Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of John Marriot Budd-Doyle and Edith Marion Budd-Doyle; husband of Dorothy Nancy Budd-Doyle, of Inglewood, Western Australia.

GALLANT LAD...LOVING MEMORIES LIVE FOR EVER IN OUR HEARTS

'Debil-debil' was how the Japanese described the Australian guerilla troops on Timor. 'They spring up out of the ground, shoot us and then disappear.' they told the natives. 'They  are debil-debils.'  'And they had darned good reason to think so,' said Pri- vate Cyril Doyle, son of Mrs. Doyle, of 18 Traylen Road, Bayswater. 'We never missed a chance of tearing into them and we always made them pay heavily when we did. 'In what we know as the August drive, when they sent out more than 3000 troops, we got between 400  and 500 of them and only sustained three casualties . . . one killed.' Private Doyle went to Timor in December, 1941, and was there until withdrawn on December 17, almost a year later. He is now back in Australia on well-earned leave. 'We did not know we were leaving until the morning before the night we were taken off,' he said. 'Word just came  through and were we pleased? It seemed too good to be true. Like the rest of the boys in Timor Private Doyle grew a beard 'a yard long' as he describes it. 'It helped to keep off  the mosquitoes,' he stated, 'and saved a lot of trouble. Besides, we had no soap.' Despite the beard he did not escape malaria and spent three weeks in hospital after returning to Australia. Most of the boys got it he says. Once, in a village six guerillas were suddenly confronted by some 300 Japs and about 1000 hostile natives who had been armed. The  guerillas opened up with their automatics and then, when their position became untenable, beat it into the hills. 'We got clear away,' said Private Doyle, 'and did not sustain a  scratch, though they fired everything they had, including mortars. 'They dropped 27 mortar bombs alongside of us within five minutes.' He was one of 20 guarding the aerodrome when the Japs landed at night on February'. 19. The party held the enemy off for six hours before blowing up the drome and making for the hills to rejoin their outfit. It took them four days to do it, and in that time they had two meals. They did not see bread and butter for ten months.