Post exercise report titled 'Exercise Kadazan Cloud II'

Manuscript titled 'Exercise Kadazan Cloud II. A post exercise report by members of 5 Platoon, B Company, the 2nd/4th Battalion of The Royal Australian Regiment', written in October 1986. The 34 page typed report documents the experiences of a contingent from Rifle Company Butterworth, who took part in a military history and adventure training exercise in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, from 29 July to 12 August 1986. The report consists of two main chapters - one giving a brief account of the military history that motivated the exercise, and the other a daily account of the exercise from a soldiers' point of view as they retraced the route taken by allied prisoners of war (POWs) during the Sandakan - Ranau death marches in 1945, and attempted to establish the location of the POW camps. It also aimed to provide a guide to any future groups wishing to undertake similar training, and to give publicity to the fate of Australian and British POWs, who suffered at the infamous Sandakan POW camp during 1942-1945. Colour photographs are included throughout the text. Appendices provide a map of Sabah and exercise route, a Nominal Roll of the contingent headed by Lieutenant Martin Skin, and a list of sources. The research value of the report is its documentation of both the discovery of a large number of original relics/objects from the Sandakan POW camp site, and the meeting of three local elders who had provided assistance to Australians who had survived the Ranau POW camp.