by Alan Tucker
Mum told him to move his arm in a circle: it was obvious he had restricted movement. She looked at him with frustration.
‘You’re not fully fit.’
‘Fit enough,’ he replied and hugged her tight.
Later
‘How did Harold get wounded?’ I asked as we lay in bed. ‘I asked him and he told me he and a Jap got into an argument over a piece of land.’
Des laughed. ‘If that’s what he told you, then that’s what happened.’
‘B-but it d-doesn’t make sense and it d-doesn’t explain what happened.’
‘If you really want to know I’ll tell you. He and his mate were dug-in on look-out duty at night when a Jap crept up behind them. His mate was bayonetted and Harold was just about to cop the same treatment when he sensed the Jap’s presence and wrestled the weapon from him.’
‘Is that how he g-got those c-cuts on his neck?’
‘I guess so. There’d be other cuts too that he won’t tell you about. The leg wound is the worst.’
‘What hap-p-pened t-to the Jap?’
‘What do you think?’
‘D-Did he k-kill him?’
‘Of course he did, Arch. And plenty before that. And as soon as he’s fit enough to resume active service, he’ll go back and kill some more.’
‘B-but, the J-Japanese are retreating up the K-Kokoda Track. There mightn’t be any left to fight against when he’s well again.’
‘From my experience, Archie, they’ll fight to the last man. They won’t give up New Guinea or any other of the hundreds of islands they’ve captured between here and Japan without a bloody fight.
‘D-Des,’ I asked cautiously. ‘Have you ever k-k-killed anyone?’
‘Not a lot,’ he replied, ‘but enough to do my job. You don’t think about it at the time. You just do it because it’s always a case of kill or be killed. Now go to sleep, Archie, and stop asking difficult questions. And don’t ask Harold questions, okay? I’ll tell you what you need to know.’
‘Thanks, D-Des. G-goodnight.’
‘Goodnight, matey.’
Wednesday, 11 November
Mum’s very sad. Des will be shipped off to New Guinea today.
‘They’ll start me on light duties to start with,’ he explained again.
‘I’ve read your diary, Des. There’s no such thing as light duties in the jungle and out on that terrible Track.’
‘That’s not the point, Mum. The point is I want to be there. My mates are there, what’s left of them, and I want to be with them. It’s not about me, Mum. I’m just one of the fellows.’ He grabbed and hugged her tight. ‘Don’t worry. I’m doing what I want to do. Harold will do likewise when he’s fit enough to walk.’
After breakfast we said our farewells and Uncle Jim drove Des to headquarters. We weren’t allowed to see him off at the wharf. The exact time of his ship’s departure was a secret.
Later
Just before 11am Mr Jensen reined Blackie in and told me to dismount.
‘I always observe the two minutes silence on Armistice Day,’ he said.
Other drivers stopped too, even the military vehicles, and very quickly an eerie quiet settled over Townsville.
‘The first minute’s for the soldiers who died, the second’s for their families,’ he said solemnly as he removed his hat and bowed his head.
We stood in silence. The only sound I could hear was the swish of Blackie’s tail and the occasional shake of his mane. I thought of Des and Harold’s mates who had been killed since Australia entered the war. And I thought of Dad. I wished I’d known him. I also thought of Mr Jensen who’d lost his leg fighting for Australia. I don’t know what he did in the war or how he was so badly wounded. I’ve never asked and he’s never told me.
In time Mr Jensen lifted his head, put his hat back on and wiped his eyes. He placed his arm gently on my shoulder and said, ‘Life goes on, Arch, and we’ve got to make the most of every day.’
We climbed aboard the wagon. He flicked the reins and said softly, ‘Gee up.’ Blackie responded and we slowly moved forward.
Later this evening Mum and I visited Harold. He was very cheerful and helped to lift our spirits.
‘Des can look after himself,’ he told Mum, ‘and if for some reason he can’t, his mates will rally around him.’
Thursday, 12 November
We visited Harold at the hospital tonight. He was quite agitated. Mum asked if his wound was playing up but he said, ‘No. Word’s filtered back from New Guinea that Blamey had a go at the militia boys. He assembled them, for what they rightly believed would be praise for their sacrifices, but instead he flew into them.’
