War - Ww2 Vc - Western Australia - Tom Starcevich Poem by Paul Warren

Tom Starcevich was born at Subiaco, Western Australia
On 5 September,1918 as a son of immigrants without failure
His family were farmers at Grass Patch outside of Esperance
Tom and his brother enlisted in the Second AIF in their stance
On the 17th April,1941 following his brother in his refrain
And Tom saw his service starting in the North Africa campaign
With the 2/43rd Battalion and on the 17th July,1942
In the battle of El Alamein on Ruin Ridge he was wounded too
By a bullet in the thigh in the first battle at this location
And then his battalion returned to defend the Australian nation

He saw action on the Huon peninsula in the New Guinea affray
And on the 10th June,1945 he landed on Labuan at Brunei Bay
Then nine days later they were in the mainland battles raging
To capture Beaufort, North Borneo from the Japanese retreating
During the approach of a spur, they saw two machine guns
Holding up the Australian advance with casualties as it began
Tom was a Bren gunner who moved forward firing from the hip
Killing five Japanese and putting the rest to flight from the pits
And he continued on locating a further two machine guns
As he killed a further seven Japanese as the advance was won

His gallantry and bravery gave momentum to the advance
And the day was won in his single handed war dance
When returning to Western Australia in 1947 he was awarded
The Victoria Cross for his acts of heroism as he was applauded
This humble warrior remained a private during his soldiering
Leaving the army and to Western Australia he was returning
To the farm he bought with his wife as he planned
Living out his life as a sheep farming man.

© Paul Warren Poetry