The Second World War in Papua

Former Papua New Guinea-based kiap (patrol officer) JOHN FOWKE writes of WW11 in Papua…

 

In 1958, at the age of 19, I was sent from Port Moresby to Kikori to work for the TP&NG Administration there. At the time, Kikori was the Admin. Headquarters for the Gulf District.The move to Kerema came two or three years later. At Kikori the District Commissioner, the late Dick White, ruled from an office built of pit-sawn "melila" timber - (kwila) - built in 1928 at a time when the famous Champion brothers and Jack Hides were exploring the hinterland of Gulf and Western Districts, crossing the country from the Fly to the Sepik, discovering for the outside world what are now the Southern Highlands and the Enga Provinces. 

At Kikori I worked side by side with men who had fought the Japanese invaders, beginning in 1942 with the invasion of New Britain, spreading from Rabaul to Buna, Gona, Sananada and later to Milne Bay. Our senior RPNGC man at Kikori was Sgt. Udiga from Tufi in the then Northern District; he was ably assisted by the energetic Corporal Segera of Daru and Corporal Gelai of Balimo. All were pre-war policemen who delighted in showing me the intricacies of the old R.P.C. issue rifle from early days, the Martini-Henry, of which there was an example still in store at Kikori. My boss at Kikori, the late Allan Jefferies, A.D.O., and the DC, Mr White, had both been active in ANGAU in the Sepik and in Manus, respectively.

The Japanese nation, the first Asian nation to industrialise and to build a modern, mechanised military capability, believing in its own superiority and in its destiny to dominate, rule and gain access to all the raw-material resources it wanted, conceived of a vast, militaristic, neo-colonial operation which it named as “THE GREATER EAST ASIAN CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE.” The aim was to invade and take over all of SE Asia, as well as the islands of Melanesia and the Australian continent which lay to the south.The Japanese had already invaded and taken possession of the Korean Peninsula, and had also conquered and possessed the Manchurian provinces of  mainland China. The Japanese believed that as they advanced into SE Asia from these bases, any threat from America, at that time neutral in the European conflict begun by Hitler's Nazis, would be minimised if they attacked and sank the USA’s Pacific Fleet, normally at anchor at its huge base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.

Thus the East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere campaign was launched in a dawn attack upon the Pearl Harbour base on December 7th, 1941. It was a surprise attack, and was devastating.Eight weeks later, in January of 1942 a Japanese invasion of what is now Papua New Guinea commenced and soon New Britain, New Ireland, Manus and parts of the mainland were occupied. On the 21st of July, Anglican missionaries near the then Government station of Buna were surprised to see very large ships approaching the coast. Thus began the invasion of what was the Northern Division of the Territory of Papua. The aim was to press through to Port Moresby.  From here the Japanese believed that air and sea attacks upon Australia would be launched with ease.

Australia’s reaction was one of panic. As a loyal member of the British Empire Australia had committed almost all its military resources to fight with the British against the Germans in North Africa, in Europe, and in the defence of Singapore aginst the Japanese. In Australia there remained, at best, a “Dad’s Army” of elderly and unfit men whose service in the First World War was considered experience enough to allow them to man the coastal defences of Australia. The plan of action was for civilian populations of Queensland and the Northern Territory to withdraw to the south to a position below what planners called “The Brisbane Line,” drawn across the continent from north-east to south-west. From here a defensive land-battle would be initiated. Lands to the north and the island territories governed by Australia were too big and too difficult to man and supply, let alone to defend.This fall-back position behind the Brisbane Line was the place where the opposing forces would engage when the Japanese landed in northern Australia.

Unfortunately for the Japanese, but most fortunately for the rest of us, Papua New Guineans and Australians alike, the Americans, impelled by the unheralded and massive attack at Pearl Harbour, came into the war with a huge impact. The US Pacific Command was created, and in due deference to his experience and to the huge resources at his command, the American, General Douglas MacArthur was given command of all of Australia’s forces at home and in the Pacific. MacArthur immediately dismantled the “Brisbane Line” preparations and requested the Prime Minister of Australia to assemble a military force for the defence of Port Moresby, correctly anticipating Japan’s plans in this regard.

The force which was dispatched to defend Port Moresby was almost entirely composed of young and unwilling conscripts to the Australian Militia, which was by law, prevented from operating outside Australia. Relying upon Papua’s status as an Australian-protected Territory as his justification, the Prime Minister authorised the despatch of this force to Port Moresby. Older soldiers named these youths “The Chocolate Soldiers,” predicting that they would melt once they faced the heat and discomforts of service in Papua. Their officers were for the most part older men who had been judged as unfit for service in other theatres of war. On arrival at Port Moresby, the “Chocolate Soldiers” showed their resentment by disobeying orders and by systematically looting and vandalizing the stores, warehouses and private residences of the town. Even churches were vandalised and despoiled, as recounted to this writer by the daughter of the then Anglican Rector of Port Moresby, the Reverend Mathews.

Despite the complaints of the remaining white residents of Port Moresby, little was done to restrain these youths in uniform by their largely ineffectual officers. At the same time, civilian officers of the Papuan Administration were sent on patrol in all the coastal districts with instructions to conscript all healthy males within a certain age-band for service with the Australian Army as carriers and labourers. This was done, and men from the West, from the Gulf, from all parts of Central and Milne Bay and Kokoda in the then Northern Division were brought to Port Moresby. Here they faced a frightening, dangerous and low-paid existence for an unknown period. In the beginning, naturally, there were many desertions. Then with the landing of the Japanese invading force at Buna matters began to change. An advance party of experienced men of Australia’s Seventh Division, called back from service with the British forces in Egypt prepared for movement to Port Moresby soon after their arrival in Australia.

