Starcevich Monument on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Starcevich Monument or Beaufort Australian Monument ( ms, Tugu Peringatan Starcevich, Tugu Peringatan Beaufort) is a monument in the town of
In June 1945, after a series landings of Australian forces on the 
A monument later erected by the citizens of Beaufort as a gratitude to the Australian forces for liberating the town. The monument in the form of a memorial stone was originally located in the front of a police station.
Starcevich died in November 1989 at the age of 71 years in
Beaufort Beaufort may refer to:
People and titles
* Beaufort (surname)
* House of Beaufort, English nobility
* Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England
* Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility
Places Polar regions ...
in Sabah, Malaysia dedicated to Tom Starcevich
Leslie Thomas Starcevich, VC (5 September 1918 – 17 November 1989) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of British and Commonwealth ...
from the 9th Division Army of Australia during the reconquest of the town by the Allied forces on 28 June 1945.
History
In June 1945, after a series landings of Australian forces on the Brunei Bay
Brunei Bay ( ms, Teluk Brunei) is on the northwestern coast of Borneo island, in Brunei and Malaysia.
Brunei Bay is located 5°00'43.44", 115°17'26.66"; east of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
It is the ocean gateway to the isolated Temburong Dis ...
, the Australian troops preparing their attack
Attack may refer to:
Warfare and combat
* Offensive (military)
* Charge (warfare)
* Attack (fencing)
* Strike (attack)
* Attack (computing)
* Attack aircraft
Books and publishing
* ''The Attack'' (novel), a book
* '' Attack No. 1'', comic an ...
and continued to recaptured Labuan, Muara Besar, Brunei Town
Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB; Jawi alphabet, Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان; ) is the capital city of Brunei. It is officially a Municipalities of Brunei, municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It i ...
, Weston and Beaufort. The first battalion from 2/32nd landed in Weston on 16 June but found the area has already been left by the Japanese. Other battalions followed in the next day when parts of the 2/43rd Battalion and 2/11th Commando Squadron landed at Mempakul. After a series of 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 ...
, the Australian found soon the Japanese had located their base in Beaufort. The Australian 2/32nd and 2/43rd Battalion began their attack on 27 June against the 386th Japanese Independent Infantry Battalion under Major Kimura Jiro Kimura (written: lit. "tree village") is the 17th most common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*, Japanese novelist
*, Japanese footballer
*, Japanese botanist
*, Japanese idol and singer
*, Japanese footballer
*, Japanes ...
.Danny Wong Tze Ken: ''Historical Sabah: The War'', Opus Publications Kota Kinabalu, 2010, Page 142,
On evening 27 June, most of the 2/43rd Battalion already fought their way into the town, while the others remained outside the town to cut off any enemy escape route. The following morning, a unit of Australians during a patrol at a nearest jungle was already under heavy machine gun fire from the Japanese. One of the Australian soldier, Tom Starcevich later led two counter-attacks and destroyed the enemy positions by using his Bren machine gun. For his bravery, Starcevich was awarded with the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
.Stephen R. Evans: ''Sabah Under The Rising Sun Government'', Page 77, Malaysia, 1999
A monument later erected by the citizens of Beaufort as a gratitude to the Australian forces for liberating the town. The monument in the form of a memorial stone was originally located in the front of a police station.
Inscription
The monument is in the form of astele
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
of about one metre in height. The cross section is rectangular; the stele tapers upward slightly and is topped by a flat top. On the front with a metal sheet been inserted and the inscription is in English:
Starcevich died in November 1989 at the age of 71 years in Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. At the suggestion of his World War II comrades Stanley Toomey, another smaller metal plate was used in June 1990. Under the regimental character "T" and the coat of arms of the Australian Imperial Force is the inscription:
References