enlisted in the United States Army. He was immediately caught up in the Battle of the Philippines, narrowly escaping a Japanese bombing raid before being hospitalised with a hernia a few weeks later. He left the country on 31 December aboard the hospital ship Mactan, again narrowly escaping a bombing attack while his ship was in the harbour. He was sent to Australia via Celebes, arriving in Darwin on 13 January 1942. He was subsequently moved on to Melbourne and housed in a military camp at Royal Park, while working as a guard at the Port of Melbourne. Gamboa rejoined the U.S. Army in July 1942. He was posted to Port Moresby, New Guinea, a few months later, and served as an orderly for General Douglas MacArthur. He was then attached to MacArthur's headquarters in Brisbane. In 1944, he returned to the Philippines with the army, and was stationed in Leyte for a period. He visited his mother in March 1945, who did not recognise him; he had been listed as missing in action and was presumed dead. Gamboa arrived in Yokohama in August 1945, to take part in the occupation of Japan. His term of service expired in November 1945 and he opted to be discharged in Australia to rejoin his family. Marriage and children In March 1942, Gamboa was taking a train back to his barracks when he met Joyce Cain, a 16-year-old Australian girl who worked at a biscuit factory. She invited him back to her parents' home in Brunswick West, at the time a common gesture of goodwill towards soldiers. They subsequently began dating. Joyce later recounted that her family and friends had been overwhelmingly accepting of their relationship, as mixed-race couples were not uncommon in war-time Melbourne. The couple became engaged in August 1942 and married on 9 October 1943, spending their honeymoon at a hotel. Their first child, Raymond, was born in Melbourne in November 1944, when Gamboa was stationed in Leyte. A second child, Julie, was born in Melbourne in January 1947, when he was stationed in Tokyo. Immigration issues After being discharged from the army in 1945, Gamboa's father-in-law found him work with the Victorian Railways, and he settled in Melbourne to live with his wife and son. His continued presence was discovered by the Department of Immigration in early 1946, after he attempted to collect a ration book, and he was