Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
The forgotten war: The Malaysia-Indonesia Confrontation NZ involvement: 1965-1966
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
THIS rarely mentioned conflict was fought largely along the Malay-Indonesian border in Borneo. New Zealand joined Britain and other Commonwealth nations aiding Malaysia. Mike Cole was 17 years-old and fresh out of naval training school when he was posted to the undeclared war flaring between Indonesia and the infant Malaysian state. He says his mother threw up her hands in horror at the news, but he wouldn't have traded the experience for anything.
Initially, he says, he didn't understand the so-called "confrontation" he was serving in. He was just keen to get out and see the world. "You never thought you'd be in danger, which you were all the time. You just went up and did your job," he says. As a radar operator on HMNZS Santon, a ton-class mine sweeping vessel, Seaman Cole and his tight-knit crew patrolled the Singapore and Malacca Straits intercepting Indonesian raiders attempting to slip into Malaysian territory.
The Santon and fellow Kiwi minesweeper the Hickleton conducted more than 200 patrols in the first year of the conflict, dealing with 20 covert Indonesian incursions. Mr Cole says his tour of duty mixed the excitement of an overseas experience with the boredom and bad food that characterises much of military life in war and peacetime. "A lot of it was just boring patrols, like most wars are – boring bits with occasional dust ups."
Mostly the Santon stopped suspect vessels and took the crew into custody. He says fortunately the Indonesian navy never attempted to cross the territorial line and the conflict ended abruptly with an internal Indonesian coup in 1966. These days he says people know so little about the "confrontation". Occasionally he's asked about his medals.
"It was a small war that was readily forgotten, which is a shame," says Mr Cole. It was the camaraderie he remembers most and Mr Cole reckons in his 23-year naval career he never enjoyed a posting as much as his time on HMNZS Santon. This year he'll reunite with some of his old crewmates at a reunion in July – the 40th anniversary of the last combat engagement involving a New Zealand naval vessel. The source.....
hey my grandpa served in this forgotton war and im starting to research it. do you no any website ect email me on loraajayy@googlemail.com :)