CEREMONIES HONOUR VETERANS

PIVOTAL World War II battle that shaped the course of history was remembered at a moving service at Mothers Memorial Park on Sunday.

One of the last surviving members of the 25th Battalion who fought at the Battle of Milne Bay in 1942, Richard McKenna, made the trek from his home in Brisbane and laid a wreath in memory of his fellow veterans.

By August 1942, a number of countries had fallen like dominoes before the surging army of the Japanese imperial forces, and their next target was to take Port Moresby.

At the time, there was a gentalion,

uine fear among the population that the Japanese would invade Australia. The 25th BatA

raised from the Darling Downs, had been deployed alongside the 9th and 61st Battalions to protect the airfields at Milne Bay, on the south east tip of Papua New Guinea.

The battle began on August 26, 1942, and lasted until September 7. The 25th Battalion was instrumental in repulsing the advancing Japanese forces.

Of the 1943 Japanese soldiers that landed at Milne Bay, 1318 were evacuated.

The battle was key in that it dispelled the myth of Japanese invincibility, which had prevailed among the Allied forces up until that point.

It was the first time the Japanese had been soundly defeated on land in the war in the Pacific.

Photo: Matthew Newton IN MEMORY: Helping Richard McKenna, one of the last surviving veterans of the Battle of Milne Bay, lay a wreath at the Milne Bay Memorial Service on Sunday are (left) Councillor Carol Taylor and (right) 25/49th Battalion Captain Sean Caughey.