WWII Christmas sacrifice

SEVENTY-FIVE years ago from December 18, 1942, to January 2, 1943, we remember the battle to defeat Japanese forces around Buna in PNG during WWII.

The battle commenced at Cape Endaiadere where previous attempts to capture the Japanese airfields and base had failed and a fresh battalion of Japanese forces occupied the area.

Australian forces, with the 2/9th Battalion led by my grandfather Lieutenant Colonel Clem Cummings, moved into a slow and vicious bloody battle.

Dozens of concealed Japanese bunkers were destroyed one by one from swamps and jungle. The Allied forces suffered 2870 casualties over two weeks.

Malaria, scrub typhus and exhaustion were rampant.

The invading Japanese force was wiped-out.

This was the sacrifice for the freedom we enjoy in Australia today. Emma Thirkell, Cairns 1582: Gregorian calendar is adopted in

France. 1820: State of Missouri imposes a bachelor tax of $US1 a year on unmarried men between the ages of 21 and 50. 1915: The last Australian soldiers are

evacuated off Gallipoli. 1957: European Nuclear Energy Agency

is founded. 1960: The Vietcong, the armed wing of the National Liberation Front, is founded in South Vietnam. 1968: Death of US author John

Steinbeck (above), aged 66. 1973: Spain’s Premier Luis Carrero Blanco is killed when assassins bomb his car in Madrid. 1986: Up to 30,000 students march for democracy through streets of Shanghai in China’s largest demonstration since era of Cultural Revolution. 1995: Four people and a dog are the only survivors of 164 on board an American Airlines plane after it crashes into a mountain in the Andes. 1999: The Vermont Supreme Court rules that gay couples must be granted the same benefits and protections given married couples of the opposite sex. CONDITIONS: Letters must be 150 words or fewer. Send them to PO Box 126, Cairns 4870 or email letters@cairnspost.com.au. They must include your name, home address and telephone number. Letters that can not be verified will not be published. The Cairns Post reserves the right to edit all letters and reproduce them in electronic form. TXT messages should be short. Include your name and suburb. Your TXT messages will be printed in TXT language. Normal call costs apply. Please check The Cairns Post website for our privacy policy at www.cairnspost.com.au