Remembering Berta Martins

Some historic photos were recently provided to us by Domingos De Oliveira. Domingos was just six years old when B Platoon of the 2/2 Commandos stayed in his village of Fatu-Makerek during the Japanese occupation in WWII. Domingos's father, Antonio dos Santos Oliveira, was the village chief of Fatu-Makerek.

During the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, Domingos was a member of UDT (União Democrática Timorense) and involved in resistance against the occupation.

In 2014, Domingos kindly accepted an invitation from the association to bear the unit's banner at the Anzac Day march. He is pictured below, holding the banner. On the right in the foreground is the 2/2 veteran, the late Keith Hayes OAM.

Keith, who survived the ration truck massacre on 20 February 1942 when the Japanese invaded East Timor, acknowledged that he would not have survived the events of that day if not for the help given to him by Mrs Berta Martins. The story of the ration truck massacre can be seen here.

The photo below of Mrs Berta Martins with three children was taken in Dili. The small boy was Panta Leao, who was killed when the Indonesians invaded in 1975.

The group photo with Mrs Berta Martins, below, was taken after one of the young girls in the photo has had her first holy communion. At that time Mrs Martins was living in Bemori-Dili.