The Brushfire crew departed Dallas on the 27th of June and flew to Los Angles. The crew consisted of myself (Director), Tim Nagle (Producer) and Bill Elliot ( Cameraman). In LA we picked up Thaine H. Allison, Jr a Peace Corps veteran who knew and trained with Fritz. Some you may remember Thaine from the Manchester reunion. We then all boarded a flight for KL Malaysia. From KL we flew to Miri and from Miri to Limbang. The journey the a total of 62 hours, about 3 days and very sore ass.

Day one in Limbang was amazing. Please view the pictures on the right. At Limbang airport we where greeted by a local politician, pictures were taken and appeared in the local Chinese press the next day. It was a great joy for me to meet Chua, our Limbang contact, who I have be working with, over the phone and via E-mail, for the last four years. Great guy Chua who helped put all this together. Next stop was the Residents office to discuss the project. The Resident was very pleased to see us and informed me that a large ceremony would take place at the monument on the Sunday. Next stop was the monument, no cameras, I just wanted to be there. After working on this project for over five years, I found it very moving to finally stand in front of the monument. DSP George of the Limbang police was on hand and very helpful in the following days. Chua then took me to a small coffee shop to meet the man, Salle Sambas. Once again it was very odd to be standing in front of this man after all this time. Sambas is now 75 years old but still fit. He told me he was getting nervous about meeting the British veterans later that week.

Day two was spent entirely at a Iban long house 5hours journey up river, 2 hours by car (dirt roads) and 3 hours via long boat. An amazing trip. The pictures (right) tell most of the story of what we experienced that day. We spent a long time filming the Ibam male and female dancers as well as the musicians. This will be used in the documentary to set the scene of the culture of Sarawak . Lunch was chicken and chili, very hot. Many of you visited longhouse's 40 years ago, but to us it was a very unique experience. The kids were some thing else. We could have produced about five Oxfam videos in one day. We were also invited to try the local "fire water". All to soon it was time to leave. The journey back down river through the sun set was truly incredible.

For the next two days we filmed at various locations in and around Limbang, at the Police station, the old hospital and residents house. We also conducted a very revealing interview with Sallen Sambas. Sambas also kindly allowed us to film him at pray. The people of Limbang made us feel very welcome and all were very helpful. By now we had been joined by out trusty Iban guide Moses and translator Murro. Our carefully planed schedule went out the window because of the rain, you could set your watch by it. It poured down every day about 4.30pm. The day before the British contingent arrived was spent in the air filming from a helicopter picking up some great views of Limbang, the river and jungle from the air. Late on the 4th day I traveled to Brunei to pick up the British contingent

The British contingent arrived in Brunei from London on Thursday the 3rd of July. The party consisted of Major General Sir Jeremy Moore, Lady Veryan Moore, Brian Downy, Tony Daker, Major General Julian Thompson and Mrs. Jane Thompson. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to John Bennetts for looking after everyone during their short stay in BSB. The next morning we all traveled down river to Limbang. This had proved very hard to organize because of the international border and the fact that we could not film the event in the approved river taxi. However, palms were crossed with silver and we made it OK. It was a memorable trip. Brain and Tony had not been back to Limbang in 41 years. DSP George was on hand to meet everyone when they arrived.

With the arrival of Major General Julian Thompson, the programme presenter, the crew began filming Julian's pieces to camera. These are a major part of the programme where Julian describes various parts of the story while on location. These pieces to camera were filmed all around Limbang, the police station, the old hospital and the resident house. At the police station the local police were very helpful, especially DSP George. On Friday the high light (for me) of the trip took place. Brain Downy meet Sallen Sambas for the first time. It was very emotional for all involved. I'm not going to give too much away, you will have to wait until the programme is finished.

On Saturday all the British veterans were invited to Kampong Palahwan, the home of Sallen Sambas and other TNKU veterans. The welcome the British veterans received was outstanding. Music, entertainment and wonderful food was all laid on, even dancing. Speeches were made by Sir Jeremy and Sambas's bother who is the head of the Kampong . The pictures tell the story. A true moment in time.

Sunday was the big event. I had envisioned a small gathering at the monument between the British veterans and the Royal Malaysian Policemen veterans we had brought to Limbang. However, the people of Limbang had a different idea. The remembrance service at the monument was a huge occasion. A guard of honor was sent from Kuching. The police and army were on hand for wreath laying as well as the Resident Mr. Hj. Abdullah Bin Jamil . Speeches were made by the Resident and Sir Jeremy. Then followed the wreath laying ceremony. There must have been al least 500 people at the ceremony I have to point out the Sambas attended the ceremony along with other forma members of the TNKU. After this, tea was served while people viewed a large picture display Chua had set up.

Our final days were spent filming some short reenactment sequences in a small village up stream from Limbang. Military adviser Brian Downey was on hand to make sure we got it right. The reenactment sequences will not be used much in the programme. I'm not trying to make a dramatic drama with actors which you see so often on television documentary’s these days. We then completed final interviews with Brain, Tony and Sir Jeremy. Tony was able to view his some of his handy work, the bullet holes from the Vickers which can still be seen in the police station gate and in the walls of the old shops. One shop keeper jokingly asked Tony to pay for the damage. And then it was time to go and enjoy anther 67 hour journey back to Dallas.

So there you have it, a great trip. I'd like to say a big thank you to Sir Jeremy, Brain and Tony for coming to Limbang with us. I would have loved to bring more people out, but because of budget constraints, this was not possible. Thank you also to the people of Limbang many of whom made the shoot possible.

Yours Aye

Martin Spirit

Head of Production

Brush Fire Films