These experienced soldiers, together with the young militiamen, a great many of whom were teenagers, referred to contemptuously as “Chockos,” were deployed to the Sogeri Plateau and beyond to meet the Japanese advance. Marching with them as carriers and stretcher-bearers were the Papuan conscripts who would become known as the “Fuzzy-Wuzzy Angels.” These two groups had a lot in common, being for the most part young, bewildered, badly-paid, and apprehensive of the immediate future. In the extreme adversity in which they found themselves the two groups of men formed a bond of a kind which neither side had ever known or expected to be a part of. The young Australians initially viewed the Papuans, with whom they could not converse, as strange and unpredictable savages, whilst the Papuans began to recognise that they had much in common with the young white-men, a race which they had been accustomed to view with a degree of awe and even fear; a race with which they had never imagined that they would share a cigarette, let alone a cup of tea and a hardman biscuit. This however, was what happened. From shaky beginnings both groups steadied and became resolved to carry the fight forward to the Japanese, buoyed by growing comradeship and admiration for each other, a regard forged in the raging crucible of extreme danger, death and discomfort. Ultimately, victory was achieved through this spirit of one-ness and the bravery which grew with it. This is the true story of the “Chockos” and the “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels” and the campaign which, together, they fought.They freed Papua from the planned domination of the Japanese Empire, and in so doing they helped to ensure the freedom not only of Australia, but also of New Guinea to the north, and the islands of Manus, New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville.

The Australian soldiers of the Kokoda and allied campaigns were paid six shillings a day, the equivalent today of roughly K 9.00 per fortnight, with rations, blankets, shorts, shirts and boots. The “Angels” were paid the equivalent of K1.50 per fortnight, plus rations, “ramis” - (laplaps) - a leather belt and a kitbag. All were provided with a waterproof cape, a blanket and a mosquito-net. Medical attention was available, with evacuation to a field-hospital for the badly-injured. A stick of tobacco with newspaper cost roughly 5 toea in today’s money at the Army labourers’ canteen in Port Moresby. A box of matches was 1 toea.

In recent years it has been stated that the PNG campaigns fought by the Allies and their Papuan and New Guinean fellow-soldiers was something which had nothing to do with the people of this country. It has been intimated that the local people were caught up in fighting which had nothing to do with them.

This theory is quite incorrect as we have seen. Papua New Guinea was an object of the Japanese desire for conquest and domination and exploitation just as much as Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma were. Such expressions of opinion constitute an insult to the many Papuans and New Guineans who fought and who died to make their native land safe from the occupation of a merciless and brutal foe. This is to say nothing of the more-than-9000 Australian servicemen who lie buried in War Cemeteries and in as-yet undiscovered and lonely graves throughout Papua New Guinea today. All, brown and white alike, fought and died so that together we could remain free of the rule of the Japanese Empire.

In addition to the older policemen and NCOs of the Kikori detatchment of the R.P. &N.G.C. at Kikori, I also knew local ex-servicemen such as ex-Sergeant- Major Katui, MM, late of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, of the Goaribari tribe, and ex-Sergeant Major Samai of the Kairi tribe, upriver from Kikori. Both served in the Kokoda- Popondetta-Buna-Gona-Sanananda campaigns, both with great distinction. 

Of all these veteran Papuan soldiers and policemen, Katui’s picture stays clearly in my mind today, more than fifty years later. Katui, even when approaching old age was a particularly impressive figure of a man, standing some six feet in height, broad-shouldered and big-boned without being heavy. A man with the unmistakeable look of a warrior. Katui, who worked together with the late Tom Grahamslaw in ANGAU, was renowned for his practice, when encamped within known distance of a Japanese outpost, of going out at night clad only in the skimpy garment known as “sihi,” and equipped only with a large, sharp sheath-knife of the type in those days issued to Papuan Village Policemen. Katui would quietly work his way close to the Japanese camp in the early hours of the morning. With patience and skill this big man would slowly inch forward, ever closer to the cold and sleepy Japanese sentry. Then suddenly and in silence, Katui would rise and cover the Japanese man’s mouth, slit his throat, pierce his heart, cut his ears off, and withdraw. Katui’s grisly collection of dried Japanese ears became a legend throughout the Allied forces in the country, and in his own Kikori district he was regarded with awe and great respect up until the day of his passing.

ANZAC Day Message from His Excellency Mr David Dunn, British High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea

His Excellency Mr David Dunn, British High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them" part of the ode repeated all over the world on ANZAC Day and other memorial services throughout the year. As we gather for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service this year, young and old together witness the first rays of sunlight illuminating the row upon row of the immaculately maintained Commonwealth War graves, let us reflect upon the huge debt of thanks we owe those lying at peace in Papua New Guinea.
These young men from Australia, New Zealand, the USA, India, Papua New Guinea, and the UK fought and died together in the defence of common values, democracy and friendship. They died fighting for each other but also fighting for us. For without their sacrifice we would not enjoy the freedoms and lifestyle that we have today.
As I walk around the war graves in PNG I am struck by the young age of the men at rest and I am filled with a sense of humble gratitude, sadness and an overwhelming feeling of what might have been? How many future fathers, husbands, sportsmen, scientists, inventors and even perhaps Prime Ministers lie shoulder to shoulder in PNG? So many young lives, hopes and dreams cut short before they had really begun. This is the real cost of war.
So at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. We will remember their courage and valour; we will remember their sacrifice and the families and loved ones they left behind; we will remember the folly and tragedy of war and all those who have lost their lives and been injured in past and current conflicts.
But above all else we must remember that they did it for us.
After the ANZAC Day Service the British High Commission will be informally laying individual flowers on the 463 un-named UK graves at the Bomana Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. Anyone attending the dawn service on Saturday is most welcome to join us.