‘For what?’ Mum asked.
‘Said he wouldn’t tolerate any more excuses for their failure to push the Japs back into the sea. “You have been defeated, I have been defeated, Australia has been defeated.”‘
‘How dare he speak like that to those boys,’ Mum said. ‘Going by everything you’ve told me, Des’s lot deserve nothing but the nation’s praise for their resistance along the Track.’
‘Any man who’s got his head screwed on correctly knows that.’ He paused. ‘And if that wasn’t bad enough, Blamey added fuel to the fire by telling them that “it is the rabbit who runs that gets shot.”‘
Mum shook her head in disbelief. ‘Thank goodness Des wasn’t here to hear what he said.’
‘He’ll hear soon enough, Thelma. News like that travels faster than a Jap Zero.’ He smiled slightly. ‘From what I hear Blamey was lucky to get out of there alive.’
‘I saw a newsreel at the pi-picture theatre two weeks ago,’ I told Harold, ‘and the narr-narrator said the militiamen were mag-magnificent fighters.’
‘They are, mate, they are. Take my word for it.’
As we left the hospital I asked Mum why a general would say such nasty things about his men, especially those who had fought so bravely.
‘No man with any compassion for his fellow soldiers, would,’ she replied.
She linked her arm with mine and we walked home. It was a moonless night and pitch black but Mum said she felt perfectly safe because she had me to protect her. I felt extremely proud. At last she was thinking of me as a grown-up.
Friday, 13 November
A bad luck day for the Japs. I heard on the radio news that Americans and Australians have joined forces at the Kumusi River. That’s where Des and his mates first encountered the Japanese four months ago. The Kokoda Track is now officially back in Australian hands and Allied forces can attack Japanese bases on the north coast. The New Guinea campaign is almost at an end.
The news from the European war is good too. The British army has completed a series of victories over the Germans in North Africa. Mr Churchill is reported as saying the tide of the war has turned but warns, ‘This is not the end. It is not even the beginning to the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’
I hope it’s the same on this this side of the world and the Kokoda victory is the beginning of the end of the war against the Japanese.
Later
I’m lying in bed writing on the last page of my diary. I didn’t want to write anything in it when Des gave it to me just over a year ago. I planned to only write on Sundays but now I write more often. The diary’s full but the war continues. Des and Harold will go on fighting so I’ll start using my new diary, the one Slim gave me for my birthday. If I need a third one later on, I’ll buy it. Now that I’m working I can afford to buy things out of my own money. I’m proud that my earnings help Mum make ends meet. But I’m more proud of what my brothers are doing and who they are. They are brave—and kind. The least I can do is record everything that happens, so that when the war’s over and they return home (they WILL return), they can read about all the ‘normal’ things they’ve missed out on here at home. They’ll like that.
HISTORICAL NOTES
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party. He was chancellor o
f Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. Hitler led Germany into the Second World War and committed suicide, rather than surrender, on 30 April 1945.
Captain Sam Templeton was an officer in the Australian Army during the Second World War. He was the commander of ‘B’ Company, 39th Battalion, during the First Battle of Kokoda. He went missing in action, presumed dead, on 26 July 1942, near the village of Oivi. His remains have never been found. Templeton’s Crossing was named in his honour.
Three major battles occurred around El Alamein between July and November in 1942, and were the turning point of the war in North Africa. The German army was opposed by the British Eighth Army, which comprised British, Australian, New Zealand, South African and Indian troops.
Emperor Hirohito was the 124th Emperor of Japan. He reigned from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. The Emperor was regarded as divine by many Japanese: in reality he had little power. Civilian and military officials decided national policy. He approved the attack on Pearl Harbour that led to war. After the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito insisted that Japan surrender.
An estimated 55,000 New Guinea villagers supported the AIF during the battle for the Kokoda Track. Their care for the wounded earned them the respect of the Diggers who dubbed them Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. 4,000 Australian lives were lost in the campaign but it is believed that many more Australians would have died had it not been for the help of the Angels. It is said they never abandoned a wounded Digger, even during heavy combat. Only a handful of the Angels are thought to still be alive. The Australian Government awarded the Fuzzy Wuzzy Commemorative Medallion to the New Guinea men who supported Australian troops.
