Reluctant heroes – Hate, compassion, daring, Kokoda and Cannibalism

Let me introduce two reluctant heroes, Private George Whittington and Raphael Oimbari. Raphael and George met in 1942, they would have preferred not to. This Postcard tells the story of men such as these. A story in our troubled times I believe it’s worth remembering.

39th Militia Battalion- very reluctant Aussie heroes.

George was part of the 2/10th Australian Infantry Battalion, professional soldiers, who relieved the decimated reserve 39th Militia Battalion, who had slowed the Japanese advance down the Kokoda Track, Papua New Guinea in 1942. George though shot in the face, survived, but died in 1943 of scrub typhus.

Both George and Raphael were reluctant heroes. George is a representative of all the young Aussie men, whose fight, wounds, and death on the Kokoda Track became legend. Raphael, the thousands of Papuans who carried wounded Aussie boys out of the bloody combat, back to the comparative safety of Port Moresby. What is a reluctant hero?

How do you recognize a reluctant hero?

Don’t take my word for it. I’m a notorious tale spinner and bull shit artist. So, in respect to yourself the reader, as follows a quote from Jessica Morrell who actually knows about such things:

“A reluctant hero is a tarnished or ordinary man with several faults or a troubled past, and he is pulled reluctantly into the story, or into heroic acts. During the story, he rises to the occasion, sometimes even vanquishing a mighty foe.”

Jessica Morrell in ‘Bullies, Bastards and Bitches’.

Why my interest in legitimate heroes?

I remain interested and proud of the Aussie reluctant heroes. National heroes create national myths. Such concepts are important to a Countries identity. Maintaining their legacy will require honesty, transparency and integrity. National mythology remains a consistent theme of my pondering Postcards. ‘Bastard Horses and Scared Young Men’, explores this further. Primarily because they typically are ordinary people, people who eventually say: ‘Enough, I don’t like what’s happening, I’m going to stop it”. I’m also very cynical about ‘classic heroes’, that some politicians pretend to be, that pretend they are our salvation, that they by stint of their ‘specialness’, can make things better. Sounds like bull shit to me! But, genuine classic heroes, well we are going to meet one of those, but also a small group of reluctant heroes. Firstly, a little time travel back to 1942 and the Kokoda Track:

Where the hell is the bloody Kokoda Track?

The Kokoda Track runs over the rugged steep inhospitable Owen Stanley Range, Papua New Guinea. Which in 1942 was an Australian protectorate and had been since the opening days of WW1 when Australia destroyed a German garrison in occupation. Papua had been a German colony from 1884 till 1914.

The Japanese Imperial Forces sent a naval force to seize Port Moresby, the capital of Papua, a strategy designed to separate Australia from the United States. However, subsequently Japan received a beating in that Battle of the Coral Sea. Inconsequence their second option prevailed, a force march over the Own Stanley Range.

Kokoda – What a bastard of a place!

The Kokoda Track was 150 kilometres of hell! Even today, with modern light backpacks, structured trails and professional guides – 10 days, and that’s only one half, Ower’s Corner to Kokoda. The rainforest is thick, dark, steep and impenetrable, a soldier wandering off 5 metres to relieve his dysentery, risked not ever finding his mates again.

Compared to the great land battles of WW2: Kursk, Alamein, Guadalcanal – Kokoda was a skirmish. A skirmish that killed 625 Australian, 10,000 Japanese boys, and an unknown number of Papuan New Guineans. Kokoda descended into a clash of cultures. A relatively new Australian society, versus a centuries old Japanese culture of martial pursuits. And the poor bloody local Papuans found themselves smack in the middle.

Kokoda was fought with rifle, pistol, bayonet, machine guns, small mortars, fists, and teeth. There were no tanks, no air support for resupply or evacuation – No Australian artillery to break up Japanese attacks, yet somehow the Japanese had manhandled their own artillery up there! Another aspect of Kokoda, complete underestimation of the professional Japanese Forces: We would more aptly call it racism!

Death, torture and yes, the human taboo – cannibalism!

Kokoda displays all the horrendous, horror of men at war: Death, mutilation, hunger, sickness, disease, murder, rape, torture and yes, cannibalism.

