In June of 1945, Starcevich and the rest of his company, the 2/43rd Battalion arrived in Mempakul having recaptured Labuan earlier in the week. There, they discovered that the Japanese had established a base near Beaufort, about 65km away.
According to Australian historian Michael McKernan, on June 28, Starcevich’s company was told to push through a narrow path through dense jungle to contact and relieve a company that was under attack by the Japanese.
As they approached the point, the company’s forward scouts were quickly pinned down by machine-gun fire, shot by the Japanese firing from rifle pits.
“It was during this time that Starcevich, acting on his own initiative, moved forward, firing his Bren gun from the hip and into the fire of four machine-guns and single-handedly routed the Japanese.
“His action allowed the advance of his company to continue and eventually rescued the hapless scouts,” reported McKernan.
In total, Starcevich – a former farmer and gold miner from Grass Patch, Western Australia – killed 12 Japanese soldiers and captured four machine gun posts.
His selfless conduct in relieving men under fire while disregarding his own life did not go unnoticed and Starcevich was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for valour his country could offer.
And while his courageous act did not lead to tactical gain, his bravery became symbolic of a relationship between the people of Sabah and those who were truly their liberators.
It has been estimated that 16% of Sabah’s total population was killed during the Japanese occupation.
In honour of Starcevich – who held the rank of private throughout his military career before being discharged in February 1946 – the people of Beaufort erected the Private Starcevich Monument, not far from the where the battle took place.
After the war, Starcevich was reunited with his brother Joseph Frederick, who was also a soldier of the Australian Division. Joseph was still a prisoner of the Japanese at the time of Starcevich’s heroics.
The siblings jointly worked at a soldier settlement consisting of a 1,700-hectare wheat and sheep farm at Carnamah, Western Australia.
In 1981, Starcevich moved back to Grass Patch, where he had bought a small farm. He died at Esperance, Western Australia, on Nov 17, 1989, aged 71.
According to Sabah Museum assistant curator John Sen, the memorial was erected immediately after Starcevich was awarded the Victoria Cross.
“We do not have the exact record of when it was built or whether at the time, he or his representatives were present. But it was erected with the help of the Australian government as well as the citizens of Beaufort.”
Sen said the monument stands on a 29 sq km piece of land that was gazetted and handed over to the Sabah Museum in 1994, more than fifty years after the incident took place.
It was one of a few such monuments in Sabah that commemorate the incidents that took place during World War II.
“Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, every year, groups from Australia would visit the monument on Anzac Day, usually before they go to Labuan,” Sen said.