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."
In 1995 at a “Tuak” rice wine drinking session at the home Tusau Padan, he regaled me with a story so unbelievable, it sounded like a drunken tale.
Born in the Indonesian highlands Tusau witnessed a dastardly incident where 68 Europeans including 22 civilians--13 male Sarawak Civil servant from Sibu, three priests, three spouses and three children who were shot, bayonetted and dumped into two mass graves in 1942.
A day after the Japanese captured Kuching on December 26, 1941 they left Sibu to travel by the Rajang River to reach the Dutch Retreat at Long Nawang three weeks away by boat.
Led by the Sibu resident and Native Affairs officer Andrew McPherson from Scotland, they did not surrender as instructed to by the Rajah.
Among them were Sarawak Constabulary Assistant Commissioner Desmond Vernon Murphy from Ireland and Francis Mansel the Divisional Treasurer and Postmaster.
All three who had ASIAN wives and children, headed unwittingly to their nemesis at Long Nawang. McPherson was the father of two children from an Iban from Kapit—Bibi and Bujang who were toddlers when he left.
Hajah Bibi was the mother of Datuk Nancy Shukri who is Malaysia’s Tourism Minister and son Bujang the father of prominent Group CEO and Executive Director Dato’ Anthony Bujang.
Murphy’s wife was a Kuching-based Javanese and Mansel’s wife a prominent local Japanese who moved with him to Sibu.
Mansel’s had a surviving son Edward 80, while Murphy’s grandchildrenn are lawyer Malcolm, Melvin and Melissa Murphy a journalist.
When they arrived at Long Nawang, an idyllic village in the remotest part of Borneo on January 22, they thought they had found their Shangri la.
In early 1942 while McPherson and his group were adjusting to the village the Japanese captured Tarakan and killed 255 Dutch soldiers.
Balikpapan fell on January 25 when the Japanese command moved their garrison at Samarinda.
By early April, a small detachment of about 60 Dutch officers and non-commissioned officers and privates under Lt W.J.A. Westerhuis (including Westerhuis’ wife) headed for Long Nawang.
Arriving at Long Nawang after an arduous nine-week journey Lt Westerhuis took charge of the Long Nawang, a former Dutch outpost.