ANZAC Day message from Hon John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand

Hon John Key New Zealand Prime Minister

The men who landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 could not have foreseen how that date would become embedded in the consciousness of future generations. Year after year, New Zealanders reflect on the sacrifice of our servicemen and try to make sense of that piece of history.
ANZAC Day has become an opportunity to honour all New Zealanders who have served in times of war. It is a day to mark our proud history of sacrifice and heroism, to remember those men and women who put their lives on the line for our country, and who fought for a better world.
And it is a day to reflect on our ties to each other and our shared nationhood.
When I attend ANZAC Day ceremonies I am inspired to see the large numbers of young New Zealanders who stand shoulder to shoulder with proud veterans. ANZAC Day has become a day that unites generations of New Zealanders and that binds us to our history as a country.
This year, there is a special significance as we mark the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War Two.
It is sobering to remember that the First World War – “the war to end all wars” – sowed the seeds of a new catastrophe for the next generation. Some New Zealanders remember World War Two. By listening to their stories, we learn about a period of history that should never be forgotten.
We no longer have that opportunity in relation to the First World War, but there is much that can still be done.
New Zealand has signed a “Shared Memories Arrangement” with the Flanders and Belgian governments. In reflection of this, an exhibition from the Memorial Museum Passchendaele is currently touring New Zealand. It is called, “The Belgians have not Forgotten” and includes images and artefacts from the Western Front.
War memorials and cenotaphs nationwide are a permanent reminder of the toll of the Great War. The Western Front claimed the most lives. But it was in the trenches at Gallipoli that the terrible nature of this war first became clear.
Our servicemen met adversity with courage and honour. In the words of Governor-General Sir Charles Ferguson on ANZAC Day 1928:
They showed us how it is possible for men and women like ourselves – not heroes, but commonplace people – to rise to heights of sacrifice which had never been known to be possible. They raised to a higher plane the standard of life of every one of us. The inspiration they have given will last and will be handed down to generations yet unborn.

ANZAC Day message from Hon Sir Anand Satyanand PCNZM, QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand

NZ Governor-General Hon Sir Anand Satyanand

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni.
25 April 1915 has great significance for New Zealanders as the day the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli, beginning one of the most gruelling campaigns in modern history.
It has been estimated that some 13,977 New Zealanders served at Gallipoli, more than half were injured, and about one fifth died. The losses experienced by both sides of the conflict have had repercussions to this day.
But the Gallipoli experience has other meanings for us too. It has been described as a “coming of age” for New Zealand, a trial by fire in which a small Dominion of Great Britain discovered its own mettle, sowing the seeds of a distinct national identity.
It was there, too, that a new respect developed between Australian and New Zealand troops, and the ANZAC spirit was born. In the words of Australia’s renowned historian Charles Bean, referring to the first few days of the campaign: “Three days of genuine trial had established a friendship which centuries will not destroy.”
New Zealand and Australia have a long history of working together for a positive cause. Our joint efforts to promote good governance and stability in the Pacific are one example; joining forces to provide relief in Indonesia and Thailand after the tsunami is another.
New Zealand’s offer of assistance during the devastating Victorian bushfires, too, reflects the certainty that when help is needed we can depend on each other.
The landing at ANZAC Cove captured the imagination of the nation. More than 90 years later, increasing numbers of New Zealanders commemorate ANZAC Day. It has become a time of reflection on the sacrifice of those who have fought in many different arenas of war over the past century.
We honour, too, the veterans still among us, and today’s armed services who continue to do us proud working in pursuit of peace.
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa

ANZAC Day message from His Excellency Mr Niels Holm, New Zealand High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea

New Zealand High Commissioner H.E. Niels Holm

On the occasion of ANZAC Day 2009, we again pay tribute to the past bravery and sacrifice of the servicemen and women of New Zealand and Australia, and mark a proud ANZAC tradition of gallantry and camaraderie that has continued for over ninety years. The messages on this page from New Zealand’s Governor-General Hon Sir Anand Satyanand PCNZM QSO, and Prime Minister Hon John Key convey the feelings of New Zealand and New Zealanders as we contemplate once more the meaning of this special occasion.

Although the ANZAC spirit was first forged at Gallipoli in 1915, it has continued to inspire acts of bravery and sacrifice during many campaigns on many battlefields in the ensuing 90 years, not least in the Pacific campaign during World War Two. We take this opportunity to acknowledge with the greatest respect the contributions of the people of Papua New Guinea to the successful outcome of the bitter conflict that was waged in this country.

It is also fitting today to acknowledge our ongoing defence cooperation relationship with Papua New Guinea. New Zealand's armed forces have enjoyed a long and close association with those of PNG ever since independence, and the longstanding personal and professional relationships that exist between many of the officers of our respective services have made our defence links one of the most valuable and enduring strands of the bilateral relationship.

Papua New Guinea and New Zealand also continue a warm spirit of cooperation in other areas. Our leaders maintain a cordial and frank dialogue on issues of mutual interest and importance, including in the Pacific Islands Forum. Our bilateral development assistance to PNG, delivered through NZAID, now totals over 35 million Kina per annum and continues to expand. A significant number of Papua New Guineans travel to New Zealand each year to study, and many New Zealanders also call PNG home. Trade continues to grow, and we hope the eventual development of a new PACER regional trade agreement will see this aspect of the relationship further expanded in future.

Today the Pacific is at peace. But many other challenges – political, economic and social – continue to confront us. New Zealand will continue to stand with Papua New Guinea and our other regional neighbours to defend and advance regional interests.

On this ANZAC Day 2009, New Zealand again pays tribute to the ANZAC tradition, and remembers the great sacrifices made on the battlefield to secure the future for generations to come.

Lest we forget.

The Ode

This is the verse of the ode that is said during the minutes of silence on Anzac Day:

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them.

Beginnings of ANZAC Day

Information supplied by Wikepedia

 

Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

 The acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs.

The pride they took in that name endures to this day, and Anzac Day remains one of the most important national occasions of both Australia and New Zealand.

When war broke out in 1914, Australia had been a Federal Commonwealth for only thirteen years.

In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of an Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies.

