Roland Griffiths-Marsh, (22 April 1923 – 29 December 2012) was an Australian soldier and author.

Early life

Griffiths-Marsh was born in Penang, then part of the British Straits Settlements, on 22 April 1923 and grew up in

Hai Phong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

. On 29 February 1940, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted with the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initia ...

, taking his older brother's name and date of birth to ensure entry.

Second World War

Griffiths-Marsh served in the 2/8th Battalion in North Africa and New Guinea, before being recruited to

Z Special Unit Z Special Unit () was a joint Allied special forces unit formed during the Second World War to operate behind Japanese lines in South East Asia. Predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit was a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit that i ...

, a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit that operated behind Japanese lines in South-East Asia. He served in the Semut I operation in North Borneo, and was parachuted behind enemy lines to conduct guerrilla warfare with the assistance of local fighters in early June 1945. He was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

for his service with Z Special Unit, the award was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 6 March 1947, dated 2 November 1945. The original recommendation for the award states:

Later life

Griffiths-Marsh wrote about his wartime experiences in his 1990 book ''Sixpenny Soldier''. That same year the book was awarded both

The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction The Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction, formerly known as the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has a remuneration of 25,000. The winner of this category p ...

(one of the

Victorian Premier's Literary Award The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...

s), and the

Colin Roderick Award The Colin Roderick Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first presente ...

, awarded annually for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life" along with the H.T. Priestley Memorial Medal. This book was republished under the title ''I was Only Sixteen'' in 1995. Papers by Griffiths-Marsh about the training of his native guerrilla force and service in North Borneo are held at the Australian War Memorial. Griffith-Marsh died on 29 December 2012 aged 89.

Book details

*''Sixpenny Soldier'' 1990 Australia: Collins-Angus & Robertson. Republished as *''I Was Only Sixteen'' 1995 Australia, Potts Point, N.S.W.: ETT Imprint. (pbk.)National Library of Australia http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2178248

References

External links