Whiteskins and Wau
The next day, 6 December 1967, we set off down the well-made gravel road to Wau. I was a bit dejected as my adventure was coming to an end, but the scenery was nice with a large river flowing rapidly down the deep hillside gorge to our left and a panoramic view down the valley. After about an hour Hawkeye had found us again and repeatedly flew over and then under us again in the river gorge. An hour later we were surprised to see two Army trucks and a jeep making their way up the valley. They had come to collect us and take us into Wau and through to Kaisinik, where we were quartered in the school grounds as the school had broken up for the summer holidays. The platoon climbed aboard the trucks and so ended the patrol for the men. Greg and I went in the jeep.
At Kaisinik I caught up with my fellow D Company officers as I was the last to arrive. We platoon commanders were quartered in the European school teacher’s residence where the teacher was in a rush to get away and back to Australia. He kindly suggested we help ourselves to his larder and his fridge as it would “all have gone rotten by the time he came back”. We feasted ourselves on his pâté, cheeses, tinned mussels and cracker biscuits washed down by countless stubbies of beer.
Kaisinik was a lovely place and we spent four days there handing in our unspent ammunition, exchanging our old clothing for new and most of all resting and letting our bodies recover. Greg had befriended the mine manager of the New Guinea Gold Mining company and we officers enjoyed his company one evening whilst fine dining at the Wau Golf Club. I cannot remember the actual meal, but it was normal officers mess fare: fresh soup of the day; a fresh bread roll; a choice of either beef, lamb, pork, chicken or fish, baked or grilled; four vegetables either baked, boiled or steamed; accompanied by a bottle of either claret, burgundy, moselle or Riesling wine; a choice of desserts with coffee and port to finish. Greg must have enjoyed his month in Wau while I was eating brown rice, and on one unforgettable occasion, tinned minestrone soup.
Greg had Volume 5 of the Official History of the Australian Army in WW2 “Kokoda to Wau” and we were able to read of the Japanese attack on Wau and its defence by the Australians at some of the actual sites of the battle encounters. It was a bitter and brutal struggle between the respective armies, and I was glad that I was 25 years behind those times.
This patrol was a life changing experience. In hindsight we were fortunate in that 1967 was either a dry year or the wet season was late. I would not like to have done this walk if the ground had been muddied. Walking in calf deep mud is no fun and crossing fast flowing swollen creeks is dangerous. Greg had warned me to be prepared to do some wading and swimming but luckily we were spared those difficulties.
John Stringfellow
December 2016