Cannibalism! Though the men of the 39th had no delusions about war, they knew it was not ‘cricket’. But they were totally unprepared for the Japanese culture of war. In the crisis of nearly being overrun, a group of Aussie wounded were left behind to the tender mercy of the Japanese. A counterattack drove the Japanese back, the 39th discovered all their mates had been tortured as bayonet practice, slain and then some eaten. Kokoda was a clash of cultures, much like Ukraine and Russia. Kokoda’s fighting had no limits, no pity or compassion – There were few if any POWs on either side after that episode. 10,000 young Japanese boys marched down the Kokoda Track towards Australia. Only 600 would ever see the Cherry Blossom in Japan ever again.

23rd July 1942, the Australian 39th Battalion first contacted the might of Japan at Awala, small extremely remote village on the Kokoda Track. The American Fleet lay smashed at Pearl Harbour, Singapore had fallen – All seemed lost and dark. Japan was rampaging toward Australia – In their way the 39th – A Bloody Rag Tag Bunch of Reluctant Heroes!

39th Militia Battalion – Boys and old men, reluctant heroes all.

The soldiers of the 39th were part time reserve soldiers, some only just 18, many were well past 60. Australia introduced conscription in 1939, but it only applied to the Militia, the professional Army remained all volunteers. Militia members often joined the permanent Army, many didn’t. Some of the 39th had been passed over by the regular army. Too old, broken down, misfits, hopelessly unfit, lame, crippled, lacking fighting spirit, and reluctant. Fighting in Australia was one thing, but Africa no thanks, see the Militia could not by Law be sent outside Australia. The Lads had seen what WW1 did to their fathers and uncles – War was no longer some grand adventure. Understandable reluctance, yes!

Then some bright politician had an idea. If Papuan New Guinea was an Australian protectorate, well pretty much part of Australia – Off to Papua it is then lads!

So, the lads found themselves crawling and scratching up Kokoda, very little training – a few rounds through a 303, old weapons as befits ‘simple’ reservists. Clad in highly visible khaki uniforms in a sea of dark green – It really was a desperate measure! Australia’s professional army, Australia’s Imperial Force (2AIF) was fighting in Africa, would take time to ship them back. Assuming we could get around Winston Churchill, he did everything he could to block the return of the AIF.

So, there we are, reluctant heroes in place, in hell on earth and all hell is about to let rip.

How did the Australian Government lead such reluctant heroes?

The answer is not very well, well certainly not at supreme command level.

General Douglas Macarthur was the supreme allied commander based Down Under. Had been since the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbour and Douglas’ abandonment of his own troops in the Philippines. The US decided it needed an unsinkable aircraft carrier – What about a little place called Australia?

Winston Churchill did not help. Winnie, you said Singapore was invincible, now we are about to be overrun by some very brutal effective lads from the Land of the Rising Sun – We like our own land of glorious sunset plains and vision splendid, thanks a lot! And as for knicking our AIF because of some equally effective German Panzer commander in Africa – Might just call Washington.

Two Generals with big heads – But NFI about Kokoda.

Macarthur was all corn cob and personal self-seeking puffery – Just perfect for his aspiration to be the next US President!

Macarthur broke the cardinal rule of warfare, know your terrain. Douglas infamously said of Kokoda:

“It’s just like Leonidas the Spartan, at the Pass of Thermopylae, two old *iggers with shot guns could hold it.”

General Douglas Macarthur. Description of the Kokoda Track.

I’m sure Australia’s Prime Minister John Curtin, wished the British War Cabinet under Churchill was still in charge. But John has another blow hard to contend with, Australian grown, Field Marshall Sir Thomas Albert Blamey.

Field Marshall Sir Thomas Albert Blamey, the Australian, supreme Australian commander, under ‘Old Corn Cob’, well he had no more idea of the horrendous conditions our reluctant heroes were facing at Kokoda. Not sure what ‘Field Marshall’ signified as he certainly knew nothing about the ‘Field’ of Kokoda, and little of infantry tactics.

Thomas said of the 39th:

“You ran like rabbits, remember it’s the rabbit who runs who gets shot, not the man with the gun.”

Field Marshall Sir Thomas Albert Blamey

Blamey was describing the 39th’s simply brilliant series of textbook tactical withdrawals, more of that soon. Thomas thought he could run Kokoda from Army HQ, Brisbane. Some 2000 kilometres away, an awful long distance in 1942. Thomas did more brown nosing, than nosing around such that he had appropriate knowledge of the Kokoda logistical obstacles.

Kokoda and Legitimate Leadership.

