Brian Selby: Roy Selby Borneo WWII
Posted on: Mon 8 Nov 2021
When Roy Selby first joined a Militia unit in NSW in 1939, they were equipped with horse-drawn 18 pounder field gun carriages but were re-equipped with mechanised vehicles and sent fight the Japanese in Borneo during WWII. Roy remembered a close shave when 3 Matilda tanks were destroyed by well dug-in Japanese naval guns imbedded into the hillside overlooking Balikpapan Harbour. Roy’s unit had been following the Matildas. Roy’s son Brian would see active service in his dad’s old unit 23 Field Regiment in a later war.
3 x Australian Matilda tanks destroyed by Japanese naval guns Balikpapan 1945. Photo provided by B Selby and used with permission
