Jack's Story

Private NX17557 John Oliver Edward Andrews of the 2/31^st Battalion Australian Imperial force (AIF), in the 2^nd world war 1939-1945. Jack was my grandfather he was born on the 10^th of April 1925 in Parramatta New South Wales Australia.

Private Andrews joined the AIF in 1943 when he was 18 years old. The reason Jack joined the army were not simple reasons for instance He had many uncles fought in the 1^st world war 1914-1918, several of his uncles had come home gassed or wounded, another urgent reason he joined was because by 1943 the Japanese were a very serious threat to Australia.

When Jack first joined he was sent to the Liverpool army camp, now known as Holsworthy training. From Liverpool he was sent to Bathurst where he spent as unknown number of months. From Bathurst he was sent to Canungra the jungle warfare school as it was expected by the army that he would have to fight in the jungles of New Guinea or the islands.

After Jack’s training he was assigned as a reinforcement to the 2/31^st Battalion, who were just returning to Australia from the wav campaign in New Guinea. The Battalion conducted extensive and prolonged jungle training in the Athtean tablelands in Queensland for the remainder of 1944.

On the 12^th of may 1945 the Battalion embarked for mort island which was the staging area for Australian Assault on the Japanese occupied Borneo the ally assault began on the 1^st of July 1945 at 9am, the waves of the 18^th and 21^st brigades hit the shore from their assault craft the enemy troops with drew to their bunks and trenches as they had always planned to do.

Jack’s brigade did not land until the following morning on the 2^nd of July. On the 3^rd of July Jack's battalion 2/31^st was ordered to advance to chiltondradand to secure a place from which attacks can be made.

During the campaign in Borneo they lost 5 officers and 163 other ranks to give an example of the type of fighting experienced by Jack I will Quote an account written and witnessed by Bob Curtis a war correspondent for the Daily Mirror news paper about the battle of coke hill in which Jack lost his best friend. Curtis Wrote

“The enemy had not fired in reply to the Australian artillery barrage or after it was lifted there was no movement on coke hill nothing could disturb the low cloud of dust and smoke hanging over it. How could anyone know that from the concealing jungle malevolent black eyes were watching and waiting, our men were creeping into an ambush the 3 tanks and 3 infantry sections moved down the road about 20 yards and then moved slowly alertly down on either side.

And than from both sides of the jungle and from the brow of the hill its self screamed a cataract of lead the infantrymen were caught in a dreadful trap. They could not advance while to retreat would hem them in a cutting. Some flattened themselves in the deep ditch like gutters at the side of the road (It was here that Jack rolled his best friend into the gutter after he had been hit in the hip by a Japanese machine gun fire, but the Japanese had a machine gun firing along the ditch and Jacks best friend was killed when raked in the ditch.) In this hemmed in road space, about six yards long, the murderous fire continued for about 90 minutes. One tank stood by keeping covering fire while another tank stagged carrying 3 men on its deck wounded bodies all around, the road and gutters were stained with blood, back up the road where the road starts to dip into the cutting the tank commander had fallen back shot through the heart into the arms of Lieut-Cornel Robson plenty of volunteers were ready to face death in an attempt to bring out the wounded. One of them was Private Hughie ‘Angel’ Dougless there he was, down the road scrambling from wounded man bandaging them tying them up. Why was he not being riddled? Then Dougless saw a Jap officer with a machine gun into position to mow down our wounded. With this Jap party less than 50 yards away Dougless seized an Owen gun and out there in the open he squatted down took steady aim and opened fire killing and wounding the Japs.

Magnificently he alone broke up the enemy drive and those who watched agree that he saved the lives of 4 of our wounded.”

Jack was one of 6 men who walked out alive from this ambush at coke hill in Balikapapan Borneo.

For the first week or two in August news of Japanese expected acceptance of the surrender terms, formulated at Potsdam, resulted in slackening down of offensive operations. It was designed to avoid as possible loss of valued Australian lives: the “cease fire” might be sounded at any time. This was, roughly, the position when, on the 15^th of August, at 9am in Australian Eastern Standard time, the announcement of surrender was made by the leaders of the Allied nations.

Representatives of the Japanese nation were summoned to Manila, given their instructions for the next steps to be taken and sent back. Preparations for the occupation of Japan itself were put in hand and on the 28^th of August allied naval forces steamed into Tokyo Bay.

Representatives of all the allied services operating in Balikpapan were aboard the Australian frigate H.M.A.S. Burdekin at the rendezvous fifty miles of the mahakam River delta.

The General Officer Commanding the sixth Divison called a parade of representatives of every unit of his division on the 13^th of September, when a simple ceremony was staged on the Wom airstrip. The Japanese Eightieth Army arrived in jeeps at the southern end of the strip and moved slowly forward until they were twenty yards away from the table at which the General was seated. The instrument of Surrender was road by the interpreter to Adachi, who then affixed his signature. The Japanese Officers then handed over their swords, placing them on the table.

The final surrender ceremonies in which Australians were prominently concerned were those in which the Japanese commanders at Nauru an Ocean Island surrendered there forces to Brigadier J.R. Stevenson (11^th Brigade) on the 13^th of September the Japanese forces surrendered their swords.