Roland Griffiths-Marsh
Encyclopedia
Corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....

 Roland Griffiths-Marsh MM
Military Medal
The Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land....

, (born 22 April 1923) is an Australian soldier and author.

Life

Griffiths-Marsh was born in Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...

, Malaya
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...

 (now Malaysia), and grew up in Hai Phong, Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...

 (now Vietnam). On 29 February 1940, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted with the Second Australian Imperial Force
Second Australian Imperial Force
The Second Australian Imperial Force was the name given to the volunteer personnel of the Australian Army in World War II. Under the Defence Act , neither the part-time Militia nor the full-time Permanent Military Force could serve outside Australia or its territories unless they volunteered to...

, taking his older brother's name and date of birth to ensure entry. He served in the 2/8th Battalion in North Africa and New Guinea before being recruited to Z Special Unit
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...

, 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
North Borneo
North Borneo was a British protectorate under the sovereign North Borneo Chartered Company from 1882 to 1946. After the war it became a crown colony of Great Britain from 1946 to 1963, known in this time as British North Borneo. It is located on the northeastern end of the island of Borneo. It is...

 (now Sabah), 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
Military Medal
The Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land....

 for his service with Z Special Unit, the award was gazetted
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...

 on 6 March 1946, dated 2 November 1945. The original recommendation for the award states:
Griffiths-Marsh wrote about his wartime experiences in his 1990 book Sixpenny Soldier. That same year the book was awarded both the The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction
The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction is a component of the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award and is valued at A$30,000. Most Australian state premiers present annual Australian literary awards to promote Australian writing in all its forms. The award is named after Nettie Palmer."This...

 (one of the Victorian Premier's Literary Award
Victorian Premier's Literary Award
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Governmentwith the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry....

s), and the Colin Roderick Award
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 presented in 1967 and currently has a prize of A$10,000....

, 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
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...

.

Book details

  • Sixpenny Soldier 1990 Australia: Collins-Angus & Robertson. Republished as
  • I Was Only Sixteen 1995 Australia, Potts Point, N.S.W.: ETT Imprint. ISBN 1875892095 (pbk.)

External links

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