Quieter landing for WWII veteran
When Brian Winchcombe's landing craft hit the beach that morning in 1945 it was clear he was part of something big.
By the time the Australian soldiers stormed ashore at Tarakan Island, just off Borneo, on May 1, the big guns had already been at work.
As part of the operation to liberate Borneo from Japanese occupation, a massive naval and air bombardment had preceded the landing.
Mr Winchcombe, 89, said yesterday the beach was a scene of "incredible confusion and desolation".
"High-powered bombs do a lot of damage," he said.
He also recalled it was incredibly noisy, and traces his hearing problems back to that day.
Mr Winchcombe had graduated from Perth Modern School in 1943 and on June 6, 1944, now famous as the day of the Allied landings in Normandy, he reported to the army barracks in Claremont.
He was 18 and soon headed to training camps at Harvey and then in the Eastern States, including an intelligence course.
Then came learning "the technique of staying alive in the jungle and not getting shot".
He was deployed to Morotai, which is now part of Indonesia, and joined the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion as it prepared for the landing at Tarakan.
"It was pretty exciting in a way," Mr Winchcombe said. "Everywhere there were big things about to happen."
He said the infantry units that were first ashore took the brunt of the Japanese resistance.
Mr Winchcombe was a member of the battalion's intelligence section and among other duties his unit was given the job of organising and securing the beachhead and running messages.
He said as the infantry moved inland, they followed on, maintaining supplies, and spent a couple of weeks there before returning to Morotai, regrouping and landing at Balikpapan, Borneo, on July 1.
The Balikpapan operation was the biggest amphibious landing by Australian forces in World War II.
Mr Winchcombe said it was "more highly organised" than the Tarakan landing and was accompanied by more equipment support, but still encountered determined Japanese resistance.
"We had no sooner settled ourselves in when the war ended," he said.
Victory in the Pacific came on August 15, 1945, and for Mr Winchcombe it arrived with little fanfare.
"A few people passed by the tent and said 'the war's over'," he said. "It was sort of unbelievable."
After the war, Mr Winchcombe completed an engineering degree at the University of WA, married and raised a family and went on to spend 26 years as an engineer with Main Roads.
Next month Mr Winchcombe will be among eight veterans whom the Federal Government will take back to the region to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the campaign.
