IN a five-month tour of duty in Sarawak during the Confrontation with Indonesia, Don Cameron didn’t see much action but when he did, the Australian military veteran’s patrol wiped out a group of 20 Indonesian soldiers attempting to infiltrate the Sarawak-Kalimantan border in Bau.

The river ambush in 1965 was the biggest success of the B Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), of which Cameron was a member, when they were deployed here.

“We wiped them out. Killed every one of them,” the now 83 year-old vet said.

He said the Indonesians were travelling in boats and the two platoons of B Company were lined up on one side of the bank in ambush.

Cameron is back in Kuching for ceremonies tomorrow to mark the 57th anniversary of the signing of the Malaysia-Indonesia peace agreement which brought an end to the Confrontation.

There will be prayers, a historical context of the Confrontation by retired Colonel Kim Hoskin, recital of the Ode of Remembrance by the vice-president of the South Australia & Northern Territory branch of the National Malaya & Borneo Veterans Association Australia Inc Don Cameron and the Sounding of the Last Post. Sarawak Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Abdul Karim Hamzah is expected to attend.

After enlisting in the Australian regular army in 1962 , Cameron, a native of Adelaide, was deployed to the Terendak Garrison in Malacca in December the same year to serve with the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve.

In 1965 – two years into the Confrontation – Cameron and all three companies of 3RAR were ordered to Sarawak where the battalion conducted counter-insurgency patrols from fortified patrol bases strung along a 32km stretch of the border.

The armed conflict, often described as an undeclared war, lasted from January 20, 1963 to August 11, 1966.

Cameron, then 23, was flown to Kuching from Singapore as part of an advance party on February 15. The rest of the troops were transported to Kuching aboard a Royal Navy troop ship on March 23.

Cameron said didn’t see much of Kuching the first time he was in Sarawak.

Due to operational secrecy, he said on touchdown in Kuching, he and his advance party were immediately hustled onto a helicopter to be airlifted directly to their positions near the border.

B Company was relieving a Gurkha company and its patrol base was atop a hill the Australians named “Bukit Knuckle” – from the distinctive features of a mountain not far away. The base was also near the Bidayuh border village of Kampung Gumbang.

The Australian company’s task was to protect Kuching by defending the approaches to Bau, which was recognised as “the key to the door of Kuching”.

“There was plenty of aggressive patrolling to keep the Indonesians on their toes,” said the battle-hardened Cameron, who honed his jungle warfare skills fighting the communists in Malaya for two years.

A patrol typically lasted up to 10 days.

On their return, the soldiers would be given three days rest before they were sent out again. That was the routine until the end of their tour.

Cameron said the closest he came to getting killed was not by the enemy but from friendly fire.

An artillery unit stationed with C Company near Serikin pounded the border every night to deter any infiltration attempt.

Cameron said on this particular day, his patrol had stopped at a creek next to which they had planned to lay up for the night.

However, a late afternoon rain scuttled the plan as rising waters flooded the area.

“We had to change position quickly. We had to get to higher ground before it got too dark,” he said.

That night, the artillery unit with 05mm-pack howitzers picked their position to shell.

“They didn’t know we were there. The big shells were coming over our heads and landing 50 to 70 yards (45m to 64m) from us.

With typical Australian humour, Cameron told himself: “I hope they don’t drop short”.

Another veteran, Jeffery Hiscock of C Company based near Serikin, didn’t see as much action as Cameron.

When he did get into the “bush”, they would sometimes return with war booty – recovered enemy weapons.

Hiscock’s platoon was usually the reserve that stayed to patrol and guard the base camp when the two other platoons went out.

Cameron’s one other happy memory was his friendship with the company’s ethnic Iban trackers.

The battalion had 24 trackers and six of them were assigned to the B Company.

He was particularly close to the two trackers attached to his platoon – Balling Ajong and Unchat Unyong.

On a visit to Sarawak last year, Cameron travelled to Sibu to meet up with Unchat’s son Nyala, his wife Terina Dari and their twin children Rewina and Justin for a reunion of sorts. Unchat and Balling were both dead by then. – August 27, 2023.