Thank You....

[Angry51]

Thank you to all our service men and women

for their service.

Lest we Forget.

[Binder]

[Gad]

 taken from: http://www.kokodatreks.com/history/diggerspoemsstories.cfm

One of the great difficulties faced by the commanders and the diggers was the lack of understanding of the conditions by higher command back in the relative comfort and safety of Australia. The armchair strategists simply had no understanding of the conditions or of the overwhelming odds they faced. A number ventured to Port Moresby and went as far as the start of the Kokoda Trail at Ower's Corner - had a bit of a geek - and went back as an expert! None of them ever went on the actual track.

One of these was the Minister for the Army, The Hon Frank Forde MP. When the diggers heard he had been, and gone, they recorded their impressions of his visit:

Fearless Frankie Forde

"A bunch of Nips were whooping it up down the old Kokoda Track
And things were looking grim for us with our boys falling back,
So a call went out for a superman to halt the enemy horde,
A message was sent to Canberra, "Send Fearless Frankie Forde."

And Fearless Frank flung down his pen and he donned his old topee,
He crammed a brief case full of reports and up the Track strode he.
Up through the mud and slush and rain he climbed on that fateful day,
'Till he reached a point where the enemy were a short five miles away.
And he stood on the Track with his hat turned back and boldly shouted, "Shooo!"
And all that stood between him and the foe was a fighting Brigade or two.

That was the end of things for the Japs the men who fought there tell,
How the infantry heard the sound of the "Shooo!" and each man muttered "Hell!"
So they closed with the Sons of Nippon and sent them reeling back,
In disarray and sad dismay up the old Kokoda Track.
"We'd rather fight," said the Infantry, "than stand around and be bored"
"By a sheaf of reports and a two-hour speech from Fearless Frankie Forde."

by Private John Quinn