Surveillers remember Tarakan sacrifices

By PTE John Wellfare

Members of 114MCRU present arms during the Tarakan Day commemorative parade.

Photo by LAC Allan Cooper

PERSONNEL from No. 114 Mobile Control and Reporting Unit have commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Tarakan campaign during World War II.

114MCRU deployed with Australian troops on Tarakan Island in 1945 to provide radar air defence services in support of allied forces.

The unit was granted the Borneo 1945 Battle Honour for its colours to recognise the members’ actions during the Tarakan campaign, in which more than 200 Australians were killed.

Commander Surveillance and Response Group Air Commodore Tim Owen, a former member of 114MCRU, hosted this year’s Tarakan Day parade at the unit’s home at RAAF Base Darwin.

Speaking at the parade, he said the unit came into existence “in the darkest days of Australia’s war, when the nation was directly threatened”.

“[114MCRU] served then largely as it does today – stoically but with great innovation, with fortitude in the face of the tropical elements, with humour and mateship among its members and all the time providing an invaluable and vital early warning and control service for allied aircraft as they drove the enemy ever backwards,” he said.

CO 114MCRU Wing Commander Geoffrey Shambrook said the unit had a distinguished past and was one of the Air Force’s most valuable assets.

“[During WWII], 114MCRU served with distinction in the south-west Pacific area of operations,” he said. “Again, during the 1950s and ’60s, the unit deployed to Butterworth, where it contributed significantly during the Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Konfrontasi.

“114MCRU has participated in almost every major exercise since the 1970s. Its role has since expanded to cover the whole breadth of airspace battle management.

“There’s an impressive heritage and tradition that’s built up in the unit as the only non-flying unit with colours. We’re all very proud of that and I believe the people that we have in the unit carry on that tradition and will do the country proud.”

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