Balikpapan
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:28 am
Battle of Balikpapan, 1st July 1945
Balikpapan
MacArthur needs a victory:
A crushing blow launched from the sea;
One last decisive episode
Before the atom bombs explode.
To make Pacific’s war complete
Off Borneo a mighty fleet,
And men aged well beyond their years:
The A.I.F. - all volunteers.
Now on this first day in July
Some who had fought for years would die;
Was by fate's fickle whim these men
Would never more see home again.
From Syria to Milne Bay,
At Shaggy Ridge; the fall of Lae,
Two men had seen each other right;
Now one last battle left to fight.
For five long years their luck had held
But now in each young mind it dwelled
The thought that now he may survive;
May see the end – come out alive.
From rocket ships a screaming wail;
From naval guns a deadly hail,
As on the shore defenders choke
On burning oil and smothering smoke.
On landing craft they hit the sand;
At Klandasan the diggers land;
The alligators push ahead,
But on the beach a man lies dead.
He thought the end within his reach
But now he sleeps upon this beach;
His blankets are the tropic sands
And at his head his rifle stands
With slouch hat for a digger’s cross,
For those to come; to mark the loss,
As by the grave there stands his mate;
The war's near end but it's too late.
© Dennis N. O'Brien, 2012
In memory of the men of the 7th Division Australian Imperial Force
who landed at Balikpapan 1st July 1945
and particularly of the 185 killed and 470 wounded in the Borneo campaign
Balikpapan
MacArthur needs a victory:
A crushing blow launched from the sea;
One last decisive episode
Before the atom bombs explode.
To make Pacific’s war complete
Off Borneo a mighty fleet,
And men aged well beyond their years:
The A.I.F. - all volunteers.
Now on this first day in July
Some who had fought for years would die;
Was by fate's fickle whim these men
Would never more see home again.
From Syria to Milne Bay,
At Shaggy Ridge; the fall of Lae,
Two men had seen each other right;
Now one last battle left to fight.
For five long years their luck had held
But now in each young mind it dwelled
The thought that now he may survive;
May see the end – come out alive.
From rocket ships a screaming wail;
From naval guns a deadly hail,
As on the shore defenders choke
On burning oil and smothering smoke.
On landing craft they hit the sand;
At Klandasan the diggers land;
The alligators push ahead,
But on the beach a man lies dead.
He thought the end within his reach
But now he sleeps upon this beach;
His blankets are the tropic sands
And at his head his rifle stands
With slouch hat for a digger’s cross,
For those to come; to mark the loss,
As by the grave there stands his mate;
The war's near end but it's too late.
© Dennis N. O'Brien, 2012
In memory of the men of the 7th Division Australian Imperial Force
who landed at Balikpapan 1st July 1945
and particularly of the 185 killed and 470 wounded in the Borneo campaign