Ross, at just 20, saw out the war with the Australian liberation forces at British North Borneo in 1945.

?Our campaign wasn?t serious by comparison to Gallipoli or other campaigns,? Ross said.
?There were only about 137 killed in the whole west coast Borneo campaign in the few months we were in there. That?s one in four killed or wounded.

?I was in the 2nd/3rd Anti Tank Regiments in Borneo - reinforcement. The unit was famous as the Rats of Tobruk.    ?We were in the landing at Borneo. We were very lucky because the Japs were all scattered and we were just mopping up.    Then they told us we had been selected for the invasion force to invade Japan. You had to volunteer.    We all volunteered.    And then they said it had been put off for a fortnight.    And then it was put off for another week.    And then they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.    And then, of course, the war was over.

Ross McCowan ... "As we sneaked into the mooring this body of about 1500 Japs bowed in abject surrender".

?The older guys went home but the young ones like myself we got sent over to Sandakan to take the surrender of the Japanese garrison there.    Sandakan had great historical significance because that?s where the death march was.    Fifteen hundred Australians were led up to Ranau and murdered on the way - every one of them.     ?As we got near the wharf we could see a great parade of Japs waiting to receive us.     We were told to have our rifles ready.     The crew armed the guns on the deck.     As we sneaked into the mooring this body of about 1500 Japs bowed in abject surrender.

?So we went in there and rounded up all these Japs.?

Ross said it was on the ship on the way to Sandakan that he befriended war hero Johnny Funk.     ?I had heard he was a war hero and read about him.    I knew the army had a great affection for him.    I walked over to him and said good day.    Little did I know it was the beginning of a friendship that would span 50 odd years.

?We rescued a lot of the Asians who had been helping the Australians in the prison camp at Sandakan.    The Japs had found out that they had been getting help from these Asians and they rounded them all up and beheaded them.    ?Johnny?s brother was beheaded and Johnny was given 15 years jail in Kuching.    He was lucky he managed to get out of being executed.    He disappeared after I met him on the ship because he told me he was going back to look for his son and his wife who had been hiding in the jungle.    I did hear on the grapevine that he had found his wife and son.

?I never saw him again, but about 40 years later I heard that there was a war hero who owned a house at Currimundi. It was him.

?We met up at a little place in Currimundi. He looked exactly the same. He was allowed into Australia because he?d been ill-treated by the Japs and because he?d helped the Australians.   ?He told me that to interrogate him the Japs used to tie him up by the feet, hang him from the rafters and belt him with a baseball bat.    I asked him how did he cope with that? He said it wasn?t too bad after he passed out.?
   Mr McCowan said he feared for his life night and day for four months in Borneo as the war dragged to an end.

?Our work was mainly daytime mopping up the stragglers and at night we defended.    We killed quite a few Japs, but I didn?t personally.    One night we got attacked by the Japs and a fellow knocked them off with a Bren.    At night we were just sleeping on the ground and the Japs would sneak in with swords.    And they?d lop your head off.    But half the time you?d be more frightened of your own side than the bloody Japs.    Quite a few fellows got shot by their best mates.    They?d shoot anything that moved. We were supposed to have passwords.    A famous one was Lilliputian.    That was because the Japs couldn?t pronounce their Ls you see.    They?d say rirapution.?

Ross also recalled memories of his father Peter McCowan who was a Light Horse Lieutenant who won a Military Cross for bravery.

?It?s about the next best thing to a Victoria Cross,? Ross said.    ?He led a bayonet charge.    They were holding a position against the charge and they all had to retreat.    When they got to the bottom of the hill, there were about 150 of them, and he said ?Righto, we?re going straight back?!

?They went back and killed over a hundred Turks in a bayonet charge and there were no Light Horse casualties.

?He died in 1967. At his funeral a little bloke came up to me and he said, ?I was in that charge and your father was a long way out in front?.
 
?I always get a lump in my throat because he was quite mad like that.    He was impulsive.    ?So then they sat there for a day, they had to have that hill because it was protecting a stream where they could water the horses. It was a different war in those days.

?The next day they started to shell them with heavy artillery so they had to withdraw.    ?Next time he was in another bayonet charge he got shot by a German officer.    Two yards range, he killed the German of course.    That was in Semak.    So he had a brilliant career.?

Ross is still firm friends with Johnny Funk?s son Melvyn.    Melvyn rings every Sunday.    Johnny died 10 years ago of Parkinsons disease.   Ross celebrated his 80th birthday recently.

He will be one of many surviving WWII servicemen who will be honoured this month for their service to the Australian Government and to its people by a commemorative medallion to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.    Interestingly, Ross?s father Peter received a similar medal in 1965 to mark the 50th anniversary of Gallipoli (1915).