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Note: N558 Extract from The Age 19th November 1929-- BARWON. Mr. - Bond's Candidature. -.GEELONG, Monday.— Mr. J. C. Bond, the selected, Labor candidate, addressed the electors at Newtown to-night. The Candidate said he was a young man, entering the political arena in good heart, and encouraged by the apparent crumbling of the Nationalist party machine under the weight of maladministration.
Enlisted without his parents permission in World War I in May 1918.
Enlistment cancelled when parents refused consent because he was "far too young"
Enlisted in AIF for WWII at Geelong in May 1940.
Served in 2/2 Pioneer Battalian
Promoted to Corporal.
Reported missing in Java on 30/4/42, subsequently confirmed as a POW in Thailand.
Died of illness Jan 1944
The 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion was raised in Puckapunyal in Victoria in May 1940. After completing its initial training at “Pucka”, the battalion sailed for the Middle East aboard the Queen Mary in April 1941.
The battalion arrived in Port Tewfik, the port of Suez, in May and travelled by train to Palestine and camped at Hill 95. It began preparing for its first action supporting the 7th Division in Syria.
Initially the battalion did not fight as a whole - each of it companies supported different brigades. A Company went to the 21st Brigade at Er Rama and B Company to the 25th Brigade near Rosh Pinah.
When the attack began on 7 June A Company was placed under the command of the 2/16th Infantry Battalion and had three tasks: breach the frontier fence at El Malakiya, a formidable obstacle of barbed-wire and iron picket; improve the approaches from the frontier road to the gap in the fence; and build a road across the fields to link with the road passing through Aiteroune. B Company had a similar task. At Metulla it prepared artillery approaches and improved the track from Mezudal and Banias. The men also assisted engineers to repair a crater in the road near Dan.
D Company joined the 25th Brigade and also assisted maintaining and repairing roads. Several days later C Company came forward from Er Rama and began improving the rough track to Metulla for vehicles to pass.
But when the Vichy French counter-attacked Merdjayoun on 15 June the 2/2nd recalled its scattered companies to hold the Litani Bridge and prevent further enemy advance.
On 17 June the pioneers participated in the attack on Fort Merdjayoun. In a reckless decision, A and B Companies made a frontal attack on the fort. French machine-gun fire quickly stopped the attack and the Australians were exposed. Casualties mounted but the companies were pinned, unable to withdraw until evening. They suffered heavily: 27 killed, 29 captured, and 46 wounded.
Despite the losses the battalion remained in action for the rest of the campaign. It was particularly active in the fighting around Merdjayoun and El Mtolle and in the attack on Damour in July.
Following the surrender of the Vichy French the battalion concentrated first at Damour and then near Tripoli, bivouacking in the olive groves opposite Fort Legout. For the next four months the battalion trained and conducted garrison duties, with each company sent to different locations as needed. In November the pioneers moved to Qatana.
In early 1942 the 6th and 7th Divisions returned to Australia and the 2/2nd began the voyage home on the troopship Orcades. The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and other support units were also on board. However, the Orcades was about to be caught in the Japanese thrust.
British forces in Singapore surrendered on 15 February. Two days later the Orcades reached Oosthaven in Sumatra before going to Batavia in Java. The Japanese were moving through the Netherlands East Indies and decided to make a stand on Java.
The troops aboard Orcades, as well as a battery of American artillery and a squadron from the 3rd King’s Own Hussars, combined to defend Java. They became known as the “Blackforce”. Their directive was political rather than strategic and ultimately futile.
The Japanese landed on Java on 28 February. Blackforce went into action at Leuwiliang near Buitenzorg on 4 March. It fought against the Japanese for two days but was ordered to lay down arms the day after Dutch surrender on 8 March.
The majority of the 2/2nd survived the fighting (865 officers and men) and spent the rest of the war as prisoners. Of these, 258 men died, most while working on the Burma-Thailand railway. Others died in Java, Borneo, and at sea when ships they were being transported on were sunk.
An intriguing item earlier appeared in the Horsham Times of 11 April 1922.
The engagement is announced of Hazel May, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Burland, Horsham, to John Charles Bond, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Bond, Geelong.
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