ON Saturday May 19, six remaining members of the 3rd Militia Battalion commemorated the 70th anniversary of their sailing for New Guinea and the infamous Kokoda Track.
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It was also their 65th anniversary reunion, a gathering that has taken place on the closest Saturday to May 16, each year since 1947.
For the past few years the annual reunion has been held in Goulburn but before that it was moved between the home towns of its members. The 3rd Militia Battalion was made up of men from the south east corner of NSW and they have the honour of being the longest serving unit on the Kokoda Track.
In 1942, following the entry of Japan into the war, the 3rd Battalion (The Werriwa Regiment) was mobilised and brought up to its full wartime establishment with national servicemen.
On May 16, 1942 the battalion sailed for Port Moresby, where it joined the rest of the 30th Brigade, to undertake garrison duties. In July the Japanese landed around Gona and as reinforcements were brought up from Australia, elements of the 30th Brigade began a number of delaying actions around Kokoda.
In September 1942, the 3rd Battalion was sent up the Kokoda Trail, where it had the distinction of being one of only two militia units to fight alongside its associated AIF unit. The 3rd Infantry Battalion began arriving at Ioribaiwa by September 6, 1942, however the main body did not reach this location until the seventh.
The 3rd Infantry Battalion, AMF were not relieved from Gona (on the northern beaches) until the December 4, 1942 – placing them in the front line for almost three continuous months. The Australian flag was raised over Kokoda Village on the November 2, 1942 after the village was liberated.
It was in fact raised by a Militia man of the 3rd Battalion. This soldier was Phillip Mervyn Shea from Yass. According to Captain Bede Tongs MM, the 3rd Infantry Battalion was in a position to enter Kokoda Village but the Militia were held back by their commanding officer, Lt. Col. Alan Cameron so that an AIF Battalion could be the first unit into the village.
Hence the men of the 2/31st Battalion -25th Brigade were the first to enter Kokoda on November 2, 1942.
Bede George Tongs was born on the June 27, 1920, at Narrandera in New South Wales and when he was leading his men, as a platoon sergeant, through the jungle of the Kokoda Track, he had only just turned 22 years of age.
He had joined the 3rd Militia Battalion CMF (Citizens Military Forces) on the February 24, 1940. When Captain Tongs discharged from the AIF nearly six years later, he had transferred to the 2/3rd, been commissioned to the rank of Captain, and had been awarded the Military Medal. He is one of the few surviving members of the 3rd Militia Battalion and was in Goulburn with his son Garry, to lead the commemoration of this special anniversary.
The majority of the 3rd Militia had received very littler training before they shipped out for New Guinea but they acquitted themselves very well during that three months on the front line of the Kokoda Track.
Their military honours included one Distinguished Service Order (DSO), two Military Crosses and five Military Medals.
They saw action in New Guinea at Eora Creek, around Buna and Gona, Templeton’s Crossing, Kagi and more.
Judy White, whose father Ellis Thompson was one of the members of the 3rd Militia Battalion has been organising these reunions since her dad who was secretary of the Association passed on the responsibility to her.
It has been a labour of love and respect. It is only in the last few years that the 3rd Battalion members ceased to hold their wreath laying ceremony at a war memorial in the town where they held their reunions.
The ceremony is now held around their banner inside the Goulburn Soldiers Club, before their luncheon. But sadly there are few of the servicemen left and virtually all of them need the assistance now of carers to continue this annual tradition.
However the wives and children as well as later members of the battalion, still carry on this reunion each year in Goulburn which was the enlistment point for many.