Introduction

In mid to late 1994, I was Deputy Head of the Defence Staff in PNG and had just returned from Bougainville where I had assisted with Operation Lagoon which was the first peace conference on Bougainville.

It was an intense time organising the OP Lagoon Commander, Brig Peter Abigail and Col Operations Land Commander, Col David Hurley to meet with Francis Ona and other Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) in Sipura prior to the peace conference in Arawa a few days later.

On return to Port Moresby, the High Commissioner Bill Farmer asked if I was ready for a change of direction, and would I take on the “in-country” coordination of a visit by 117 WWII veterans who had served in New Guinea, as part of commemorative activities to celebrate the end of the War on 15 August 1945. Given that my uncle had been killed at Heaths Plantation near Lae in 1943, I was very keen to lead the response from the PNG end. The overall coordinating authority was Commemorations Branch of the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) lead by Admiral Neal Ralph (Retd).

Concept of Operations

It was explained to me by DVA staff that they intended to bring 117 veterans, both men and women, on a dedicated cruise ship and they wanted to visit as many places as possible in PNG over about a 10-day period. In addition, DVA would have on board, a medical capability as most of the veterans were in their 70s, a band and a half guard from 6RAR, politicians including Con Sciacca, Minister for Veterans Affairs and the Opposition spokesman. There would also be journalists.

In hindsight I don’t believe DVA had any idea how complex the visit would be in relation to coordination and the logistic aspects of moving different parties to different locations especially concurrently. As an example, I was asked how many 40-seater buses I could get in Popondetta – none!! The largest vehicles were Passenger Motor Vehicles (PMV) that could seat about 12-14 people; however, nobody knew how many were in Popondetta, nor how many were serviceable, probably not many.

It was decided that Neal Ralph and a project officer would come to PNG in January 1995 for a reconnaissance, and I would accompany them throughout the visit and begin local liaison with provincial government officers and other key personnel such as Defence, Police, the Clergy and public figures, especially any remaining PIB, NGIB, PNGVR and stretcher bearers (Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels).

The plan was to visit Bomana War Cemetery (Port Moresby); Alotau, Milne Bay; Popondetta; Kokoda; Buna; Gona and Sanananda; Rabaul; Lae; Madang; and Wewak.

This was a major logistical undertaking just to get to these places and ensuring there were persons at each location that could aid us, with the veterans’ visit to occur in August 1995. While Air Niugini is a good airline, trying to get the flights to the main hubs then land transport and a banana boat (powered dingy) for Buna especially, was challenging. In the end we found that the clergy in each location were our best contacts and generally could be relied upon to meet as agreed although often communications were down, and we had to “leg it” in order to locate contacts.

At every location except Sanananda the locals were enthusiastic about the proposed visit especially the old soldiers who remembered the Aussies with fondness.

At Sanananda the locals were in dispute with a nearby clan and it took numerous meetings for us to access the area, but not during the reconnaissance as rifle and shotgun fire was being exchanged when we arrived!

The low light of the reconnaissance was when the DVA representatives and I chartered a helicopter from Port Moresby to Kokoda. We were not told by the pilot that he had just arrived from the US, knew nothing about flying conditions in PNG and from my limited experience was a poor aviator. We attempted to climb above the clouds on departure and received advice from other aircraft that Kokoda was closed in. As I looked behind me towards Neal Ralph, I recalled the Caribou that crashed with 25 PNG cadets on board in August 1972 in the same area. The Admiral’s face was grey with tension and the DVA project officer was white and had her eyes closed. I told the pilot to turn back; he advised he didn’t know where he was and the map on his knee was useless as we couldn’t see anything. We went into a hover and slowly increased height all watching anxiously for trees and/or mountains and concerned about a rotor strike. Finally, we popped out of the storm and headed back to Moresby – massive relief. The pilot wanted to have another go after the weather cleared. We did as per a current advert on TV about safe driving -‘yeah-nah’ – and passed on the offer!

Preparation

During the next few months in between Bougainville trips, I assembled a group of terrific young Australian captains and majors posted to PNG and assigned them locations for which they would be responsible for all activities including church services, guards of honour, wreath laying, media/provincial government coordination and of course transport. Each Liaison Officer (LO) visited their location at least once; they were then deployed by me two weeks prior to the veterans’ arrival. As you can imagine there were multiple issues that needed to be resolved that we had previously thought resolved! The following are examples of unexpected challenges we faced:

• My LO in Popondetta said he was having extreme difficulty in getting enough PMV’s and that the drivers only wanted to turn up on the day (Sori boss mi lusim ting ting).  There was no way I was going to allow that to happen as I knew we would not have enough vehicles as required. I then had DVA agree that we would direct all PMV owners to arrive the afternoon before the visit so all PMV’s could be inspected for cleanliness and serviceability. We would pay each driver an extra day’s hire; we would provide dinner and breakfast in a large copra shed at the wharf; we locked all vehicles and drivers in the shed overnight with the LO. Two cans of SP brown beer and a good meal. Result – no complaints by the drivers and 14 PMVs ready to go at 0600hrs at the wharf when the cruise ship arrived. I think my relief was palpable as I stood on the upper deck and looked down to see all the vehicles lined up and my LO’s weary smile!