In Blamey it is hard to imagine a worst leader to be in charge of Aussie troops, However,

At the front the 39th were led by NCO’s and Officers who were simply first class. They really were ‘Dad’s Army’, veterans of WW1, they had reenlisted expecting to pass on their knowledge to their sons in boot camp. Another round of combat carnage was the last thing they expected. They lead from the front, statistics prove that. -Officer and NCO casualties were 15 times higher than in Africa fighting Rommel. If they were reluctant, they did not show it. Men like Colonel Ralph Honner who took command of the 39th, replacing the previously killed CO.

So how did the 39th Perform:

From the first contact on 23rd July 1942, The 39th could not possibly block the Japanese, so they fought a series of textbook tactical withdrawals back to the Village of Isurava, where on 26 August 1942 the full-time professional soldiers of the AIF started to arrive and fill in their depleted ranks.

Together the 39th and the AIF continued their tactical withdrawal, until on the 05 September 1942 the 39th were relieved – All remaining 185 of them.

The AIF dug in at Imita Ridge on 18 September 1942, the planned last stand, there would be no more withdrawal. But the Japanese were defeated. But there were no words for ‘retreat’ nor ‘tactical withdrawal’ in the Japanese Imperial Field Manual – They were simply instructed to ‘Advance to the Rear’.

No casual withdrawal, as the AIF chased them all the way back to Gona.

So, what was so heroic about the reluctant heroes of the 39th?

There are no recorded grand classic heroic actions by the soldiers of the 39th. But their big brothers of the AIF, at Isurava, they displayed plenty of that. Take Charlie McCallum’s action in covering the withdrawal of 39th and his own mates from the AIF:

“Charlie had already been wounded three times when his platoon was ordered to withdraw just as the Japanese were about to swamp their position on the high ground at Isurava. Charlie held and fired his Bren gun with his right hand and carried a Thompson submachine gun in the other hand. When his magazine ran out on the Bren, he swung up the Tommy gun with his left hand and continued to cut down the surging Japanese as he changed magazines on the Bren. When the Tommy gun was empty, he used the Bren gun again, and continued his one-man assault until all his comrades were clear. When he knew his mates were clear, Charlie fired a final burst and calmly moved off back down the Track.”

Extract from Charlie’s Victoria Cross nomination.

The Teamwork of heroes.

The 39th’s heroics were typically not of the individualistic self-sacrificing type, though there was plenty of that. Theirs was one of teamwork, the ability to learn fast and adapt in life-threatening, soul-destroying conditions. The fact that they mastered one of the most complex of infantry manoeuvres, the successful tactical withdrawal, and kept it over 7 weeks is quite remarkable – Many of these men had not even fired a 303 rifle until the voyage to Papua.

On the evening of the Japanese attack at Isurava, a Platoon size group of 39th seriously wounded had been sent, in the care of Papuans, back along the track to Moresby. On hearing the escalating din of battle from Isurava, the platoon about turned, hopped, crawled and staggered back to rejoin the fight. One had no foot, the other a bullet in the throat, and a third a forearm blown off.

One of the young 39th soldiers said:

“We never did it for King and Country – Fuck that. We did it because the 39th expected it of us.”

Unidentified digger of the 39th.

Lost, crippled, and bloodied – Not so reluctant heroes now.

Four days prior a 39th forward patrol had been driven off the Track by Japanese units surging on Isurava. Surviving the murderous, groping jungle, they emerged back on the Track.

Their Commanding Officer Col Ralph Honner described what happened then:

“It was enough to make a man weep, to see those poor skinny bastards hobble in on their bleeding legs. On hearing of the news that the 39th and AIF were fighting for their lives at Isurava. They turned and hurried off back up the track to Isurava, as fast as their crippled feet could carry them”.

Colonel Ralph Honner

Shakespearian elegance in the jungle of death.

How did the 39th perform? Strewth, all bloody rippers!

Col Ralph Honner, with much more Shakespearian elegance, addressed the last parade of the 39th on 05 September 1942:

Lt Col Ralp Honner’s address has understandably become a significant event in Australian nation building. The Australian made 2006 movie ‘Kokoda’ brilliantly and tear jerkingly recreates this address in the short extract.

The End of Reluctance:

May we never forget that common ordinary men can do extraordinary things. They can beat the odds.

Yes, we need classic individual heroes, men like Prime Minister Churchill, and President Zelensky – People who inspire us to keep going. Men and women who would rather stand against evil then hitch a ride away from danger.

But, more than ever we need everyday heroes, people prepared to stand up and resist oppression, evil and all the crap things in our world – Even if they start out somewhat reluctant!

Lest We Forget.