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Thursday May 9, 2013

Nephew visits death march trail on Anzac Day to pay respects to his uncles

By STEPHANIE LEE
stephanielee@thestar.com.my


Family pride: Bernie Dorizzie (right) and his wife Pamela in Kota Kinabalu showing photos and medals of his three uncles who died during the 1945 death march. Family pride: Bernie Dorizzie (right) and his wife Pamela in Kota Kinabalu showing photos and medals of his three uncles who died during the 1945 death march.

KOTA KINABALU: When he was 14, Bernie Dorizzie was given a box by his father containing photos of three brave men in army uniforms and a set of medals presented to them for their heroic deeds in World War II.

The pictures were that of Bernie's uncles - Tom, Gordon and Herbert - who were among the more than 2,400 prisoners of war (POWs) who died in the infamous Sandakan-Ranau death march in 1945.

(The POWs were among a 2,700-strong allied contingent transferred to Sandakan by the Japanese in 1942 and 1943 following Singapore's fall, to construct a military airfield.)

Bernie is here 53 years later, to visit the place where his three uncles died, despite warnings issued by the Australian government to its citizens about the security risks following the Lahad Datu intrusions.

“When my father gave me the pictures and medals, I got down to work and started reading about the death march and trying to find ways to visit the place where my uncles died,” said Bernie, who is accompanied on this nostalgic trip by his wife, Pamela Dorizzie, 64.

“Coming from a family with half of them gone in the war, there was always a nagging question at the back of my head,” he said when met here.

“When I was a child, my parents and grandparents never wanted to talk about the past even though I asked numerous times, especially about my three uncles who were known to us children as “the boys who died in WWII.”

“There used to be five of them - including my father and another of his brothers, Robert before the war took three of them away,” he said.

Bernie, who is here as part of an Anzac Day observation here, in collaboration with the Sabah Tourism Board, flew with his wife from Perth and then proceeded to Sandakan, Ranau and back to the state capital.

“STB general manager and board director Datuk Irene Benggon Charuruks and her team took great care of us and never for a second did we feel unsafe to be in Sabah although there is an alert advising trips here to be postponed, he said.

“We were shown the death march trails and given a tour of the area, from Ranau to Sandakan,” Bernie said, adding that they were also shown where his uncles had died in 1945.

(Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations and the contribution and suffering of all those who served their country).

A guide, called Savi, brought them around to visit the Dorizzies' resting place.

“Savi told us they (our three uncles) have been waiting for a family to come and now we are finally here.

“The trip really meant the world to us and now I can finally close this chapter of my life,” he added.

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