Before his promotion to Major in 1940, when he became military commander of Semarang, Java, Captain Teerink served as a military commander of three KNIL brigades, each headed by a Dutch Lieutenant and consisting of KNIL soldiers, to protect a small team of American, Dutch, Australian, and Canadian researchers (botanists, zoologists, entomologists, etc) in the 1938-1939 Netherlands-Indies-American expedition to the Snow Mountains what was then Dutch New Guinea (aka Irian/West Papua).
Aided by a large Catalina ("flying boat") which landed on highland lakes and rivers, the team not only explored and collected below the snow-covered Mount Wilhelmina, but also (accidentally) discovered the soon-to-be world famous Baliem Valley. The "brigades" (or what we now call platoons) under 40-year old Captain Teerink's command were augmented by scores of Dayaks from northeast Borneo (they were skilled in carving dug out canoes, building bridges, and expert canoemen in wild-streaming rivers), and Javanese laborers (as carriers).
Importantly, but never officially recognized as such, Captain Teerink was the first non-Papua to ever enter that isolated territory. In total, he visited that highland valley in the deep interior of Western New Guinea three times in the course of 1938.
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