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Nominee: Jacques Lefevre Far East Land Operations
Job(s): Driller / Utility Man
Nominator: Greg Gow
Contributors: Bernie Schaefer, Jim Hubbell, Brian and Sandy O'Sullivan
Jacques Lefevre--sometimes known as "matey", because that's what he called everyone.
| Although a "sailor" most of my life, the person nominated here worked land rather than marine which raises the issue of two nominating committees perhaps being needed for true justice? Presumably the "hall" would be a web site? (no....I am not volunteering!): |
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Greg (Gravel) Glanville and I knew Jacques before we joined GSI. He worked for
GSI on a jungle crew in Indonesia in the late 60's/early 70's. We were living
in Penang and Jacques, a neighbor, shared a house with a few other members of
the crew where they spent their time-off. Bud Lampkin would remember the house.
We supplied their duty-free beer.
As a result of a motor accident (car or bike...I don't remember) Jacques had a steel plate implanted in his head and was not supposed to drink, but he did...in copious quantities. The lack of brain cells and alcohol had a strange effect on Jacques. Nobody could raise hell like him nor get themselves into so many compromising situations (Acker doesn't even come close). His most famous exploit occurred in Singapore, where many an exploit occurred (stories of the Pink Pussycat and Bugis Street are bound to flood the "halls"). The Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference with visiting heads of many Asian and African nations was in progress at the time (1971). On one of his many binges, Jacques staggered across the road at the front of the Hyatt Hotel and headed toward the lobby. At the same time a large fleet of black limo's (flags waving) was pulling up at the front of the Hotel. It is uncertain as to whether Jacques ran into the lead limo or it ran into him but all hell broke loose after Jacques picked himself up and proceeded to unleash a few choice expletives to the passenger of the lead Limo.....the self proclaimed President of Uganda -Milton Obote, that depicted (amongst other things) his race and a certain organ of the female anatomy. Before any of his punches could connect, poor Jacques was rapidly whisked away to jail where he sat for a couple of weeks "for his own protection" - compliments of the Singapore Govt. The irony to the story is that Jacques extended stay in jail was a result of Obotes extended stay in Singapore. A coup (Idi Amin) had occurred in his country while he was at the conference and poor Obote had no home to go to! Jacques was not to be released until he wrote a letter of apology to both the Singapore Govt. and to the deposed Obote...which he refused to do. GSI Singapore office wrote the letter and signed on his behalf. Jacques was deported and I never saw him again. Jacques was also the person who told me that he doubted I could get a job on GSI marine crews since they were made up of "scientists" who walked around in white dust coats when they weren't swimming in the pools at every deck level! You can imagine my chagrin after first joining GSI marine and traveling across the island of Palawan by jeep(after curfew) then by outrigger to the old M/V Cecil Green where the only pools I saw were kerosene! Bud Lampkin often visited Dick when he was in town and I got to know him pretty well....and his niece. Bud told me I had a job with GSI when I finished up with the RAAF. However, land wasn't hiring at the time....they had gone from 8 crews down to one or two in Indonesia. I got sick of sitting around Sydney waiting for Bud's call so I flew up to Singapore and Charlie Rowell hired me on the spot into marine as a JO and shipped me off to the Cecil Green. Bernie was an Administrator for the Green for awhile, as was Bud.-- Greg Gow "I was there"--Bernie Schaefer This did happen. Jacques and I arrived from Medan and our taxi was stuck in a long line at the hotel Malaysia, Marco Polo to you guys who came later. We sat there for some time too weak with malaria to haul our own bags. It was when we went to investigate the hold up that all hell broke loose. At the front of the line was a Rolls with two big black guys in back with no driver. Jacques asked them to move as they were blocking traffic for several blocks. They turned and looked the other way and that's when Jacques reached inside and called the President at that moment of Uganda a BMF. I managed to escape as the military took Jacques away to jail. TI came close to being thrown out of Singapore over this. A couple of details--Jim Hubbell Jacques' friend Dick Tvermoes, a Party Manager, who lived in Penang, was in Singapore for the night before returning to his crew in Sumatra. The office contacted Dick, who interceded for Jacques down at the Orchard Road Police Station. Dick, being more of a diplomat than Jacques, wrote the required letter of apology that got Jacques off the hook, and allowed him to remain in Singapore. His supervisor told me that if GSI had been named in the newspaper, Jacques would have been canned. Fortunately, the Straits Times got it wrong, and referred to him as an Australian tourist. I met Jacques when I came to Indonesia in 1969. We worked on Party 813 in Pendopo, Sumatra. Jacques was Utility Man. Part of the time he was a driller, sometimes he worked in the Survey office. At the time Bill Harrison was Supervisor, John Derrickx was Party Manager, Eric Mueller was Administrator, Dick Tvermoes was Surveyor, Dick Batina was Mechanic, Drake Cameron was Seismologist, Peter Boey was Geophysical Engineer; the IEs were Louis Jacelon, Norman McGowan, and Me. Drillers were Owen McClory and Jacques when required. None of this has much to do with Jacques, except that he was on the crew, and a lot of those named have gone on to bigger and better things. Jacques is my daughter's Godfather, so he is held in high regard around the Hubbell household. He is from the Seychelles. His father was French and his mother Polynesian. I've had no luck in tracking him down or finding anyone who could tell me anything of him after 1985. Maybe one of you doodlebuggers can fill us in. Brian O'Sullivan adds: (Mar. 5, 2000) Matey was a good pick. You might want to add that he once managed to swipe an entire house from the Caltex compound in Duri,Sumatra. We were building a new base camp at Duri from the old 'Porta-camps' and I told Matey to see if he could "find" enough stuff on the Client Materials Request Sheets , to build a small office (plywood, 2X4's, zinc for the roof etc.). He called about 3 weeks later to tell me he'd finished the office, so I drove up to have a look. Caltex were building new Class 1 houses in the camp. These were pre-fab modular structures imported from the US, no different than any upper middle class home you'd find anywhere in the US. Matey drove around to each one & "borrowed" enough to build himself a complete house. Who'd miss a wall here, part of a tile roof there, a door from another, windows ... The SOB had a brand new 4 bedroom house worth about $100K and Caltex never missed it. They figured the units had been "short shipped". The security people thought Matey was with the construction contractor and never gave a thought to him driving through the gate with another load of his house. The damn thing's still there. Nice house. Brian's wife Sandy has amended the story by stating that the value of Jacques' house was probably worth no more than $30k, because he neglected to filch things like interiors walls and kitchen and bathroom fittings--things that Jacques might have thought unnecessary for a doodlebugger's office. Such adjustments to these accounts are warranted in the name of accuracy and veracity. We're not peddling BS here, you know! |