Trek the Kokoda Trail Travel Blog

Archive for the ‘ANZAC DAY & Anniversary Treks’ Category

After Team 17  finishes their trek on the 05 November,  we are intending   to hold our end of season trek party for all our trek crew.  This is a party to publicly show our appreciation for the  professional job all our trek crew have done throughout the 2010 trek season. There will be presentations, food and drink, music etc etc.

As part of a special powerpoint presentation I am completing  to show at the party, I am looking for all our past trekkers, especially from the 2010 season, to forward to me any pics or especially jpg’s showing the crew, or individual crew members, in action or interacting with the trekkers or in any situation at all.  Pics of our crew in any situation would be fun to have.  I would like the crew to have a few laughs when they see themselves on the big screen.   The show is going to be all about the crew . If you or other trekkers are in the shot as well that is great.
If you would like to include a  written  message to your personal porter, or to the crew in general, please feel free to do so and we will include these written notes into the presentation. Don’t feel oblidged to include a written note, as we do not expect to include 200 written notes.
Be assured that we  will handle the presentation so all crew are thanked equally.  
Email your pics to jim@backtrack.com.au.

 Last night , Wednesday August 28, another of our WW2 heroes quietly passed away. Keith Arnold Acreman won the Military Cross for Initiative and Bravery at Milne Bay 27/28 & 30/31 August 1942. Like most soldiers who have fought in wars many never talk about their experiences. This was also true of Keith. A strong man of deep convictions, his strength  and courage showed once again many years after the war when he disarmed and apprehended a bank robber who attempted to hold up a bank in which he was waiting in a queue to be served.
The defeat of the Japanese forces at Milne bay had  immediate consequences on the Kokoda Track .  It was hoped by the Japanese command that a successful campaign at Milne bay would help their efforts to capture Port Moresby. This failure aided  the decision to withdraw their forces back over the Track to the beachheads at Buna and Gona where they were ultimately defeated and destroyed.

Below is just a little about the action that won Lt Keith Acreman his  Military Cross. 

Once again the Japanese took advantage of jungle and darkness to infiltrate Aussie positions and eventually advance to the edge of an unfinished strip where the main defensive positions had been sited. Here the Japanese revealed their own weakness, abandoning successful tactics and relying on reckless banzai charges into prepared positions and massed enemy firepower.

   By about 3.00 a.m. on the morning of 31 August 1942, the Japanese had concentrated their assault force opposite Number 2 Strip. Private Jim Hilton, of A Company, 25th Battalion was almost opposite the enemy forming-up position:

   MacKenzie, he was watching, standing-to… The next thing he gives us a nudge with his foot and we put the cigarette out quiet, and we were listening. No, couldn’t hear anything. And I said, ‘Don’t let it get to you boy, you’ll be right in the morning.’ Do you know I still don’t remember whether I saw or heard something… I passed word up the line… Company Headquarters sent a Very light up…and she lit up all these bastards over there.
   There was no chant to start with, but they did yell, and one Jap sang out in pretty good English, ‘It’s no use…we’re coming across!’ And the RSM said, ‘Pigs arse you are! Hit ‘em with everything you’ve got!’ And then everything opened up.

   The Japanese had formed up where the track and the eastern end of the strip met. Given the tremendous Australian—and American half-track—fire that now ranged at them, telling casualties had to follow. But it was the decisive action of Lieutenant Keith Acreman that hurried their fate. During the preceding hours of daylight, Lieutenant Ernie Bain, the 25th Battalions signal officer, had run a line to Acreman just forward of the western or base side boundary of the strip. Keith Acreman:

   And I’m there with the signaller that I purloined—he’s still with me. And I said to him, ‘Get on to the mortars and tell them I want them to give me a ranging shot on the road and the strip.’ The next minute over came this mortar.
   Bang! It hit…on our side of the ruddy strip! Lucky it didn’t go off. We all cowered there waiting for it… I gave the order, ‘Up two hundred!’ That actually was effective, the first one, and I just said, ‘Gunfire!’ It was devastating….

Keith Acreman is the step father of Marianne Acreman a director of Back Track Adventures.

Lest we forget.

 

While waiting at the Brisbane International  Airport this morning  for the return of Team 7, I had a chance meeting with Bill James.  Bill James is well known and respected within the Adventure Travel Industry because of his long term involvement, going way back to the good old  days  running overland buses from London to Kathmandu. But for many who have walked the Kokoda Track, Bill is  known for his excellent book, Field Guide to the Kokoda Track . This popular Field Guide, which we highly recommend to all trekkers is now in its 8th reprint. It is readily available at bookshops.
Bill had just returned from exploring an area known as the Japanese Forest fort, or as the media have recently called it, the Lost battlefield.  Though our conversation was only brief, Bill indicated that this site was very significant and unfortunately he only had time to answer just a few of my questions. It was very revealing.
It would appear that as the site is examined more closely we may learn a lot more about the battle that took place at Eora Creek during the 2nd phase of the campaign as the Australians were pushing the Japanese back over the Track  to their beachhead at Buna and Gona.
Stay tuned for more information about the Japanese forest fort as it comes to hand.  As far as I am aware no trekking companies are yet visiting  this section of the battlefield which is only metres below the summit  ridge line. 
If the site is still relatively intact and not disturbed it will serioulsy need to be protected.

One of our trek leaders sent this information to us today,  having received the list from a trekker from one of her  recent Teams.  It is posted to illustrate that trekking the Kokoda Track is just not all about  history and challenge and achievement. Trekking the Track with Back Track is also about:-
Rowan’s Top 10

1. Seeing Dacrycarpus on Mt Bellamy and all the other plants along the track.
2. Butterflies at Hoi & elsewhere
3. Birdsong in the morning
4. Service at Brigade Hill
5. Children singing at Naduri
6. Receiving carving from Kay
7. Swimming after hot day on the track – especially at Agulogo & Goldie River
8. The porters singing in the evenings
9. The guard of porters singing at the end of the track
10. Having a fantastic group of people to share the journey with

Australia and Papua New Guinea have signed a joint agreement to protect the historic Kokoda Track. This is the second joint  understanding agreement and aims to support sustainable development of the Owen Stanley ranges, Brown River Catchment, and Kokoda Track region. Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith and PNG Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sam Abal signed the agreement at Alotau PNG  on July 8.

Environment Minister, Peter Garrett and his PNG counterpart, Benny Allen said this marked  the continuation of a joint committment to protect the Kokoda Track region. It also would help improve the lives of local communities by providing access to the potential economic benefits arising from the development of resources such as hydropower and tourism, the ministers said. A key objective of the agreement will be to honour the Track’s wartime historical significance and protect and promote its values.
extract from brisbane Courier Mail Friday July 9.