Glad to see our members have considerable appreciation for the spirit and sacrifice of our armed services past and present.
On a personal note, this Anzac day is special. You may have seen the first episode of Kokoda on Ch 2 this week - excellent production.
Subsequently, my father was involved in the actions along the Kokoda Trail that forced the Japanese retreat and defeat at Gona and Buna.
My father's unit 6th Div 2/2Bn AIF was one of the units sent to New Guinea in 1942, that relieved the 39th Militia in the Kokoda Battle and chased the Japanese back over the Owen Stanleys to the northern beaches. During this trek Dad slipped/fell 100ft down a steep ridge with full pack and injured his back, he continued in action for 14 days before he got medical attention. Almost all his unit suffered Malaria and many other tropical deseases.
The severely depleted 39th Bn returned to Australia, as did my my father's unit. The remains of 39th then joined the 2/2Bn and they returned to New Guinea in Jan 1944 for a series of beach landings with American units along the northern coast towards Wewak.
This week marks the 65th anniversary of my father's WIA and the previous loss of one of his battalion's senior officers; Lieut. Albert Chowne VC (post), who saved the lives of Dad and many of his mates.
21 Mar 1945 my father was WIA near Dagua Airfield. he was airlifted to AGH Wewak where a surgeon removed a bullet from the rear of his head. I still have the bullet wrapped in the cotton wool just as he sent it home to his wife. The round came from a scavenged aircraft machine gun with damp amunition, otherwise I would not be here!
He said fighting the jungle and swamps was harder than finding and fighting the Japanese!
Dad passed away after two leg amputations in 2000.
at Christmas 1942,the Eighth Army's own weekly paper conducted a poetry competition.
My father was asked by General BL Montgomery to publish a book with the poems in it to be sold for the benefit of the Army Comforts Fund. The book is called "Poems from the Desert" and I have selected part of one as below These poems were all written in the Western Desert when the Desert Army was wholly engaged in "hitting Rommel and all his forces right out of Africa for six."
In the Desert today
What did I see in the Desert today,
Where the frantic lizard runs?
The song of death was shouted forth
As the gunners manned the guns.
The men who'd pledged for Motherland
Their freedom and their lives,
Swore as they sweated in the smoke
To man the twenty-fives.
What did I see in the Desert today,
Beside the rocks and the sand?
I saw the squadrons in the sky
Of Bomber and Fighter Command.
I heard the thunder of their work,
I saw their lightening stroke,
And far accross the skyline came
The rolling clouds of smoke,
Whilst incoherent in their rage
The chattering Bredas spoke.
What did I see in the Desert today?
Relics of what had died.
The pale enammelled shells of snails
Wherein the spiders hide,
And the dark fast-rusting shells of hate
Lie shattered side by side.
What did I see in the Desert today?
Anything new in the "Blue"
I found a crevice in the rocks
Where a single violet grew,
As fresh as in woods and lanes of home -
The green fields once we knew.
And I saw the Faith in the eyes of men,
And I knew their hearts were true.