A range of poisonous gases were used as weapons against soldiers in the First World War: tear gas, mustard gas, phosgene and chlorine. Some were selected to kill, others to damage soldiers’ lungs or eyes and prevent them from fighting. The Geneva Protocol of 1925 banned the use of lethal gas in future wars.
General Thomas Blamey was an original Anzac: he landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, 1915. Between 1916 and 1918 he served with the AIF on the Western Front. In June, 1918, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Australian Corps. When the Second World War began in 1939 he was given command of the 6th Division. In March, 1942, Blamey was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces and, under General Douglas MacArthur, became commander of Allied land forces in the Pacific. Blamey conducted a series of successful offensives in New Guinea in 1943. On 8 June 1950, Blamey was promoted to field marshal. He died on 27 May, 1951.
General Douglas MacArthur was an American general. He served on the Western Front during the First World War and rose to the rank of brigadier general. During the Second World War MacArthur was commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East (ie. the Pacific region). During the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, MacArthur’s forces retreated to Bataan. In March, 1942, MacArthur, his family and staff abandoned his troops and escaped to Australia where he became Supreme Commander, South-West Pacific Area. He officially accepted Japan’s surrender on 2 September, 1945, and oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until 11 April, 1951. He died in the US on 5 April, 1964.
The Kokoda Track is a path that links Owers’ Corner, approximately 60 kilometres (25 miles) north-east of Port Moresby, and the small village of Wairopi, on the northern side of the Owen Stanley mountain range. The Track is approximately 160 kilometres (100 miles) long – up and down the Owen Stanleys. The highest point is 21,000 metres. Kokoda village has the only airfield between Port Moresby and the New Guinea north coast. Fighting along the Track, between July and November 1942, was some of the most brutal encountered by Australian troops in the Second World War. Approximately 625 men were killed and 1,600 wounded. Another 4,000 men were evacuated with various illnesses. Since 2001 there has been a rapid increase in the number of Australians walking the Track. Trekkers take between 4 and 12 days to complete the ‘walk’. The Dry season (from April to September) is the best time to trek Kokoda. Some people refer to the path as the Kokoda Trail but I prefer the Kokoda Track.
Maroubra Force was the name given to the Australian infantry force that defended Port Moresby, and was involved in the Kokoda Track Campaign. It was formed on 21 June 1942, and consisted of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, the 39th Battalion and the 53rd Battalion. The 39th Battalion was sent overland via the Kokoda Track to oppose the advancing Japanese. Maroubra Force fought a month long delaying action back down the Track before being reinforced and helping to drive back the Japanese. Maroubra Force was later involved in the battles for Buna and Gona.
General MacArthur ordered an airbase built at Milne Bay so US aircraft could protect Port Moresby and attack Japanese-held Rabaul. Construction began in July 1942. On 26 August, the Japanese landed a force of 2,000 marines in an attempt to seize the airstrips. The attack was turned back by Australian and American troops. After 12 days of bitter fighting the Japanese were defeated and were forced to evacuate Milne Bay. The Australians suffered 373 casualties, of whom 161 were dead or missing. The Japanese death toll was at least 700.
The total number of Japanese casualties (army, air force and navy) in the New Guinea Campaign (the battles for the Kokoda Track, Milne Bay and the villages of Gona, Buna and Sanananda) is approximately 13,600 dead and 5,600 evacuated ill or wounded.
The National Socialist German Workers’ Party was known in English as the Nazi Party. It was a political party between 1920 and 1945. Adolf Hitler was appointed the party’s leader in 1921. The Nazi Party won seats in a series of elections and in January 1933, Hitler was appointed German chancellor. Under Nazi rule, known as the Third Reich, all other political parties were banned. Hitler provoked war on 1 September 1939, by ordering the German invasion of Poland which forced declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom. After the defeat of the Germans in the Second World War, the Allies occupied Germany, outlawed the Nazi Party and charged Nazi officials with war crimes. The Nuremberg trials took place in Germany from 1945 to 1949. Many Nazi leaders were found guilty and executed.
