Jack Wong Sue, (12 September 1925 – 16 November 2009), also known as Jack Sue（）, was a

Chinese Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chinese ...

from

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Wong Sue served as a member of the commando/special

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

section, Z Special Unit, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and was decorated with the Distinguished Conduct Medal. After the war, Wong Sue was a businessman, owning a

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

store in the Perth suburb of

Midland Midland may refer to: Places Australia * Midland, Western Australia Canada * Midland, Albert County, New Brunswick * Midland, Kings County, New Brunswick * Midland, Newfoundland and Labrador * Midland, Ontario India * Midland Ward, Kohima, Nagal ...

. He was also an author, a guide for tours of Borneo and a musician, who performed with bands in Perth for about 60 years.

War service

On 25 September 1943, Wong Sue joined the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF). During 1945, Wong Sue was among members of Z Special Unit who landed in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, as part of Operation Agas 3. He reached the substantive rank of

leading aircraftman Leading aircraftman (LAC) or leading aircraftwoman (LACW) is a junior rank in some air forces. It sits between aircraftman and senior aircraftman, and has a NATO rank code of OR-2. The rank badge is a horizontal two-bladed propeller. The ra ...

, but acted as a

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

for an extended period and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). In 2010, Australian military historian

Lynette Silver Lynette Ramsay Silver (born 1945) is an Australian historian and author. She has written a number of books dealing with Australian history. In particular many of her works deal with military history. Career Her first book published in 1986, ' ...

disputed claims made by Wong Sue in his memoirs and said that official archives prove that he "lied". In particular, she questioned Wong Sue's claims that he: * Single-handedly killed a group of Japanese soldiers at

Terusan Terusan (also known as Trusan) is a settlement in Sabah, Malaysia. It is about three feet above sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from ...

, Borneo in May 1945, thereby saving the life of Lieutenant Don Harlem, as there were no enemy personnel in the area at the time; * Took part in a raid on the Japanese garrison at Pitas on 13 June 1945, as he is not named in records of the action, and; * Witnessed the last Sandakan Death March as he was in hospital when it occurred and was elsewhere when the other marches took place. In early 2011, Jack Wong Sue's son, Barry, released a report in which he refuted the claims made by Silver against his father.

Return to civilian life

Wong Sue was discharged from the RAAF on 21 January 1946, after which he returned to Perth and subsequently opened a retail store devoted to diving equipment in

, the first such store in Western Australia. On 13 September 1958, Wong Sue and his family were injured in a car accident near Kalamunda that resulted in the death of the driver of the other vehicle. His published works include two books published circa 2001: a memoir of his military service, ''Blood on Borneo'', and a collection of anecdotes regarding a 1963 shipwreck, ''Ghost of the Alkimos''. In 2006, Wong Sue was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to the community, particularly through the preservation and recording of military and maritime history." He died in a Perth hospice, aged 84, on 16 November 2009.

References

External links

Jack Sue WA Skindivers (business homepage)

''Herald Sun'' obituary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong Sue, Jack 1925 births 2009 deaths Military personnel from Western Australia Australian people of Chinese descent People from Perth, Western Australia Australian recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Z Special Unit personnel Royal Australian Air Force airmen

War service

Return to civilian life

See also

References

External links