David Martin enlisted in the Army during the height of the Second World War.
“I was 18 on 21st July 1942. I left the company that I was working for and I walked from there over to where I could join the Army. It was at the showground in Sydney.”
“I was sent with other troops on a train down to Albury to the Artillery Training Regiment. We were there until February and then they sent us up to Singleton. Some of us were singled out and sent across to a camp at Tenterfield which was a machine gun battalion training area. That's where we trained with Vickers machine guns.”
A portrait of David in his uniform.
From Tenterfield, David was sent for further training in Queensland. After completing his training, he was then stationed overseas.
“We were sent to Tarakan which was an island off the coast of Borneo. We were there for quite a few months and then from Tarakan we were sent across to Labuan Island.”
“We went across on barges from Labuan to the mainland of Borneo. We went into Labuan township and took that over. The people were just doing their normal daily work and lives, and carrying on. That's when we started contact with the Japanese troops.”
“My role was to assist with the machine gunners to help them with carrying ammunition, reloading the machine gun belts for the machine gunner so he could keep using them, and guarding the machine gunner who was in stationary position.”
“Nothing heroic, just that you did what needed to be done or the best you could do under the circumstances. You had to cope and do what was necessary and help each other.”
The living conditions in the jungle were tough, with no beds and limited food.
“You would put a ground sheet down and then just lie on that and try and get some sleep and they would bring up food in containers for you to eat. The Salvation Army would be marching through some areas and you’d come to the top of a hill and there's a salvo bloke standing there with mug of water or something like that.”
With the unknowns of war, David would take each day as it came.
“You might have a particular mate that you might be a bit close to, but there was always a chance that you'd have a mate now and then you wouldn't have him the next day because he'd be gone or something of that nature. You just had to take things as they happened.”
One of David’s lasting memories is when the Japanese surrendered and the war was over.
“One thing I do remember is that when the war was officially over, hundreds and hundreds of Japanese came down. We hadn't come up against so many of them at all during our time on action.”
Even though the war was over, David continued his service overseas, relieving troops in New Ireland.
“We were young fellas when the war ended and we were put on a ship and sent to New Ireland to relieve blokes that had been in New Britain and New Guinea prior because the people that had been on there, they'd been there longer and it was time for them to go home before us newcomers.”
David returned to Sydney in 1946. He discharged from the Army and had to readjust to life back in Australia.
“We lined up for getting discharged from the Army. We were given a medical examination and cleared. They gave you a discharge certificate and you walked out of the showground as a Mr and not as a Private.”
“We were all a bit lost, I think, when we first came home because we're not used to this sort of suburban life that people lived. But you got used to it over a period of time and that's what you adapted back into later on.”
David with two of his friends who were in the Air Force.
