Forty in Brunei

Under Fire landing at Dannar, Limbang

Brunei Insurrection Started While At Mombasa.

The previous page was: "Col Manners"

40 cdo RM; were on board H.M.S. Bulwark the ship was docked in Aden, ready to be transferred over for her sister ship; another Commando Carrier H.M.S. Albion; which had been re-fitted out at Devonport Dockyard, back in the UK.

Whilst we were in Aden there was a nasty incident involving a Royal Air Force plane that had crash landed in the Yemen; it had come down in hostile country where there was practically no law and order as we understand it.

The two British pilots were pulled from their plane by fanatical tribesmen. They were ill treaded to say the least and then their heads were cut off. Their heads were then put on polls and they were paraded around Village, with them all cheering like it was a medieval carnival.

H.M.S. Albiom with 40 Commando Royal Marines aboard immediately prepared and set sail. We lined along the edge of the upper deck in our uniforms for our normal Ceremonial leaving harbour drills.

There were two Tugs; both struggling against a very strong tide. They tried to pull the big ship out into the middle of the channel; but both tugs were not powerful enough for their job; they were too small to hold the big ship in place.

The Duty Officer could clearly see the dangers arising he shouted through his megaphone: "Bear off for'ard" and the crew struck the clasp which released the towing line and moved away.

He then shouted: "Bear off aft" but none of the crew on the tug could understand English. After several calls he had no option but to give the to start the engines. We felt the mighty engines roar into life under our feet and we heard and could see the water churning and swirlling about around where the propellers were.

The crew of the tug were asked once more to release the towing line, this time by hand signals and the megaphone, but again they did not understand him. He pointed to the churning water and they still did not catch on.

Col Manners

Second incident Carrier Faced Danger

When the mighty ship started drifting the Captain had no other option but to sail the big ship under her own steam; which she did. The power of the big ship pulled the tug along sideways; still the crew did not release the towing line. Everybody there was watching the occurrences in total disbelief.

The great power of the Albion pulled ahead and the tiny tug tilted over onto its side. The crew realising the problem started jumping into the water. Other boats were milling around; some going to the rescue.

Then the tug rolled over and it was up-side-down in the water releasing the line. We could clearly see the bottom of the hull; people swimming in the water; others trying to help, there was confusion and shouting; all we could do was watch in amazement.

Needless to say it was too late to save the tug; and after a while the bottom of the tug sank slowly down into the deep water. We later heard that the two Yemeni seamen in the boiler room were killed; while the others who managed to dive or jump over the side before she went over; were all saved.

This incident would never have happened if the two pilots who went down in the Yemen had been treated humanely. But the savage behavior of the Yemeni's forced the British to investigate the situation as quickly as possible.

We landed where the plane had crash landed by helicopter; and there was nothing left of it except the empty shell; everything had been stripped out.

The tribes people came up close to us; they all carried fancy decorated extra long barrelled rifles for long range shooting; but they did not fancy their chances against us. We stayed for a couple of days as a show of force then we boarded in the choppers and headed for some leave in Mombasa.

The Third Incident In Borneo

The ship's crew and the Commandos were enjoying the fruits of African shore-leave, that Mombasa, in Kenya has to offer. The Commando Carrier was tied up along the quayside; she had the latest MK 10 helicopters and new landing craft on board.

Suddenly action was required in December 1962, when 42 Commando Royal Marines answered a request and was involved in a rescue mission in the town of Limbang, Brunei, Borneo.

Sailing under orders the Albion sailed at full speed, heading as fast as she could go for Borneo; the big ship was travelling so fast she shuddered as she bashed her way through the waters of the Indian Ocean.

We heard all about the action over the ships radio, details were relayed to us on the mess decks as the action happened. The names of the Commandos who had been killed were also mentioned. Most of us knew one or another of the Marine's whose names were listed as killed in action.

I had joined-up with Scouse Kearns we signed and received the Queens Shilling at the same time; then we were told to report to the Depot at Deal. He was one of those who were mentioned that had been killed. I immediately felt like I wanted revenge for his sake.

Land And Re-Capture Dannar

Knowing we were going into action we checked our weapons were in full working order; practising by firing into the sea. We checked our gear that we were taking with us and did some physical training on the journey.

When we arrived off the coast of Brunei most of the main action was over, but not all of it. There were a lot of TNKU rebels to round up; and they were hiding somewhere in the jungle.

Our first mission was to land and recapture the Kampong of Dannar; it was the largest village in this area, in the district of Limbang. On the River Limbang.

Dannar had a big school for a village, a police station, a shop and a small community; all living in jungle bashers near the school. Most of them were built on stilts, standing about five feet off of the ground.

I was the lead scout in 1 Troop 'A' Company of 40 Commando Royal Marines. So we were numerically positioned to be the first to go in, I had not given this a thought before. We were armed and equipted, ready for action with helicopters waiting on the flight deck waiting to take off.

Because we were the first troop our chopper went in towards Dannar leading the wave. The rebels' shot at the helicopters but they didn't hit ours, every shot went wide or they fired at another helicopter. The pilot reported back to the ship that we were being fired at; over his radio each time he thought a shot was directed at us.

Being lead scout I was first out of the chopper, it hovered about four feet or so above the ground; I leapt from the chopper and went to ground in the long grass, crawled off at a tangent from where I had landed on the deck. The rest of our section did the same. When we were all disembarked; which was quickly we saw the chopper fly away safely.

when I hit the ground the first thing I did was flatten myself in the tall grass and switched the safety catch off of the M16 Armalite Rifle, and pointed it in the direction of the enemy, while covering those jumping out behind.