The plan was to capture Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany.

The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders.

 What had been planned as a bold strike to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stale-mate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months.

At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships.

Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers died. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.

Though the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Istanbul and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand troops' actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy.

 The creation of what became known as an "Anzac legend" became an important part of the national identity in both countries. This shaped the ways they viewed both their past and their future.

On 30 April 1915, when the first news of the landing reached New Zealand, a half-day holiday was declared and impromptu services were held.

The following year a public holiday was gazetted on 5 April and services to commemorate were organised by the returned servicemen.

The date, 25 April, was officially named Anzac Day in 1916; in that year it was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia and New Zealand, a march through London, and a sports day for the Australian and New Zealand soldiers in Egypt.

The tiny New Zealand community of Tinui, near Masterton in the Wairarapa was apparently the first place in New Zealand to have an Anzac Day service, when the then vicar led an expedition to place a large wooden cross on the Tinui Taipos (a 1200ft high large hill/mountain, behind the village) in April 1916 to commemorate the dead.

A service was held on the 25th of April of that year.

In 2006 the 90th Anniversary of the event was celebrated with a full twenty-one gun salute fired at the service by soldiers from the Waiouru Army Camp.

 In London, over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets of the city.

A London newspaper headline dubbed them "The Knights of Gallipoli".

Marches were held all over Australia in 1916; wounded soldiers from Gallipoli attended the Sydney march in convoys of cars, accompanied by nurses.

Over 2,000 people attended the service in Rotorua.

 For the remaining years of the war, Anzac Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities.

 From 1916 onwards, in both Australia and New Zealand, Anzac services were held on or about 25 April, mainly organised by returned servicemen and school children in cooperation with local authorities.

Anzac Day was gazetted as a public holiday in New Zealand in 1920, through the Anzac Day Act, after lobbying by the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association, the RSA.

 In Australia at the 1921 State Premiers' Conference, it was decided that Anzac Day would be observed on 25 April each year.

However, it was not observed uniformly in all the States.

One of the traditions of Anzac Day is the 'gunfire breakfast' (coffee with rum added), which occurs shortly after many dawn ceremonies.

During the 1920s, Anzac Day became established as a National Day of Commemoration for the 60,000 Australians and 18,000 New Zealanders who died during the war.

The first year in which all the States observed some form of public holiday together on Anzac Day was 1927.

By the mid-1930s, all the rituals now associated with the day — dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, sly two-up games — became part of Australian Anzac Day culture.

New Zealand commemorations also adopted many of these rituals, with the dawn service being introduced from Australia in 1939.

With the coming of the Second World War, Anzac Day became a day on which to commemorate the lives of Australians and New Zealanders lost in that war as well and in subsequent years, the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include those killed in all the military operations in which the countries have been involved.

Anzac Day was first commemorated at the Australian War Memorial in 1942, but due to government orders preventing large public gatherings in case of Japanese air attack; it was a small affair and was neither a march nor a memorial service.

Anzac Day has been annually commemorated at the Australian War Memorial ever since.

Australians and New Zealanders recognise 25 April as a ceremonial occasion. Commemorative services are held at dawn, the time of the original landing, across both nations.

Later in the day, ex-servicemen and women meet and join in marches through the major cities and many smaller centers.

 Commemorative ceremonies are held at war memorials around both countries.

 It is a day when Australians and New Zealanders reflect on war.

After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn.

With symbolic links to the dawn landing at Gallipoli, a dawn stand-to or dawn ceremony became a common form of Anzac Day remembrance during the 1920s.

The first official dawn service was held at the Sydney Cenotaph in 1927.

Dawn services were originally very simple and followed the operational ritual; in many cases they were restricted to veterans only.

The daytime ceremony was for families and other well-wishers and the dawn service was for returned soldiers to remember and reflect among the comrades with whom they shared a special bond.

Before dawn the gathered veterans would be ordered to "stand-to" and two minutes of silence would follow.

At the start of this time a lone bugler would play "The Last Post" and then concluded the service with "Reveille".

In more recent times the families and young people have been encouraged to take part in dawn services, and services in Australian capital cities have seen some of the largest turnouts ever.

Reflecting this change, the ceremonies have become more elaborate, incorporating hymns, readings, pipers and rifle volleys.

Others, though, have retained the simple format of the dawn stand-to, familiar to so many soldiers.

Each year the commemorations follow a pattern that is familiar to generations of Australians.

A typical Anzac Day service contains the following features: introduction, hymn, prayer, an address, laying of wreaths, recitation, the playing of "The Last Post", a minute of silence, "Reveille", and the playing of both New Zealand and Australian national anthems.

At the Australian War Memorial, following events such as the Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services, families often place red poppies beside the names of relatives on the Memorial's Roll of Honour.

In Australia sprigs of rosemary are often worn on lapels and in New Zealand poppies have taken on this role.

 

Climate change science isn't settled

Jan Veizer | April 24, 2009

Article from:  The Australian

MANY people think the science of climate change is settled. It isn't. And the issue is not whether there has been an overall warming during the past century. There has, although it was not uniform and none was observed during the past decade. The geologic record provides us with abundant evidence for such perpetual natural climate variability, from icecaps reaching almost to the equator to none at all, even at the poles.

The climate debate is, in reality, about a 1.6 watts per square metre or 0.5 per cent discrepancy in the poorly known planetary energy balance.

Let me explain.

Without our atmosphere, the Earth would be a frozen ice ball. Natural greenhouse warming, due to atmospheric blanket, raises the temperature by about 33C. At least two-thirds of this warming is attributed to the greenhouse effect of water vapour.

Water vapour, not carbon dioxide, is by far the most important greenhouse gas. Yet the models treat the global water cycle as just being there, relegating it to a passive agent in the climate system. Energy that is required to drive the water cycle and generate more water vapour must therefore come from somewhere else: the sun, man-made greenhouse gases, other factors or any combination of the above.

