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shelling us again, and this went on for hours, until after dark.
'When the shelling started again, everyone said: "Right. Let's go!" And they all headed for slit
trenches or whatever. I just dropped behind the nearest little tree, up a slope. It was great cover
- three inches around. But it was enough for me. I wasn't worrying. I thought I'd just sit this one
out. And all of a sudden it was dark, and the shelling stopped.
'There was no noise. It was completely silent. A couple of times I called out, gently, to see if
there was anybody about, and I got no answer. And I thought: Well, this is very peculiar. And
then all of a sudden I heard something coming up the hill. I thought: God! Well, I just don't
know. If that's one of ours, I think he would have answered. But I wasn't going to call out again.
So I waited. The footsteps got nearer and nearer and nearer. And I thought: He's going to stand
on me in a minute. And I was ready to get up and find out who it was. Anyway he stopped.
And I waited, and he fired a Very pistol - or a similar gun to a Very pistol. It was a Jap.
Obviously a forward scout. So I shot him with my 303.
'There was no other way. Either I shot him or he shot me. And I didn't want to be shot. I then
thought: I better get out of this, I'm in trouble. I reckoned that if he was a forward scout, the
others wouldn't be far behind. Obviously none of our boys were there as they would have been
firing by now. I was there on my own.
Now there was one track out of that place, running parallel with the coast. It was the only road
in and out. So I thought: I'll walk up there and see what happens. And I did. And all of a sudden
I heard them, talking to each other not far away. And they started shouting and they were on
both sides of the road. Japanese on this side and Japanese on that side and Clemence in the
middle. So I took off. I lifted up the old feet and ran. I thought: There's got to be somebody on
our side back here. And I must have gone about 200 yards when I was challenged by an
Australian voice. I thought: Thank God for that! I hope he doesn't shoot me. I told him who I
was and he said: "Right. Well, come on, mate. But don't make any mistakes." I said: "I won't!"
When he saw me I was OK.
'So I joined this infantry battalion, and I stayed with them, and all night we were in and out of
skirmishes. All we were doing was firing at gunshots coming our way. They'd fire, and we'd fire.
They knew where we were by the shots, and we knew where they were. All we did was fire
into the jungle all night where we saw flashes in the dark.
'Towards dawn, one of the officers said: "I want you." He told me and another chap to pick up
a wounded bloke who had been shot in the chest, and we took him back to the Regimental Aid
Post and dropped him there. And I thought: Well, it's getting close to morning -1 better try and
find out where my regiment is and get back to it. And finally, one way or another, I did find out
where a couple of our guns were and then joined up with them.
467
'I was attached temporarily to one of the guns, and all of a sudden we were caught in an air-
raid, or rather a strafing run by a Japanese plane. And there was this sergeant in charge of the
gun - Ponton I think his name was - and he was standing up against a rubber tree, talking. And
they dropped a bomb, and a piece of shrapnel took off the top of his skull. Like a scalping. And
he was still standing up against the tree. He was leaning back against the tree and he still stood
there, without the top of his head. Nobody else got hurt.
'After that I eventually got back to Battery Headquarters, and then they gave me a gun of my
own, put me in charge.
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