Sunday, 22 May 2011, me
and my two other friends visited Satria Mandala Museum to fulfill one of our
school history assignment. We were asked to research a museum artifact and
wrote it down in this blog. A little bit about this museum, it was located at
Gatot Subroto Street, No. 14-16, South Jakarta. The visitors only need to pay
Rp 2.500,-/adult and Rp 1000,-/kid. This museum, that only closed on Monday,
offer us lots of artifacts to see, especially collections that related to
Indonesia's warder and military equipments. Other than that, we can also learn
a little bit about TNI and big figures who have major role like, Jenderal
Soedirman, Pak Soeharto, Jenderal Nasution, etc.
The artifact I'm going
to write today is about a vehicle that was once belong to Jenderal Soedirman.
This vehicle is a Willys Jeep. This Willys Jeep was given by Jenderal Soedirman
to one of his personal doctor, Dr. Koesen Hirohoesodo, SPOG, as a token of
grateful. It was a precious vehicle to Jenderal Soedirman himself, because this
jeep accompanied him at the warfare times against the Holland (1948-1949).
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| Willys Jeep at Satria Mandala Museum |
About the Willys Jeep
The Willys MB US Army Jeep (formally
the Truck, 1/4 ton, 4x4) and the Ford GPW, were manufactured from 1941 to 1945.
These small four-wheel drive utility vehicles are considered the iconic World
War II Jeep, and inspired many similar light utility vehicles. Over the years,
the World War II Jeep later evolved into the "CJ" civilian Jeep. Its
counterpart in the German army was the Volkswagen Kubelwagen, also based on a
small automobile, but which used an air-cooled engine and lacked 4 wheel drive.
Jenderal Soedirman's Willys Jeep is a CJ2A type. This type is the third CJ type
that was produced by Willys-Overland Motors. CJ2A was produced from year 1945
until 1948. The jeep has a various of unique colors and lively to represent the
hope of Americans towards the after-warfare times.
About Jenderal Soedirman
Jenderal Soedirman was borned at
Bodas Karangjati, Purbalingga, Center Java on 24th January 1916. He's the first
and youngest Indonesia's Great Commander and General ever. Soedirman was raised
in a common family environment. His dad, Karsid Kartowirodji, is a worker in a
Sugar Factory at Kalibagor, Banyumas and his mother, Siyem is a Wedana Rembang
heredity. He studied at the Dutch Native
School in Purwokerto, and then at a Muhammadiyah teacher training college in Surakarta. He worked as a teacher at the Muhammadiyah school in Cilacap.
During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during World War II,
Sudirman trained to become a battalion commander in Peta, the "homeland
defense" army promoted by the Japanese. When Japan surrendered and Sukarno proclaimed Indonesian independence, he organized his
Peta battalion into a Banyumas-based
regiment of the Republican army to resist Dutch reoccupation of its former
colony. The first major battle that he led was the Battle of Ambarawa against
the British and the Dutch (November–December 1945). On 12 December he led a
"coordinated attack" against British positions in Ambarawa, driving the British all the way to Semarang. The battle ended on 16 December.
On 12 November 1945 he was elected Commander-in-chief of the Army,
a position he held until his death. During much of the next five years he was
sick with tuberculosis,
but led several guerrilla actions against the Dutch. He led the resistance to
the Dutch attack on Yogyakarta, then the
Republic of Indonesia's headquarters, in December 1948. Theodore Friend (2003)
describes him as having "...a strangely blended samurai discipline,
Marxist disposition, and raw courage."
Sudirman died in Magelang, 29 January 1950, at the age of 35 due to tuberculosis. He was buried in Heroes' Cemetery in Semaki, Yogyakarta. He received the title of National Hero of
Indonesia as an Independence Defender Hero.
After the Willys Jeep was given to Dr. Koesen Hirohoesodo, it was
kept by the doctor until the 20th century. On 2006, 5 October
2006 to be exact, the Jeep was handed over to Satria Mandala Museum. The doctor’s
family decides to gave them to the museum to be kept as one of their
collections. At the museum Jenderal Sudirman’s figure itself is a symbol of a
“high fighting spirit”. Other than the Willys Jeep, the museum also kept
Jenderal Sudirman’s palanquin, coat, uniform, and his personal
belongings.
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| Explanation attached on the Jeep |
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| Writer with the Willy Jeep |
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