Note, however, that because of the overwhelming importance of water vapour for the greenhouse effect, existing climate models are unlikely to yield a definitive answer about the role of carbon dioxide v the sun, for example, and the answer must be sought in past records.

The past climate record does indeed resemble the trend in solar output. However, because three decades of satellite data show only limited variability, the solar output would have to be somehow amplified to explain the entire magnitude of the centennial warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change argues that because no amplifier is known, and because the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide did increase from 280 parts per million to 370ppm, man-made greenhouse gases must be responsible for most of the energy imbalance.

But this is an assumption, an attribution by default, not an actual empirical or experimental proof that carbon dioxide is the driver. Yet such attribution is then taken as a fact in the subsequent complex model calibrations of climate sensitivity to CO2.

If, however, an amplifier to solar output does exist, and empirical observations detailed below argue for its existence, the need to attribute the energy input to man-made greenhouse gases would diminish accordingly. So how realistic is the basic model assumption that the tiny - biologically controlled - carbon cycle drives the climate via the passively responding huge water cycle?

Nature tells us that it is the other way around. Surely, the blossoming of plants in the spring is the outcome, not the cause, of the warming sun and abundant rain.

Our atmosphere contains 730 billion tons of carbon as CO2. Each year about 120billion tonnes of carbon are cycled via plants on land and 90billion tonnes via oceans. Human emissions account for about seven billion to 10billion tonnes, or less than 5 per cent, of the annual CO2 flux.

From the point of view of interaction of the water and carbon cycles it is important to realise that for every unit of CO2 sequestered by a plant from the atmosphere almost 1000 units of water must be lifted from the roots to the leaf canopy and eventually evaporated back into the air.

The required huge energy source is the sun. Solar energy drives the water cycle, generating a warmer and wetter climate while invigorating the biological carbon cycle. The sun also warms the oceans that emit their CO2.

Atmospheric CO2 is thus the product and not the cause of the climate, as demonstrated by past records where temperature changes precede changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations and fluxes: ice cores, the 1991 Mt Pinatubo volcanic eruption in the Philippines or seasonal oscillations are instructive examples.

But what might be the complementary source of energy that could account for the disputed 1.6W/m2?

Clouds are a mirror that reflects solar radiation back into space. The amount of solar energy reflected by the Earth is about 77W/m2 and the difference between cloudless and cloudy skies is about 28W/m2. Therefore a change of just a few per cent in cloudiness easily can account for the disputed energy discrepancy.

Clouds are an integral part of the sun-driven water cycle; however, formation of water droplets requires seeding and this is where solar amplification likely comes into play. Empirical and experimental results suggest that cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere may generate such initial seeds, particularly over the oceans. While the actual mechanisms are still debated, the correlations between cloudiness and cosmic ray flux already have been published.

The amplifying connection to the sun comes via its electromagnetic envelope, called the heliosphere, and a similar envelope around the Earth, the magnetosphere. These act as shields that screen the lethal cosmic rays from reaching our planet. A less active sun is not only colder but its heliospheric envelope shrinks, allowing more cosmic rays to reach our atmosphere and seed more clouds, and vice versa. Indeed, satellite data for the past decade shows a 25per cent shrinking of the heliosphere that is coincident with the halt, or even decline, in planetary temperature since 1998: a trend at odds with the ever rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

We also have direct evidence for the above scenario. Cosmic rays, when hitting the atmosphere, generate a cascade of cosmogenic nuclides that then rain down to the Earth's surface and can be measured in ice, trees, rocks and minerals. Such records over the past 10,000 years correlate well with the highly variable climate, while the contemporary concentrations of CO2, measured in ice cores, are flat around the low pre-industrial levels of 280ppm with no resemblance to climate trends.

These centennial to millennial correlations, coupled with direct observations of coincidence of cloudiness with cosmic rays and temperature in central Europe since 1978, argue that the sun and its amplifying mechanism must play a leading role in climate control even if the cosmic ray signal proves no more than an indirect measure of solar variability.

The science of climate change continues to evolve and regardless of the outcome of the climate debate, observational data suggests that we may be served well by basing our climate agenda, scientifically and economically, on a broader perspective than that in the IPCC outlined scenarios. Our pollution abatement and energy diversification goals could then be formulated, and likely implemented, with less pain.

Jan Veizer is a distinguished university professor of geology (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa and has researched the use of chemical and isotopic techniques in determining Earth's climatic history.

 

 

We are free because of their sacrifice

The National Editorial

 

THE Anzac tradition will again be in the spotlight tomorrow as Papua New Guineans join Australians and New Zealanders in remembering the sacrifices of the first Anzacs as well as those who laid down their lives in the service of their country in more recent conflicts around the globe.

Tomorrow, it will be 94 years since Australian and New Zealand troops waded ashore on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It was for many the final journey of their short lives.

Although it is nearly a century since the terrible events of Gallipoli, it is important for all of us to pause to reflect on the tragedy of war and conflict, which continue even in this seemingly peaceful time.

In the year since last Anzac Day, six Australian soldiers have died in action in Afghanistan, bringing the total to 10 since the start of that conflict in 2002, in the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks in the United States in 2001.

That is the greatest loss of lives of Australian soldiers in war since the Vietnam War which ended more than three decades ago.

Australian defence personnel will gather at the Bomana war cemetery in Port Moresby at dawn tomorrow, joining their comrades at bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste for the traditional Anzac dawn services.

On the Gallipoli peninsula, thousands of Australians and New Zealanders will attend the traditional dawn service. Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith will represent his government. And in France, hundreds, many travelling across the English Channel from the UK, will gather for the service at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

Across Australia and New Zealand, tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out for the dawn services and Anzac Day services.

Australia’s biggest march occurs in Sydney with more than 20,000 veterans and their descendants expected to turn out.

