Department of Veterans' Affairs
Transcript
The result was that three or four days later I was sent to report to Colonel Honner of the 39th Battalion who'd also come down to join us near Gona. And he was going to - the 500 Japanese had attacked these Haddy's patrol at midnight in a thunderstorm. And Haddy had, after holding the Japanese off for a while, Haddy had told his boys to make their own way into the bush and he stayed behind to cover them. So he gave his own life to cover his troops. And the 500 Japanese had attempted to get through to Gona, failed to do so, they'd pulled back and occupied this village and were stationed there.
So Colonel Honner was going to go inland on the track we'd come out, so I was to guide him, his battalion, down the track. And I was up front with the forward section and single file virtually again like the Kokoda Track. And I heard voices and I sent a message back down the line: "we'd made close contact, we could hear voices."Message came back: "fire if necessary." Three figures come walking up the track together, talking away like schoolboys on a picnic. And I let them get within about two metres from me and I had a Thompson submachine gun so I opened fire, just one burst, and collected the three of them. I only used six rounds, I was credited with being very, very economical killing. One was a Colonel, next was a Major and one was a Lieutenant. What the hell they were doing wandering around in the jungle? Someone tried to tell me after they were going for a swim. Well there was no creeks or rivers anywhere close and the sea was alongside them. I think if they wanted a swim they would have swum in the sea.
And anyway, the Colonel had maps of Darwin in his satchel. He had all this paraphernalia - his sword hanging on his side, his binoculars and a row of nine ribbons on his chest. One of those was The Order Of The Rising Sun which is the equivalent of our Victoria Cross. The Order Of The Sacred Treasure, The Order Of The Golden Kite and the fourth one has never really been identified and he had five ribbons of service, mainly in China. But he was obviously fairly new to the area. He was fit, pudgy, he hadn't been on a starvation diet for too long. But I was commended for capturing the documents. People who asked after us said that the Japanese never intend to come to Australia. I said, "well was that bloke going to Darwin to play golf?"
