serve in the Commonwealth Force to protect the Commonwealth from communism.
We don’t even have a plaque in Canberra. All Australian governments have ignored us. Australians don’t know of us.
Yet, if Australia ‘called’ – these Malaya and Borneo vets would answer, with artificial limbs, zimmer frames and walking sticks. Proud Australians ready to defend their country. Many were born elsewhere - the UK, Iceland, Europe, Indonesia etc. They came to Australia and became Australians. They fought for their country. They are Aussie vets.
They are, I am proud to say, ‘My mates”.
Max Hagan
Ellen Brook
WA 6069
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