Thousands of war veterans will re-live battles fought long ago in faraway lands – stories of courage, sacrifice and, ultimately, triumph against impossible odds.

They will also be remembering mates who never made it back, forever to lie in graves far from home. They will remember the misery, fear and suffering that war always inflicts.

Brisbane man George Palmer will remember the night he survived the nightmare on PNG’s Kokoda Track, thanks to what he says was a botched bombing.

The World War II veteran recalled the horrifying events yesterday. Japanese soldiers outnumbered the Aussie diggers of the 39th Battalion 10 to one at Kokoda, so artillery and US low-level bombers were called in to carpet-bomb their location, he says. Instead of the bombers targeting the enemy, they were mistakenly given the Australians’ location and Mr Palmer says they all thought they were about to die – from friendly fire.

“We could hear them, but we couldn’t see the planes,” he said.

“But the bombers ended up dropping the bombs five

miles out to sea.”

The off-target bombing and a hard-fought battle against the Japanese, with some timely help from the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, is how Mr Palmer lived to tell the tale, and to march in Brisbane tomorrow.

Here in PNG, those who fought and those who lived through World War II will have their own memories of the fateful events of that era. Soldiers from distant lands criss-crossing their homeland, causing massive devastation for reasons most of them could not fathom.

From the jungles and beaches of Rabaul and Wewak, from the mountains of Morobe to Kokoda, Guna, Bona and Sanananda, Papua New Guineans joined hands with the Australians to fight off the rampaging Japanese.

Few of the Fuzzy Wuzzies are left today, but those who are still with us and their descendants can take comfort in the knowledge that their sacrifice all those years ago allows us to live in freedom today.

The generous response from Papua New Guineans to the Victorian bushfire disaster earlier this year shows that an abundance of goodwill towards Australia continues to this day.

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare’s State visit to Australia next week will no doubt reinforce the already strong ties between our two nations, which had become strained during the previous Howard regime.

New Zealand also continues to play an active role in the development of PNG, particularly on troubled Bougainville.

So on the eve of this Anzac Day, we salute those who fought and died in battle, and acknowledge that we are forever indebted to them.

Another Australian dies on Kokoda Trail

Another Australian has died while walking the Kokoda Trrail in Papua New Guinea, ABC reports.

It is the second death in less than a week.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says a 26-year-old man from New South Wales died on the trail Wednesday.

No other details have been released.

Last Friday, 36-year-old Samantha Killen from Hamilton in Victoria's south-west collapsed and died, a day after setting off from Ower's Corner near Port Moresby.

Around 1,000 people, mostly Australians, are expected to tackle the 96-kilometre mountain trek in the lead up to Anzac Day.

The deaths are sure to cast a shadow over commemorations along the track.

 

Are we blind to the genocide of West Papuans?

Above are pictures of the treatment indigenous West Papuan people are receiving at the hands of Indonesian soldiers.
These inhumane acts are totally against fundamental human rights and against Christian principles.
It's so sad to see our brothers and sisters being brutalised in such inhuman actions.

And yet the silence of the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments to the genocide at their doorsteps is deafening!

 

Art exhibition

 

Nadzab Airport

Black dust, caused by burnt kunai grass, billows as a C-47 takes off

Bush materials lent themselves to a precarious but practical control tower

Douglas C-47 lands at Nadzab on September 11, 1943, while men sort out supplies dropped earlier

Within days of the September 5, 1943, landing, a major new airstrip had been laid

Nadzab, just before it was opened in late 1977

Continuing our series of articles on WW11 icons of Papua New Guinea in the lead-up to ANZAC Day, this time we fly to Nadzab Airport outside Lae...

Longtime Lae resident, the late Horace Niall, once predicted that Nadazab would one day become the main international airport for Papua New Guinea.
It hasn’t, as yet, however, is capable of receiving international flights and remains one of the busiest airports in the country.
Niall was one of those who helped to build Nadzab back in 1943 into one of the busiest airstrips of World War 11.
And he fondly recalls that Nadzab was almost in every respect an “international airport” in those days, with loudspeakers calling for passengers to Honolulu, Los Angeles, Australia and many other faraway places.
Nadzab fell into disuse after WW11, however, rose from the ashes of the war to be reopened in 1977 and eventually took over from Lae as the main airport.
“Having had so much to do with Nadzab, I was happy to hear in 1973 that it was to be made operational again,” Niall wrote in 1978.
“I doubt that it will ever be as busy as it was from late 1943 to 1945, but I have a feeling in my bones that one day it will become the main international airport for Papua New Guinea.”
The first airfield in the Nadzab area of the Morobe Province’s Markham Valley was established by the Lutheran Mission for use by small planes serving the mission station at Gabmatzung.
It was not used very often and, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, it soon became overgrown with dense kunai grass.
It was with the capture of Japanese-occupied Lae in mind that the Allied forces decided to use the Nadzab area as a landing craft for Dakota and other aircraft.
On September 5, 1943, about 1600 men of the 503rd American Parachute Infantry Regiment, with an Australian battery of 25-pounders, were dropped at Nadzab.
The Americans were in 82 Dakota transports, the Australian gunners in five.
Before the attack, part of the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, with a Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB) company and an Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) detachment with almost 1000 Papua New Guineans as carriers and labourers, had been assembled at Tsili Tsili airstrip in the Lower Watut area, to the southwest of Nadzab.
“The ANGAU detachment was under my command,” Niall takes up the story.
“All of us made a three-day march from Tsili Tsili to a point overlooking the Markham River and almost opposite the area where the paratroopers were to land.
“Before the drop, the site was heavily strafed by Mitchell bombers and fighter planes.
“At the same time the Lae airstrip was also coming under heavy bombardment.
“During the strafing, large areas of kunai grass were set alight.
“The paratroopers landed with no opposition.
“The overland troops and carriers crossed the Markham River just west of the junction with the Erap River but their progress to the drop area was held up because a track had to be cut through the tall pitpit (a wild sugarcane)

