The Final Battle, Part 3

We ended up at a gully and some of the fellows started up and the Japanese were already there below us at Stanley Gap, this is just above Wong Nai Chong Gap and they were nowhere near Stanley where the rifles were but this is a spot called Stanley Gap and it was a British anti-aircraft position. Earl Till and I, Earl was my number... I took a Bren gun over. Earl Till and I were on, it was a half circle, a half moon shaped ridge, crest and Earl Till and I were on one edge and Osbourne where he was with the other gun were on the other corner, other end of the ridge. And we heard the grenades, and one thing I missed, when somebody yelled “Grenades!” everybody ducked and I pulled my helmet over my head and number two on a Bren gun lays on his back and puts the magazines on, on the Bren gun. And I heard Till give a groan and a grenade went off and Earl Till gave a groan and I said, “Till, what’s wrong? ” He said, “I think I’m hit!” And he had a hunk of a grenade go in his stomach. Well, we put his field dressing kit on it as best we could and by this time we had no more Bren gun ammunition, it was all gone. And very little rifle ammunition and Major Gresham I guess with the number of wounded we had figured discretion was the better part of valor, some of them wanted him to wait until dark, complete dark and we would get out and he said, “No, if we do that we’re going to have to leave those wounded,” because they couldn’t walk. And Major Gresham walked up the ridge waving his white hankie and they shot him, killed him and it wasn’t long after that, I guess they realized they come around and disarmed us and took us prisoner.