When the Troop was all on the ground, I and my partner on the other side of the Troop started the skirmishing procedures. We jumped up at the same time and dashed forward fifteen paces and hit the deck, then another two Marines on each flank of our section would follow suit.

Then the next pair carried out the same procedure and so on. When we closed in on the rebels they had vanished, we could hear the scrambling noise of them charging through the jungle quickly trying to get away.

Sarawak Rangers were approaching

We took up defensive positions around the parameter of the school sports field that we had landed on; the grass had grown long since Dannar had been in the rebels control. I positioned myself behind a big Cedar tree with very large roots that gave me ample protection. I was covering the track.

Corporal Roberts asked for the casualty report; there were none. He shouted: "if you see anybody shoot them."

I replied: "I can see someone."

He said: "shoot them."

I answered: "they are Sarawak Rangers."

"Don't shoot them," he hollered.

It was then we discovered that it was a two pronged attack on Dannar, with the Commandos landing in helicopters, and the Sarawak Rangers approaching in fast boats from the river.

The rebels that had fled from us had ran into the path of the Sarawak Rangers. There was a short exchange of fire; after the gun battle with one of the rebels getting killed; the others knew they were beaten. They threw down their weapons and put up their arms in surrender.

Killed two policemen and a school teacher

We soon had control of the Dannar Kampong. Then people slowly immerged coming out of the jungle. We learned from them, when the rebels attacked the village they had killed two policemen and a school teacher; everybody else had ran into the jungle.

After a couple of days with Law and Order restored; the reinforcements for the police and another teacher brought the village life back to normal.

The dead rebel had seventeen bullet holes in him. His body was taken away by helicopter. The other rebels were sent for trial; where they were all eventually sent to jail.

Lieutenant-Colonel D.P.L. Hunter our Commanding Officer picked me out as his watch-man. I had to make sure no-one attacked him during his interrogation of the prisoners, I also had to witness every procedure was carried out properly.

We did cordon and searches of several of the larger villages. The Commandos would surround the village moving in after dark; and making a tight cordon around it. I went with the C.O. by boat if it was on a river.

The reason for cordon and search procedures was, rebels could live in the jungle without being caught. But at night they liked to go home and have some food or sleep with one of their wives.

My job was to approach the basher first and enter with my M16 ready for action the C.O. was next, close behind. We checked everybody's credentials, those that were incorrect we put in another boat entirely for prisoners, along with any person we suspected of not belonging to the basher or not being a member of the family.

Non-stop patrolling in deep jungle

We used a friendly approach talking with the natives and their families and asking them if they knew where there were any strangers staying in their part of the jungle, Or if they knew any of the names on our wanted list.

It was logical to think that should a rebel choose to live on or in another person's region of jungle; then they would more than likely want to be rid of them.

We kept to our routines of searching and talking; which eventually paid off. When one person told us where some rebels' was hiding; and we rounded them up and took them away; the others started helping us also.

A boat passed us going the other way with four very pretty scantly dressed ladies of the jungle; they waved and smiled to us and we waved and smiled back. When we stopped a native said to us: "that man you waved at is on your wanted list."

We hadn't looked at the man, but we had the ladies. Our inflatable was much faster than his outboard motor. When we caught up with him he was indeed on our wanted list; We took him away as our prisoner and left the ladies with a boat to get home with; but they were now, no-longer smilling.

We were doing very well at rounding up the rebels on our list; which was getting smaller all of the time. However there was one person whom we wanted the most; he was Brunei's 'Most Wanted Criminal' and he was somewhere in our district.

We continued to round up the rebels that had fled into the jungle hoping to get away. Unfortunately for them the locals always knew who and where they were; and they continued to tell us where they were hiding.

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Then Came The Breakthrough

What we needed badly was someone to inform us where our man was hiding? And sure enough we got our tip off; our friendly manner was rewarding us.

At midnight four of our section and our Iban tracker took the inflatable down the river; we cut the engine and drifted with the tide. Our tracker knew the district well and said he could lead us to our destination.

This he did; but to our surprise, our rebel got away. The kettle he was boiling hot water in for a cup of tea; was near to boiling-point.

Dawn was breaking; our Iban tracker was able to follow him, but each time we surrounded the basher he was using as a safe house; he escaped.

We stopped at a Iban long-house and sat in the centre with the men of the tribe and had a drink of warm water with them. This was when they told us we were getting close to our man and that we were travelling in the right direction.

We followed him to five safe houses and each time he evaded us. We arrived back at base only to find our man had given himself up because we got so close to him. He also stated that he surrendered because he was frightened of being shot on sight.

Volunteers were asked to take him to Dannar; I stepped forward because it was believed he was responsible for shooting the members of 42 Commando who had died. I wanted to be sure he reached his destination for the crimes I believed he had done.

Because I had been out all night and day the Troop Officer did not want me to escort the prisoner. When Corporal Roberts mentioned that I had joined up with Scouce Kearns; he agreed that I could escort the prisoner; but he would come along also.

We finally achieved our objective; and without any casualties. It seemed once we had caught Brunei's most wanted criminal our services were no longer needed. We boarded H.M.S. Albion and returned to Singapore.

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