“By dark, Lieutenant Colonel J.T. Lang, CO of the Pioneers, and myself had reached the site of the proposed new airstrip.
“Word was sent back along the track for all to sleep where they could and to be at the old airstrip site by first light.
“This happened and by 7.30am I was able to report that, by a superhuman effort on the part of the Papua New Guinea labourers, the old strip was cleared and ready for planes to land on it.
“On hearing this, the 5th Air Force headquarters began moving troops of the Australian 7th Division, the first arrivals landing about 11.30am.
“Cover for the incoming aircraft was provided by the US paratroopers.
“The next day I was told to report to Colonel Price of the US Army engineers, who instructed me to accompany him to a site, marked on aerial photograph of the area, which appeared suitable for a large airstrip.
“We travelled at breakneck speed across country to the site of the present Nadzab airstrip.
“After driving up and down the proposed site a few times the colonel said he was satisfied it would be suitable.
“We then arranged for 50 labourers to be put to work clearing the kunai and other rubbish.
“A camp site, which is still recognisable, was selected for ANGAU personnel near the present turn-off from the Highlands Highway to the airport.”
Grass knives and machetes were dropped and some large tractor drawn mowers were sent from Port Moresby.
However, they could not be used until large stones and bush covering the area had been cleared.
Then six bulldozers were flown in.
They cleared a track as they drove to the site of the planned strip.
That track was almost in the same position as the track which today leads from the airport to the racecourse.
“The ‘dozers quickly leveled the area but in doing so they raised a pall of black dust, caused by the kunai being set alight, which made working conditions unpleasant, especially since drinking water had to be carried several miles,” Niall recalls.
“Another danger was the death adders which turned up by the score.
“Most were large and angry at being disturbed and each had to be caught and killed before work could proceed.
“Luckily no one was bitten and I think the adders helped augment the meat rations of some workers!”
Next came the Marsden steel matting which was laid on the new strip by the US engineers.
Two days after work had begun, the first flight of Mitchell bombers landed. The strip had already been tested by a few Dakota landings and a makeshift control tower, made from poles cut from the nearby bushes and tied with wire and kunai vines, had been erected.
In the days that followed Lae was recaptured and the US 5th Air Force headquarters was moved from Port Moresby to Nadzab.
Two more strips were prepared plus an emergency landing ground.

Dispersal bays were made and connecting roads, most of which were sealed with bitumen flown from Port Moresby, were laid.
An Australian Construction Squadron also built two strips near the entrance to the present-day Nadzab airport for use by RAAF aircraft.
The main airstrip was, at first, used mostly by medium and heavy bombers such as Liberators and Flying Fortresses which were attacking Madang, Wewak, Rabaul and Hollandia (now Jayapura in West Irian).
They came and went from dawn till dark.
This went on until Hollandia was captured by US troops.
The heavy aircraft were then moved to Hollandia, and to Morotai in the northern Moluccas.
Nadazab then became home to the Combat Replacement Training Centre (CRTC).
Planes were flown in from Australia and the United States and the crews were given their final training before combat.
“Nadzab was almost in every respect an international airport,” Niall remembers.
“All day long, one could hear loudspeakers calling for passengers to Honolulu, Los Angeles, Australia and many other faraway places.
“Most air operations for the transport aircraft were controlled by civilians in uniform.
“One told me they were getting ready for the period after the war when they would be traffic controllers for US civil airlines.
“It must have been excellent training for them!
“We were hoping to have the use of a lot of the army-built huts at Nadzab after the 5th Air Force moved on but to our disappointment nearly all were dismantled and flown to Hollandia.
“Only the concrete floors were left, many of which can be seen at Nadzab today.”
The war over, Nadzab fell into disuse, nearly all air movements being made from Lae.
“Two years later, the only sign of activity was the ‘graveyard’ of dozens of wrecked Liberators and Fortress bombers plus a few Dakotas and fighter planes,” Niall continues.
“These were bought by an enterprising group who set up a furnace, smelted down the pieces into ingots and shipped them from Lae at what was said to have been a very handsome profit.
“It was sad to see the old bombers being chopped up.
“On their sides were a great selection of humourous paintwork – fancy names, markings signifying the number of missions, numbers of ships hit or sunk and other aircraft shot down in combat.
“Practically nothing is left today of the ‘graveyard’ which was at the western end of the present airstrip.”
In 1962, the main strip at Nadzab was resealed by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Works and lengthened to make it suitable for Mirage fighters, even though they never materialised.
However, it was always maintained by the Australian Department of Civil Aviation as an alternative to Lae in poor weather conditions.
Likes its predecessor in Lae, Nadzab has made an indelible impact on the history of Lae, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea and the world.

What is ANZAC Day?

Information provided by Australian War Memorial

What is ANZAC Day?

ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia's most important national occasion.
It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day.

Why is this day special to Australians?

When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federal commonwealth for only 14 years.
The new national government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies.
The plan was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany.
They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders.
What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months.
At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships.
Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.
Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Constantinople and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy.
The creation of what became known as the "ANZAC legend" became an important part of the national identity of both nations.
This shaped the ways they viewed both their past and future.

Early commemorations

The date, 25 April, was officially named ANZAC Day in 1916 and was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt.
In London over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets.
A London newspaper headline dubbed them "The knights of Gallipoli".
Marches were held all over Australia in 1916.
Wounded soldiers from Gallipoli attended the Sydney march in convoys of cars, attended by nurses.
For the remaining years of the war, ANZAC Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities.
During the 1920s ANZAC Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the 60,000 Australians who died during the war.
The first year in which all states observed some form of public holiday together on ANZAC Day was 1927.
By the mid-1930s all the rituals we today associate with the day – dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, two-up games – were firmly established as part of ANZAC Day culture.
With the coming of the Second World War, ANZAC Day was used to also commemorate the lives of Australians lost in that war.
In subsequent years the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include Australians killed in all the military operations in which Australia has been involved.
ANZAC Day was first commemorated at the Memorial in 1942 but, due to government orders preventing large public gatherings in case of Japanese air attack, it was a small affair and was neither a march nor a memorial service.
ANZAC Day has been annually commemorated at the Memorial ever since.

