The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
North East Borneo Force. QX21058 Captain (Capt) Robert Kerr 'Jock' McLaren MC, formerly of 2/10 Field Workshops, now Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), indicating to VX108088 Capt Leonard Gordon Darling, Prisoner of War Liaison Officer 9th Division, his former sleeping place under a hut when he was a prisoner of war. Capt McLaren (then a private) and NX34686 Capt Raymond Eric Steele, NX29683 Lieutenant (Lt) Charles Arthur (Charlie) Wagner, QX4648 Lt Rex Blow, VX34838 Lt Leslie Miles Gillon, SX2600 Private (Pte) Rex Nelson Butler and Pte Jim Kennedy (probably NX18801 Pte James Kennedy), escaped on the night of 4 June 1943. They joined NX58809 Sergeant (Sgt) Walter Wallace who had escaped previously from Sandakan with NX49419 Signalman (Sig) Howard Frederick Harvey and NX55541 (QX15656) Sig Theodore Rutland Mackay (alias of Daniel Seaforth MacKenzie). The Berhala Island escapees and Sgt Wallace eventually made their way to the Philippines where they joined a guerilla movement. Rex Butler (promoted to Sergeant) was killed and beheaded by pro-Japanese Moros in an ambush at Tawitawi on 18 August 1943. Lt Wagner was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper on 21 December 1943. Sig Mackay and Sig Harvey had been executed by the Japanese in Borneo on 11 May 1943. The six other escapees survived the war.
Collection relating to the Second World War service of SX2600 Sergeant Rex Nelson Butler, 8 Division Ammunition Sub Park, Australian Army Service Corps [AASC]. Collection consists of four hand-drawn
BERHALA ISLAND, NORTH BORNEO 1945-10-23. A LAUNCH CARRYING AN AUSTRALIAN INSPECTING PARTY COMING ASHORE AT A BEACH NEAR THE SITE OF THE LEPER COLONY. THE PARTY INCLUDED VX108088 CAPTAIN L. G. DARLING,
BERHALA ISLAND, NORTH BORNEO 1945-10-23. A SMALL PARTY CONSISTING OF VX108088 CAPTAIN L. G. DARLING, PRISONER OF WAR LIAISON OFFICER 9TH DIVISION; SQUADRON LEADER BIRCHALL RAAF; CAPTAIN HOUGHTON, WAR
BERHALA ISLAND, NORTH BORNEO 1945-10-23. AN AUSTRALIAN INSPECTION PARTY ASHORE ON BERHALA ISLAND. QX21058 CAPTAIN R. K. MCLAREN MC, SERVICES RECONNAISSANCE DEPARTMENT (SRD) AND "Z" SPECIAL FORCE (CENT
BORNEO 1945. QX4648 MAJOR REX BLOW, DSO AND WINNER OF THE AMERICAN SILVER STAR. WHILST A PRISONER OF WAR OF THE JAPANESE HE ESCAPED FROM BERHALA ISLAND IN SANDAKAN HARBOUR IN 1943 TO THE PHILIPPINES W
CAIRNS, QLD. 1943-08-07. TROOPS OF 24TH INFANTRY BRIGADE ARRIVING AT THE WHARF FOR EMBARKATION. SHOWN ARE:- CORPORAL (CPL) WATSON (1); LANCE CORPORAL (L/CPL) FRY (4); PRIVATE (PTE) A. SEAR (7); CPL H.
