CALL OUT FOR 'FORGOTTEN' DIGGERS
TWELVE young men from the Darling Downs enlisted to fight in the Second World War with lofty goals of fighting for freedom.
Those same 12 men, sadly, never returned home.
At the battle of Gorari, considered the bloodiest battle in the 1942 New Guinea campaign, 133 Australian Diggers lost their lives. Twelve of them came from the wider Toowoomba region.
As young, single and unattached men with little family, their sacrifice has gone under the radar until now.
While monuments and plaques commemorate the battles of Milne Bay and Gallipoli, there is nothing to remember the 12 from the Downs in Papua New Guinea.
That is something Darling Downs Man John Tannock wants to change.
“I came in contact with some of the families and they knew very little about them because they were young, single blokes who had no descendants to remember them,” Mr Tannock said.
“I want to ensure the names of these blokes who lost their lives there are not forgotten.”
By the time the 133 soldiers who died at the battle began their bloody encounter, they were already suffering.
Mr Tannock said the soldiers, at that point, were exhausted, malnourished and were spreading their daily rations over a three-day period.
Not wanting to let their sacrifice go unnoticed, plans to unveil a monument in
their honour in the small town of Gorari in November are well under way.
“When we visited the battlefield it dawned on me there was nothing there for them,” Mr Tannock said. “We were blown away by the support of the villagers (for it).”
Mr Tannock hopes relatives of the 12 will recognise the names and come forward.