WO II R. S. Tappin, MM; born Te Kuiti, 23 Nov 1913; farmhand; wounded three times. (Source: Burdon, R.M. 24 Battalion. p.188.)

'Having formed up at the northern end of an olive grove some few hundred yards beyond the line held by B Company, the attacking force advanced over the slopes of Djebel er Hamaid, a wide, undulating ridge. By 1 a.m. the B Company platoon had reached its objective on Point 114 at the northern end of the ridge, while A Company had gone farther on towards Djebel dar Djaje. So far there had been no opposition. The 26th Battalion had also reached its objective without incident. Major Andrews had gone forward with the platoon of his company and, having placed it in position, went out to reconnoitre.‘All was quiet’, he writes, ‘so Corporal Tappin, the commander of 12 Platoon, and I went for a look down the far side of 114 to see how the ground lay.

‘It was very dark and we kept stumbling on the rocky surface. Suddenly there was a flash and a stunning explosion right in our faces. Thinking Tappin had accidentally fired his Tommy Gun in my face, I yelled at him to quit it. He yelled back something, when there was another flash and blast, and just after it we heard someone clank on the rocks out in front. Then things happened fast. We both let go at the noise with our Tommy Guns and Tappin hurled a bakelite grenade. I got going with my pocket full of little red I tie grenades and the Huns were hurling their potato mashers and both parties were firing at sounds and flashes. We got separated and in a lull I yelled for Steve [Tappin]. He replied, whereupon a Teutonic voice out in front called, Come out here Steve. Righto you b— was the reply, and bang went another grenade. Cursing the CO's order to leave all Very pistols behind I let go into the dark again with a grenade. We could now hear them running off and chased them along the spur running west until we lost them.

‘We ran back to 114 and I got Corporal Ching4 and his section, and we ran back but could not find them. To overawe any other enemy stragglers who might be about I took the section right around our front, halting them every fifty yards or so, and all shouting and firing a volley while I chucked the rest of my grenades out in front.

‘We got back to 114 to find my GSM and the rest of 12 Platoon in a state of great excitement at the row we made. Added to which they had a man shot through the leg by some tracer coming from out in front.

‘The CO came up shortly after and we got 12 Platoon dug in. Tappin came in for a lot of chaff at letting the Huns get so familiar with him as to use his Christian name.’

The incident described above was the only one of any importance. All objectives had been taken without check or delay, and with the loss of only one casualty. WO II R. S. Tappin, MM; born Te Kuiti, 23 Nov 1913; farmhand; wounded three times.
' (Source: Burdon, R.M. 24 Battalion. pp. 188, 189.) AWMM