Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Rifleman R. N. ‘Dick’ Muskett, Green Jackets, who served as a Lead Scout with Recce Platoon, D Company, and was injured by being impaled on a sharpened bamboo stake during an incursion into Kalimantan, 7 September 1964

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Brunei (23915004 Rfn. R. N. Muskett. 1 Green Jackets.); General Service 1962-2007, 2 clasps, Borneo, Malay Peninsula (23915004 Rfn. R. N. Muskett. 1 Green Jackets.) 2nd clasp loose on riband; Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal, mounted for display, generally very fine or better (3) £400-£500

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2008 (when sold as pair only, and the second medal with clasp for ‘Borneo’ only - the current vendor subsequently got the recipient to apply for the ‘Malay Peninsula’ clasp and the Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal).

Richard Norman ‘Dick’ Muskett was born in Bexhill on Sea, Sussex, in September 1942. He enlisted in the 2nd Battalion, Green Jackets in May 1962, and subsequently requested a transfer to the 1st Battalion in order to be able to serve with them in Malaya. Muskett served with the Battalion in Brunei:

‘There were still villages in the interior where, what were said to be larger formations of rebels, were holding hostages. 42 Commando was sent to Limbang and B Company of the Green Jackets went to Bekenu, a village entirely surrounded by jungle; both groups travelling by boat. Muskett, who was in C Company, marched overland on a 15 mile trek through dense jungle swamps, to act as a cut-off group behind Bekenu.

The Green Jackets took the rebels in Bekenu completely by surprise. The rebels put up a slight resistance but they had no Bren guns; only shot guns and one or two carbines. Muskett’s Company arrived at the back door on time and soon had 50 to 60 prisoners under guard in a godown (warehouse) on the river bank. Six rebels had been killed and two hostages were released.

Muskett remembers that shortly afterwards a large party of Iban (and possibly other Dyak) tribesmen arrived. The Green Jackets... although they had heard about these head-hunters, it was still an impressive sight - long hair with odd patches shaven at the temple, lots of ritual tattoos, lots of beads, loin cloths, long parangs with monkey (or human?) hair decorating the carved hilt, blowpipes and a variety of firearms of WW2 vintage and older. The Green Jackets handed the prisoners over to this little army and they were led away. Some Riflemen, Muskett included, had a sneaking suspicion that their heads were going to be adorning the rafters of a long-house before long.’ (Typed file of research based on interviews and telephone conversations with the recipient refers)

Muskett subsequently served in Borneo, and gives the following detail on his service there:
‘C Company, 1st Green Jackets went first to Sandakhan in North Borneo and from there, my platoon was detached and sent to Kudat, a small town at the northern tip of Borneo. Kudat at that time was not accessible by road transport, only by light plane or ship and we sailed on a coastal steamer that had probably been built in the 1890s.’ (Ibid)

Whilst based a Kudat, the Green Jackets were employed to combat the pirates that plagued that part of the South China Sea:
‘They sailed in purpose-built, streamlined wooden perahu, powered by large twin outboard engines, and were capable of easily outrunning the lumbering local trading vessels. With a crew of around a dozen or fifteen, armed with a range of rifles, handguns, the islands version of the Kris knife, and often with a .50 calibre machine gun mounted on the prow, the only predictable thing about them was that they would rob you. They often raped any women they came across in raids and appeared to target the Chinese families who ran the small shops on the bigger islands; they would sometimes torture and sometimes kill, and it was this unpredictability that fuelled the fear in which they were held.’ (Ibid)

Muskett was placed as part of a small garrison on Banghi Island, tasked with patrolling the area undercover in a small local vessel called a kumpit. He records several contacts, including the capture of a pirate vessel. Muskett then transferred to the Recce Platoon of D Company and carried out two further tours in that capacity between 1963-1964. He was injured whilst serving as a lead scout during an incursion into Kalimantan, 7 September 1964. On the latter date he slipped into a trap of sharpened bamboo stakes and impaled his upper arm.

Muskett was posted to Berlin, and then purchased his release from the army in May 1968. In later life he was employed as Fireman in Devon, and then elected a local Councillor in Dorset.

Sold with a signed copy of Recollections from Jungle Soldiers by Scarf Jones, published by The Allied Special Forces Association, and including an extract by the recipient on his time in Malaya and Borneo; typed file of research based on interviews and telephone conversations with the recipient (in which it is recorded that a named copy set of medals were sent to recipient in exchange for the ‘Malay Peninsula’ clasp and the Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal); a typed copy of service record and a photographic image of recipient in later life.