Screwjack

Island Hopping

The undeclared war with Indonesia now continued with Indonesian infiltrations in Borneo and Sarawak. Captain Stan Yates and some of our Gurkha drivers were detached to join the British forces there. In Kluang we were occasionally confined to the town area, but I believe there was no further problem on mainland Malaya. Malaya had achieved independence in 1957 and we were there by invitation. In 1965 The GASC became The Gurkha Transport Regiment (GTR), so we were no longer “The Gas Company”, being now 34 Company GTR Workshop REME.

I decided to go on the raft to explore some of the small islands in the sea off Mersing. These islands were less than 2 miles off the mainland shore. My three volunteers could wear what they liked now. I borrowed a more powerful outboard Johnson engine from the Gurkha Engineers and we loaded the raft again, complete with the Bedford canopy roof. This was to provide shade in addition to shelter from rain. The first island was dense with trees full of monkeys. The monkeys got very excited by our arrival. They probably didn’t get out much. I decided to leave Monkey Island to the monkeys and go on to another island. The shores there were lined with coconut palms, and all seemed quiet, so we moored the raft and went ashore to explore. I was delighted to find a large cool cave in which to shelter for the night. After some swimming we made tea and our evening meal. At nightfall we moved into the cave. In the darkness we soon realised that we were not the only occupants. Bats began to arrive and cling to the roof above us. More and more arrived and for obvious reasons it was better to set up our camp beds on the sand near the raft. After breakfast next morning we went back to Kluang.

I was so pleased with the performance of the raft with the Johnson outboard that I decided to see how fast it would go in racing trim. On another weekend with another three volunteers we went to the Western coast village of Batu Pahat. With just a driver aboard, our speed trials began. The raft was able to go fast but above a certain speed the bows rose ever higher above the water so the driver had to slow down. The driver had to stay at the rear with the outboard control lever. I could have put one or two men at the front, but a more elegant and efficient solution would have been to mount the outboard engine just a bit further forward, and rig the controls to enable the driver to sit near the front. That would have to wait for another time.

Back in Kluang our OC Major Wilson said that my raft expeditions only made him “sick with worry,” but I had now decided to postpone any further development of oil drum racing until a future posting. I now had to study two books on industrial administration for the IMechE exams, which I took in Singapore. There was one question that went something like this: “Outline your policy for replacements of high overhead lights in a largearea workspace”. A smart answer or formula for this may exist. If so, I was unaware of it but I attempted a common-sense answer. Anyway, I passed the exams.

The Army authorities notified Captains in our area that Captain-to -Major practical promotion exams would soon be held. We were invited to attend a number of paper exercises in Singapore. I did not attend any of them. I went to the 1st/7th Gurkha Rifles officers’ mess one evening and asked how they operate in War. After some thought, two of them came up with “Cordon and Search”. Simple, but OK for the jungle. Then we were told that the practical promotion exam would be based on NW Europe terrain and the Army publication, “The Infantry Battalion in Battle”. So, no cordoning or searching. I read the book several times and with 24 other assorted Captains I turned up for the exam on some open ground. At Sandhurst we had done similar stuff as if we were Divisional Commanders. This was simpler, we were just Battalion Commanders. At the end of a demanding day, the presiding officer read out our marks. Of the 25 candidates I had the highest mark! The president congratulated me in front of the others, saying it was remarkable that a REME officer had excelled in an infantry test. I should have asked him to write that to Major Wilson. I needed a few brownie points there.