Wednesday quote “Life is what happen while your busy making other plans” John Lennon 1980.

At Mission Ridge Chad pointed out how the Australians deployed themselves holding back the continuing push by the superior Japanese numbers. The Australian 2/27th.  And the remaining 2/14  and 2/16th. dug in along the ridge.

As we arrived at Bragade Hill team 1 was getting ready to pull out. We wished them well and then went to the hill. Chad gave an overview of the events that took place here and 4 of our team gave a reading. Below is what I read. It was a memorial for a young West Australian.

Our team with our porters. 

MOMORIAL SERVICE 

WX UNKNOWN 

We knew he came from the W. State

Though to us he remains unknown

For the WX was marked on his hat

The rest a mortar had blown.

We buried him there on the mountain spur

Where the trees are draped in moss

We thought of a mother, no need for her

Of that irreplaceable loss.

Just a boy he looked with his snowy hair

So we keyed him in the clay

The Padre’s voice was loud and clear

No others had a word to say

Yet we knew a mother would watch and wait

For a letter sent from her boy

How she would dream of things he did

How us first words caused her joy

Perhaps she will know in some unknown way

Of the little rugged cross

The remains of her hero, under it lay

Where the trees are draped in moss

We cursed the heathen who stripped the dead

No pity on them can be shown

We marked the cross so it can be read

WX UNKNOWN

(Kokoda Track 1942)

The battle was fierce, the fresher 2/27 dug in around Mission Ridge with the 2/14 & 2/16 covered their flanks. The Japanese 2nd battalion 144th Regiment, about 600 men outflanked the Australian’s and positioned themselves between the troops on the Mission Ridge and Potts HQ. What followed was a vicious and costly battle for the Australian troops to smash through the Japanese line and get back to the Battalion HQ. Some troops were scattered and did not meet up again for 2 weeks at Owers Corner.

We then had lunch at set of again. We walked over up and over Menari Gap and down the infamous Wall to our camp at Brown River.

The Wall. Much steeper than it looks in the picture.

Today we settled on the team name. The full name was Ultra Spartans, shortened to simply – Team Ultra.