After Australian troops recaptured the Kokoda Track, they joined with the Americans and fresh Australian forces to capture the villages of Gona, Buna and Sanananda on the north coast of New Guinea. Allied commanders believed victory would come quickly but the offensive turned into one of the most savage and deadly encounters of the entire New Guinea campaign. A series of battles were fought, beginning on 16 November 1942. The Japanese had prepared well-fortified beachheads and died fighting rather than surrender. Casualties were extremely high on both sides. On 12 January 1943, General Adachi ordered the Japanese evacuation of Sanananda. On 22 January 1943, Allied forces finished mopping-up actions and the New Guinea campaign officially came to an end.
Peace in Europe: The final battles took place in late April and early May 1945. Adolf Hitler died in Berlin on 30 April: the Battle of Berlin ended on 2 May. At 2:41 a.m. on 7 May, the Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, signed unconditional surrender documents. Victory celebrations were held throughout Europe on 8 May. The US declared 8 May as V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
Peace in the Pacific: American bombers dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945. The Japanese military ceased fighting on 15 August 1945, and on 2 September 1945, Japanese commanders formally surrendered to the Allies on the deck of the USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay. VP (Victory in the Pacific) Day, also referred to as VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, is celebrated on 15 August.
The surrender of Singapore: The island and city of Singapore were bombed and shelled for weeks. A day after Japanese troops captured the city’s reservoirs and pumping stations on 14 February 1942, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, the British commander in Singapore, surrendered. Australia’s General Gordon Bennett escaped from Singapore that night and made his way to Australia. 130,000 servicem
en became prisoners of the Japanese, including 15,000 Australians. Many had just arrived on the island and had not fired a bullet. The surrender was probably Britain’s worst defeat in World War Two. As many as 50,000 civilians may have died during the four years of Japanese occupation.
In 1943 Japan’s high command decided to build a railway linking Thailand and Burma. About 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (many captured with the fall of Singapore) and 200,000 Asian labourers built the track with hand tools. Poor rations, tropical diseases and cruel treatment caused a huge number of deaths: over 11,000 Allied prisoners (including 2,815 Australians), and perhaps 75,000 Asian people died by the time the railway was completed in October 1943. The railway was never used.
The 5th Battalion (Errol McLeod’s battalion) was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. Men were recruited from Victoria. The battalion took part in the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915, and later fought at the battle of Lone Pine. It served at Anzac Cove until the evacuation in December. From March 1916 until 11 November 1918, the battalion fought against the German army along the Western Front in France and Belgium (for example, Pozière, Ypres, the Somme, Amiens, Hindenburg Line). The November armistice was followed by the peace treaty of Versailles signed on 28 June 1919. After the war’s end, members of the 5th Battalion returned to Australia.
The 2/14th Battalion (Harold McLeod’s battalion) formed on 26 April 1940, and trained at Puckapunyal in Victoria. It embarked for service in the Middle East on 19 October and completed its training in Palestine. After a stint in Egypt the battalion returned to Palestine in late May to participate in the invasion of Syria and Lebanon. Its first taste of conflict occurred when it attacked Vichy French outposts on 8 June, 1941. The 2/14th was involved in several attacks culminating in a battle near Damour, Lebanon, between 4 and 9 July. It remained as part of the garrison in Syria and Lebanon until early January 1942 when it returned to Egypt and boarded a ship bound for Australia. It disembarked in Adelaide on 24 March 1942. Five months of retraining occurred. On 13 August it arrived in Port Moresby and on 16 August advanced along the Kokoda Track to do battle with the Japanese. It was relieved at Imita Ridge on 16 September. On 26 November 1942, the rested and reinforced 2/14th was flown over the Owen Stanley Ranges to help fight the Japanese at Gona. Only 21 fit members of the 2/14th Battalion flew out of Gona for Australia on 8 January 1943. In mid-September the rebuilt battalion was involved in a military operation to capture Lae, New Guinea. It then spent the next five months patrolling the Ramu valley and the Finsterre mountains. The battalion’s last operation of the war was at the Balikpapan landings, Borneo. It later formed part of occupation forces in the Celebes, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), before sailing home to Australia on 22 January 1946. The 2/14th Battalion disbanded in Brisbane on 22 February 1946.
