In what World War II survivor Richard “Digger” Bryant could only describe as an act of God, he survived death by a matter of metres, escaping repeated Japanese pattern bombing while fleeing the enemy via a small “tub” boat.
These are the details that the now-late Digger—an Australian sergeant in Singapore—describes in a wartime letter to one of his brothers back home.
Digger’s nephew Don, and Don’s son Jason—his great-nephew—also helped recount his story to The Epoch Times.
“The Japs came over and pattern-bombed the water front when we were in the tub,” Digger wrote in the letter while he was briefly in Jakarta during his covert escape mission.
“It was the biggest fright of my life—out in the water with a wall of falling bombs and horrific explosions coming towards us.
“I gave up and said my prayers but by a miracle, the bombs ran out a few yards from us. I don’t mind telling you that I have known fear for what it really is.”
After the Fall of Singapore on Feb. 15, 1942, three soldiers, including Digger, made a miraculous escape to near Kalumburu in northern Western Australia in a small boat, with the help of a selfless Timorese local. Two other soldiers perished from overhead Japanese bombs.
Before landing in northern Australia, Digger constantly hid in mangroves to avoid Japanese detection.
“That was why he hated mangroves,” his nephew Don Bryant, 88, told The Epoch Times.
He became severely emaciated and was eventually treated.
“If ever a man believed that there was a god above watching over us, it was now, as only a miracle got us out,” Digger wrote.
An Arduous Journey
From Singapore, the original five boat crew members steadily traversed the seas north to Banda Aceh, in Indonesia’s Aceh province, presumably to avoid being detected by Japanese bombers.They then ventured back south towards Jakarta, and onto northern Australia from Timor.
The two Australian soldiers who perished were killed in the strait between South Sumatra and Java, near the island of Krakatoa.
There were often ships going past and shooting at the small crew.
The arduous journey would have taken several months in total, and Digger and his crewmates are believed to have reached Australian shores in August of 1942.
“They were helped by the Indonesians all the way, with fuel and food,” Don said.
A Timorese man with limited English also pitched in.
After dropping off the Australian soldiers, he immediately commandeered his small boat back to where he came from, most likely Timor. The Australian soldiers had no money to offer him—he did it out of the goodness of his heart, and they never learned his name.
This mutual care and respect is why Aussies are still so respected in the region.
That is the opinion of Digger’s great-nephew, former federal policeman and Timor peacekeeper Jason Bryant.
“When I was in Timor, I was in charge of 30 United Nations police [UNPOL]. And they were from all different nations,” he said.
“And I asked a language assistant, ‘Why do you love the Australians so much more than everyone else?’
“He said, ‘We’ve always loved Australians because you’ve always been there for us.’
Stockmen to the Rescue
After landing, an emaciated Digger was found by stockmen following several days of trekking around remote northern Western Australia, the boundary riders taking him into a homestead and feeding him, before he was taken to Perth via submarine.Going to Darwin was out of the question due to the Japanese bombing of the Northern Territory capital on Feb. 19, 1942, and the fact that enemy ships were waiting off the coast.
The stockmen waited with Digger until a submarine arrived.
This typified the united national spirit against the threat of Japanese invasion at the time, according to Bryant.
A Court Martial Order For His Troubles
After recovering for several weeks at the Merredin Army Hospital—set up about 260 kilometres inland from Perth to make it a more difficult aerial target—Digger received a court martial for deserting the troops under his care after the Fall of Singapore.But that order was quickly dropped when the authorities realised everything Digger went through to get back to Australian shores.
When Digger recovered, he went and served as a coast watcher in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, spotting ships go by and reporting them.
Around the time of Japan’s WWII surrender, Digger then had to find young Japanese army men, and try to take them into custody, or just talk them into going home.
However, this was made difficult because Japanese soldiers who survived and returned home were held in low regard. Most chose death instead.
“This was what upset Digger because he was dealing with these really young Japanese soldiers,” Jason said.
“Towards the end of the war, Japan was like Germany. They were using everyone–they’d run out of soldiers.
“So they started using young boys.
The One Who Didn’t Return
Meanwhile, Digger’s brother, Frank, survived two “death marches” in Sandakan, Malaysia, before Japanese soldiers took his life.The notorious death marches involved Allied prisoners of war being forced to march through dense tropical jungles of Borneo, often bare foot and malnourished. Approximately 2,000 died.
Frank served as a Sapper, also known as a combat engineer, in the 2/10 Field Company Unit.
“I’m afraid that you will have to do the tough job of telling Dora [Frank’s wife] of what I think Frank’s fate is. I know you will all be deeply grieved. No doubt, both us have been reported missing,” Digger wrote.
Don met his uncle Frank when he was just a young boy, before Frank was called up to serve in World War II.
A hero of his, Don waited at Tresco train station, just south of Swan Hill, for many afternoons in the hope his affable uncle—who lived in Thornbury with his wife Dora—would return home.
He never did.
In Digger’s letter home to his brother, Victor, or John as he called him, he wrote about how he would be forever impacted by the “hell on earth” that he witnessed.
Don’t Change the Date
Jason Bryant says his late great uncles Frank and Digger are his heroes, just like they were to his father, Don.“Frank would’ve suffered greatly on the Sandakan death march. And I look at that and think these guys need the recognition they deserve,” he said.
“All of our brave diggers do.”
And this is why he will always be outspoken on keeping Australia Day on Jan. 26.
The Nationality and Citizenship Act was passed federally on Jan. 26, 1949, creating Australian citizenship.
It was a particularly crucial protection for Australian soldiers, with Bryant’s great uncles Frank and Digger surrendered by the British at Singapore during WWII.
“Jan. 26 is extremely important to me … That’s because the date is so important to me. And I’ve served this country for 35 years, and I will not back down on that,” Jason told The Epoch Times on Australia Day.
