Thread: Kokoda, Part 2

Aaah thankyou! Almost forgot!

same i am watching for the first time i hope it still makes sense evn though i missed the first part

And if you happen to miss it (or part one for that matter), you can view it later on ABC's online iView.

My grandfather served in PNG during the war - lost his leg up there too!

Nice job they did I think, BUT no real mention or at least no stress that at the time was AUSTRALIAN TERRITORY. Also skipped over first VC on Australian soil - I didnt even hear it get a mention!

The jap they mainly spoke to was Kokichi NISHIMURA who is known as the bone man of kokoda. He was the only survivor of his platoon in the 2nd batt, 144th regiment of the Jap Imperial Army.

When he was being evacuated from PNG he and his fellow evacuees paraded in front of those wounded or chosen to stay behind, knowing they wouldnt survive, and promised to return and repatriate their bodies to Japan after the war.

In 1979, he sold everything, moved to PNG and lived for about 25 years recovering and repatriating the remains of Jap soldiers to fulfill his promise.
(now that is a man of his word!) He is scathing of the yanks as cowards but states he and his colleagues much respected the Australians as warriors.

A book (by an aussie-Charles HAPPELL) called "The bone man of kokoda" is a good read**, especially if it follows "TROBRUK" and then "KOKODA" by Peter Fitzsimmons... gives an easy reading factual account from both sides.

The first two books made the Kokoda track an emotional experiennce for me as I walked it about 2 weeks after completing Fitzsimmmons second book (KOKODA) waiting until then deliberately.

Visiting Buna and Gona at the end of our walk on the track, showed the ferocity of the fighting in that area, trees are still bullett scarred facing each other about 20 yards apart....

This was a good 2 part series, wonder if theyll follow it up as it sweeps across the whole of N.G.?

Cheers
digger

** I saw this book in a big w or somewhere similar for $5 a throw!! But I think it had RRP about $20 (?? or near to that!)

Originally Posted by digger

Nice job they did I think, BUT no real mention or at least no stress that at the time was AUSTRALIAN TERRITORY. Also skipped over first VC on Australian soil - I didnt even hear it get a mention!

The jap they mainly spoke to was Kokichi NISHIMURA who is known as the bone man of kokoda. He was the only survivor of his platoon in the 2nd batt, 144th regiment of the Jap Imperial Army.

When he was being evacuated from PNG he and his fellow evacuees paraded in front of those wounded or chosen to stay behind, knowing they wouldnt survive, and promised to return and repatriate their bodies to Japan after the war.

In 1979, he sold everything, moved to PNG and lived for about 25 years recovering and repatriating the remains of Jap soldiers to fulfill his promise.
(now that is a man of his word!) He is scathing of the yanks as cowards but states he and his colleagues much respected the Australians as warriors.

A book (by an aussie-Charles HAPPELL) called "The bone man of kokoda" is a good read**, especially if it follows "TROBRUK" and then "KOKODA" by Peter Fitzsimmons... gives an easy reading factual account from both sides.

The first two books made the Kokoda track an emotional experiennce for me as I walked it about 2 weeks after completing Fitzsimmmons second book (KOKODA) waiting until then deliberately.

Visiting Buna and Gona at the end of our walk on the track, showed the ferocity of the fighting in that area, trees are still bullett scarred facing each other about 20 yards apart....

This was a good 2 part series, wonder if theyll follow it up as it sweeps across the whole of N.G.?

Cheers
digger

** I saw this book in a big w or somewhere similar for $5 a throw!! But I think it had RRP about $20 (?? or near to that!)

I taped the show last night, but haven't watched it yet the "bone man" is correct about the Yanks, in their first encounter with the Japs, while assisting the Australians to push back the enemy to Buna and Gona, when the Japs mounted a Bansai counter-attack the Americans dropped their weapons and ran.
When Macarthur (hiding in Melbourne) heard of this he sent his second in command to New Guinea and told him to sort it and said "if he didn't, then dont come back". General Eichleberger arrived in New Guinea and sacked every American officer in the Corps and the highest ranking officer in that Marine Corps was a seargent, this corps was eventually shipped back to the States and broken up.
Macarthur (Dugout Doug as he was known by his men) abandoned his army in the Phillipines and made his way to Australia, says he was ORDERED to by his President so he had to go. This was not long after that he publicly stated that "Generals become famous for the orders that they DISOBEY", this coward had the hide to say that Australian troops in New Guinea were cowards, and that Bastard General Blamey accused Australian soldiers of being "RABBITS that run get shot"
Macarthur and Winston Churchill, 2 Bastards that Australian soldeirs would have been much better off without, Regards Frank.

Originally Posted by Tank

I taped the show last night, but haven't watched it yet the "bone man" is correct about the Yanks, in their first encounter with the Japs, while assisting the Australians to push back the enemy to Buna and Gona, when the Japs mounted a Bansai counter-attack the Americans dropped their weapons and ran.
When Macarthur (hiding in Melbourne) heard of this he sent his second in command to New Guinea and told him to sort it and said "if he didn't, then dont come back". General Eichleberger arrived in New Guinea and sacked every American officer in the Corps and the highest ranking officer in that Marine Corps was a seargent, this corps was eventually shipped back to the States and broken up.
Macarthur (Dugout Doug as he was known by his men) abandoned his army in the Phillipines and made his way to Australia, says he was ORDERED to by his President so he had to go. This was not long after that he publicly stated that "Generals become famous for the orders that they DISOBEY", this coward had the hide to say that Australian troops in New Guinea were cowards, and that Bastard General Blamey accused Australian soldiers of being "RABBITS that run get shot"
Macarthur and Winston Churchill, 2 Bastards that Australian soldeirs would have been much better off without, Regards Frank.

Although not the best of things to happen in the first few weeks of the campain, you have to remember that the Yanks were only just out of basic trainning and the first lot of Aussies to meet the Japanese were basically Wharfies, not front line soldiers and the Japanese that landed in PNG were battle harden soldiers with over 12mths front line fighting behind them.

Also knowing this makes the battle that the Aussie put up until the troops from Africa and Europe arrived even more amazing, they truely have my respect, so what if a few ran, who knows what it was like and they were out numbered 4 or 5 to one, in some encounters more.

Brave men, every dam one of them!!!

Baz.