What does it mean today?

Australians recognise 25 April as an occasion of national commemoration. Commemorative services are held at dawn – the time of the original landing – across the nation.
Later in the day, ex-servicemen and women meet and join in marches through the major cities and many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are held at war memorials around the country.
It is a day when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.

Dawn Service

The Dawn Service observed on ANZAC Day has its origins in an operational routine which is still observed by the Australian Army today.
During battle, the half-light of dawn was one of the most favoured times for an attack.
Soldiers in defensive positions were, therefore, woken up in the dark, before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons.
This was, and still is, known as "stand-to".
It was also repeated at sunset.
After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn.
With symbolic links to the dawn landing at Gallipoli, a dawn stand-to or ceremony became a common form of ANZAC Day remembrance during the 1920s; the first official dawn service was held at the Sydney Cenotaph in 1927.
Dawn services were originally very simple and followed the operational ritual.
In many cases they were restricted to veterans only and the daytime ceremony was for families and other well-wishers.
Before dawn the gathered veterans would be ordered to "stand to" and two minutes' silence would follow.
At the end of this time a lone bugler would play the Last Post and then concluded the service with Reveille.
In more recent times the families and young people have been encouraged to take part in dawn services, and services in Australian capital cities have seen some of the largest turnouts ever.
Reflecting this change, the ceremonies have become more elaborate, incorporating hymns, readings, pipers, and rifle volleys.
Others, though, have retained the simple format of the dawn stand-to, familiar to so many soldiers.

The ANZAC Day ceremony

Each year the commemorations follow a pattern that is familiar to each generation of Australians.
A typical ANZAC Day service contains the following features: introduction, hymn, prayer, an address, laying of wreaths, recitation, Last Post, a period of silence, Rouse or Reveille, and the national anthem.
At the Memorial, families often place red poppies beside the names of relatives on the Memorial's Roll of Honour after events such as the ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day services.

Features of a commemorative ceremony

Commemorative ceremonies, such as ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day, share many customs and traditions, including:

- Laying of wreaths
- The recitation, including The Ode
- Sounding the Last Post
- A period of silence
- The Rouse and the Reveille
- Red poppies
- The unknown soldier
- Reversed arms
- The lone charger
- The gun carriage
- Rosemary
- Flags at half mast
- Rifle volleys and gun salutes
- The lone piper and Flowers of the forest

Lae War Cemetery a WW11 icon of Papua New Guinea

By RONALD BULUM

 

In the solemn beauty of the Lae War Memorial lay nearly 2000 officers, men, and servicewomen who died in New Guinea on land, at sea, and in the air, but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given their comrades in death.

On the brass plaque of a gravestone of one, 401679 Flight Lieutenant E R Staley, Royal Australian Air Force, who died on 31 Dec 1943, the epitaph reads: “Dearly loved ... ever remembered.”

 Beside him: “One of nature’s gentlemen, loved by all” is attributed to Pte L R Poole 2/12 Infantry Battalion, who on 21 Jan 1944, died, aged 31.

There were many of men 10 years younger.

The young soldier may have died in one of the many battlegrounds in Morobe. It could have been Salamaua, Wau, or Finschhafen, where fighting were the heaviest.

He was the child of a paranoid era.

When he was just about to enter school, he may have been one of those that mamma sat on the dinner table and showed newspaper advertisements to which a picture of a father sitting in an armchair with his daughter on his lap and son on the floor playing with toy soldiers.

Lining the toy soldiers with a cannon at the back of his battle field, he would hear mamma read the caption: “Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?”

Such a challenge bore deep into his spongy mind.

From that very early age, his mind was shaped to be a brave patriot.

He thought that being in greens and going off to war was a heroic move. 

For the fathers and uncles and cousins, it was a challenge that had tormenting implications. They thought that, after the war was over, they might face the shame of having to admit that they dodged their responsibilities.

The adult men enlisted with almost fanatical enthusiasm.

History has recorded that despite stringent physical and medical standards being applied, hundreds of volunteers were in fact turned away, many of them almost in tears.

There was an oversupply of volunteers. By December 1914 over 52 560 men had been accepted for enlistment – in excess of the 20 000 offered by the Australian Government to the Imperial Forces.

News of the Gallipoli landing in April 1915, and the mixed emotions of excitement, pride and shock that ensued, a second wave of intense recruiting activity occurred.

“Such was the pride in the deeds of the ANZACs that the recruitment campaigns over the months of July, August and September 1915 gathered in additional 78 860 volunteers,” Russell Cowie noted in his book, Obedience or Choice.

Being a child in any era, the impact of one’s surroundings and particularly events of such magnitude, would have greatly affected the little boy’s mind.

It was thus easy to be drawn into a national mood that would have a large bearing later in adulthood.

They saw a wide range of methods for persuading or shaming their fathers and elder brothers and cousins being pursued by patriotic women’s groups.

They thought that when they grew up healthy and strong, they would not need to be called “eligibles” – a term that suggested delaying or avoiding duty.

They didn’t want to be called “cold footed shirkers”, “slackers”, and “loafers” and “dodgers” by women.

Such public pressure on men grew from shirking to become every boy’s hated term – coward.

So a quarter of a century later, when another opportunity to prove their worth and avoid being delivered a white feather, came during WWII in New Guinea, they enlisted.

For glory in death, their mark is left at the Lae War Cemetery of the Botanical Gardens.

Ad majorem dei gloriam.

In Flanders Fields

By John McCrae (1915)

 

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields