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Farewell to the last member of Operation Jaywick Vale Mostyn Berryman 9 November 1923–6 August 2020
MOSTYN (MOSS) BERRYMAN, who died on 6 August 2020, was the last surviving member of the epic Second World War commando raid Operation Jaywick. Moss was an Able Seaman in the Royal Australian Navy when recruited for the raid, and trained and served in secrecy with its 14-man team of Z-Special Force operatives through much of 1943. This extraordinary venture took those operatives far into the Japanese-held waters of Indonesia. Posing as Malay fishermen aboard the Japanese fishing vessel Krait, the team mounted a covert raid on shipping in Singapore Harbour. Six commandos embarked aboard three folding canoes and approached Singapore under cover of darkness. On the night of 26 September 1943, they entered the harbour and used limpet mines to sink or damage six Japanese merchant ships. Krait successfully recovered all six members of the strike team and returned to Western Australia in early October 1943 without being detected. 72
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Moss remained aboard Krait during the raid and manned its Bren guns and other small arms, but was also a reserve commando for the canoe team. Blessed with excellent eyesight, he spent much of his time at the top of Krait’s mast looking out for other vessels, which were given a wide berth. Operation Jaywick had an enormous impact on Japan’s confidence, as it caught the occupying force in Singapore completely by surprise, and mystified its military leadership. Indeed, most Japanese officials refused to believe the raid had been carried out by Allied forces and instead thought local Singaporean insurgents were responsible. At the conclusion of Operation Jaywick, Moss and others went on to serve in other theatres, but key members of the raid later undertook a second covert operation, codenamed Rimau. Tragically, this mission was a failure, and all of the commandos involved lost their lives. Moss’s final wartime deployment was aboard the destroyer HMAS Vendetta, and he was demobilised in February 1946.
