Army - The Soldiers' Newspaper

Z Force veteran Jack Wong Sue with his book Blood on Borneo which tells of his experience behind Japanese lines in WW2.
Photo by ABPH Kelvin Hockey, NIU/East

SASR heirs to Z Force

By Graham Davis
SASR troops who served in Afghanistan walk in the footsteps of WW2 Z Force hero Jack Wong Sue, CDF Gen Peter Cosgrove said recently.

In 1945, at age 20, he was landed from the submarine USS Tuna on the shores of British North Borneo to establish local guerrilla units to harass the Japanese and to confirm reports there were Australian prisoners-of-war at Sandakan.

Now aged 77, he describes his six-month mission in North Borneo as both a “howling success” and a “terrible failure.”

Mr Wong Sue, who began the war as an RAAF rescue boat crewman, has now written a book about his Z Force experiences.

Titled Blood on Borneo, the autobiography was officially launched at a luncheon at Edna’s Table in Sydney on Friday, November 8, by the former Governor of Western Australia, Maj-Gen Mike Jeffery (Rtd),

Some of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Sir David Martin Foundation, a group founded to assist young people who are homeless or disadvantaged.

Gen Cosgrove told the gathering, many of whom had come from Jack’s home city, Perth, and at least one from the UK, that Jack was a remarkable Australian.

Gen Cosgrove described those who served in Z force in WW2 as “remarkable men”.

When war came he joined the RAAF as an air-sea rescue boat crewman but when a call went out for volunteers to join Z Force he put up his hand, not knowing what to expect.

He was fluent in Chinese and Malay and was asked to serve behind the Japanese lines in North Borneo.

He saw mates killed and had observed the prison of war camp at Sandakan from which only six of 2000 Australians returned alive.

When WW2 ended, Mr Wong Sue went on to be an instructor to those troops who became the first SAS services personnel.