The Peace Corps
"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

President John F. Kennedy

It may come as a surprise to many people that members of the American Peace Corps are part of the Limbang story. While researching the story of Limbang I came across the fact that one of the hostages taken by the TNKU was in fact an American Peace Corps volunteer. I took up the challenge to track down this man. A few phone calls to the Peace Corps office in Washington pointed me to some web sites run by forma Peace Corps volunteers. At first there were plenty of helpful replies to my request for information but no one knew who the volunteer at Limbang was. The Royal Marines I had spoken to remembered one of the hostages at Limbang being a tall young American, but could not remember his name.
The mystery was soon solved but with a rather un happy ending. A few weeks after starting my search I received a E-mail from forma volunteer Thaine H. Allison, Jr. Thaine informed me the person I was looking for was his friend Fritz Klattenhoff. The search was over, Fritz was the volunteer held hostage by the TNKU. Sadly Thaine had not been in touch with Fritz for some time and we discovered that Fritz had passed away a few years ago.
Peace Corps arriving in Kuching 1962
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I became determined to make the Fritz's story part of our Limbang programme. Thaine told me as much of Fritz's story as he knew. He also put me in contact with forma volunteers Andy Powers and Lynn (Paterson) de Danaan both of whom had trained with Fritz in Hawaii before heading out to Sarawak. Andy had a very good recollection of what happened to Fritz and Lynn sent us some excellent pictures of Fritz.

In September of 2002 Brush Fire Films arranged for Thaine and Andy to attend the reunion in Manchester. Both forma volunteers were able to thank the Royal Marines personally for saving their friends life 40 years ago. Please visit Thanie's web site for a full write up on the event by clicking here

Brush Fire Films would like to thank Thaine H. Allison, Jr, Andy E. Powers, Lynn (Paterson) de Danaan and Lorna Maraoka for helping us to tell Fritz's story.

Martin Spirit
Brush Fire Films
Dallas Texas
Volunteer Fritz Klattenhoff
Fritz was only 18 years old when he arrived in Sarawak. He had trained along with over volunteers in Hawaii. He was barely a week out of high school when he came to Peace Corps training, one of the youngest Peace Corps volunteers to serve. His first assignment was to work with youths to establish 4-H clubs in and around Limbang, Fritz found a place to live with a local policeman and started working in the schools and the local agricultural officer in residence.
On the night the TNKU attacked Fritz hid in a local barn to avoid capture as he realized the rebels would want him a “orong puteh” (white man) as a hostage. During the fighting between the Limbang police and the TNKU, Fritz's policeman friend was killed defending the police station. His body was left in the street where he fell. The night after the TNKU took over Limbang, Fritz bravely crept out of his hide out, collected a shovel from the 4-H building and buried his friend in the jungle. He managed to do this with out being discovered by the TNKU.
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On the third day of the occupation of Limbang, Fritz was discovered by the TNKU. He was placed in the police cells along with the other hostages and later moved to the hospital. He and the other hostages were still in the hospital when L Coy arrived on the morning of the 12th, just hours before the TNKU were going to hang all the hostages. During the fight for Limbang on that morning a member of the TNKU randomly fired at the hostages and Fritz' received a flesh wound. When the battle was over Fritz helped SBA Terry Clark care for the wounded Royal Marines. Later that morning he was transferred to Brunei along with the other rescued hostages. Many of the Marines remember the" tall Yank" who helped their wounded friends.
Fritz's story appeared in many American newspapers that week including the New York Times. Fritz stayed and worked in Sarawak for another year. He then returned to Hawaii to help train other Peace Corps Volunteers. He later settled in Hawaii and became a Police Sheriff on one of the islands.
Volunteer Thaine H. Allison, Jr.
As a fresh collage graduate in agriculture, Thaine trained with approximately 25 other agriculture volunteers and was assigned as the Assistant Agricultural Officer for a region in North Borneo. Because of his location he was fortunate not to suffer the same fate as Fritz during the revolt. Thaine now lives in Pasadena California. He still maintains contacts with many forma volunteers and works with the Friends of Malaysia. In September 2002 Thaine attended the Limbang reunion in Manchester. At the reunion he presented the Royal Marines with a letter from Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. The National Peace Corps Association president Dane Smith also sent a letter thanking the Marines. Thaine also presented the Marines with a resolution by the Board of Directors of Friends of Malaysia and a letter from Fritz's Mother thanking the Marines for saving her sons life. All the letters and the resolution can be view on Thaine's web page by clicking here
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Volunteer Andy E. Powers
Andy trained with Fritz in Hawaii and arrived with the same group of volunteers at Kuching in 1962. Andy was sent on a two year assignment to the town of Lawas. He was to help build roads working with the public Works Department. When the revolt began the TNKU failed to capture Lawas and Andy did not suffer the same fate as Fritz. Some days after Fritz had been rescued Andy joined him and listened to Fritz's first hand account of what happened. In September of 2002 Andy joined Thaine in Manchester to express his thanks to the Royal Marines for saving his friends life.
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