• I had a call from DVA in Canberra and was asked if I could assist ASAP with the order of Service in Alotau. There was a long pause on MY end of the phone, I had no idea what was required as I’m not a church goer, ‘leave it with me” was my response. I was very fortunate that Eileen Farmer, the wife of the High Commissioner, was an Anglican pastor. I asked her if she would help and of course she did a great job and prepared a full Service with readings and psalms appropriate to the occasion. The DVA staff were astounded that I had been able to produce the product required in a short timeframe so that it could be printed off, as were orders of Service for each location. After numerous complimentary emails and phone calls, some to the High Commissioner (sprung!) I had to fess up and admit that all I had done was ask Eileen and she had produced the short turn-around miracle.

The Visit

The Russian ship (Mikhail Sholokhov) was brilliant in its set up by DVA with photos of each veteran as they were more than 50 years ago and another of them in 1995. Period music of the 1940s was played throughout. The ship departed from Brisbane and, enroute to Port Moresby, a Service was held on board for those lost in the Coral Sea battles and on the Centaur hospital ship. I first met the ship, veterans, carers, serving personnel and media in Port Moresby.

The veterans were an amazing group, very sprightly (about my age today), eager to engage with the locals to see not only the terrain but to pay respects to those that died in the New Guinea campaigns.

There were two that stand out in my mind, and I want to share with you just a little about them:

• Edward Kenna, VC  
• Ted’ won his VC on Mission Hill near Wewak when attacking a Japanese machine gun cleverly dug in. Ted (would not let anyone call him Sir including me, which of course I ignored) was shot through the jaw and had a large patch of white skin covering where he was shot. He told me that surgeons had removed a large flap of skin from his bottom so when “the girls kissed him they were kissing his butt”!
• He was such a down to earth person and so appreciative; he never asked for a special seat or favours and was a delight to talk with. He went back to Wewak and was very quiet on his return.





• Lindsay Bear, DCM MM
• • “Teddy” was a massive man, of few words. I did get him to talk a little about his bravery and he said that he never hated the Japanese and fought only for his country. Indeed, he had travelled to Japan several times after the War and met soldiers he had fought against.
• • Lindsay was awarded the MM in Papua; he mentioned one time along the Kokoda Track when his section was being enveloped by the Japanese and the Bren was down to less than a magazine. He decided that the only solution was to sharpen his “shovel” with a wet stone and then crawled around behind the enemy and decapitated the MG crew thus preventing his section from being over-run. It was difficult to imagine this gentle giant doing what he described.

We achieved all DVA’s objectives including flying veterans into Kokoda (not with the Recon pilot) from Popondetta and others to Rabaul, Madang and Wewak. It was a hectic time for everyone especially the veterans. There were very few people frequenting the bar each night as we sailed most evenings to reach the next port in time for another ceremony. The guard and band were busy each night preparing their gear for the following day and did an excellent job.

Final Ceremony, Lae  



The last activity was at Lae War Cemetery where all veterans, the support staff, guard and band held a very moving ceremony. The ceremony was being televised back to Australia by the ABC and hosted by Sean Dorney, doyen of PNG journalists.

It just happened that a veteran, Ian King, 2/33 Bn was asked to present the eulogy.  Ian spoke of his “cobber” Jack Wade also 2/33 Bn who was my uncle and my Mum’s brother who was shot and killed 25km west of Lae at Heaths Plantation. It also so happened that my Mum and Dad were watching the news in Canberra that evening and were moved to listen to Ian talk about Jack. A very small world on that occasion!

Conclusion

On occasions, my Army mates and I will ask each other what our best experiences during our service were. I thoroughly enjoyed my service and would do it all again, however after

having written this short piece, I may have to review my response to their question. It was such an honour and privilege to meet with those veterans who helped save Australia and for me to assist them with their pilgrimage – to such a rugged battlefield with very limited logistics against a determined and well-trained enemy.

(Lt Col) Garry Young CSM 2023

[Editor’s note:

‘Teddy’ Bear, DCM, MM died in Melbourne, Victoria in 2000.

‘Ted’ Kenna, VC died in Geelong, Victoria in 2009.

Cpl. Ivan Walter served in the 2/11th Battalion, a predominantly WA raised Battalion with interstate reinforcements for the Wewak / Aitape Campaign. The Battalion landed at Aitape in November 1944 & were withdrawn from Wewak in October / November 1945 for RTA. Ivan was selected to represent the Battalion on this DVA sponsored PNG Veteran Pilgrimage. Ivan Walter died in WA in 2023.]