His name was Kokichi Nishimura, and he was fighting with 56 others in his platoon at night in The Valley of Death. As the fighting intensified and the night grew black he tucked himself into one of the hollow trees. When he awoke with dawn there was an eerie silence...and when he emerged from his hiding place before him were piles of the dead soldiers. Both Japanese and Aussie. For a moment he believed he may have been the sole survivor of the battle.
His platoon was all dead with him being the exception.
Then up The Track coming for him he saw a bloodied Aussie who had also made it through the night.
Slashing at one another in hand to hand combat...both injured badly...Nishimura finally gained the upper hand and killed the last surviving Australian.
When he returned to Japan he gained no reward or commendation, though...only a shaming
"...it was dishonorable to return alive when every other member of your platoon was dead."
And that would have been the end of the story...had Nishimra not taken it upon himself to spend the rest of his life returning to Papua New Guinea to retrieve the remains...the bones or ashes of his fallen comrades left there in the jungle...then trips to retrieve the remains of other Japanese troops still in PNG so they could be given a proper burial.
So, now we knew the rest of the story.
Our destination today across Kagi Gap...to what Tooh promised was a "level part of The Track" through the Moss Forest to Templeton II...our stop for tonight.
I'm not sure I was buying the LEVEL part...it had been days since any of the Track could be described with that word.
And last night around the campfire sounded like Halloween Stories as our porters told tales of head-hunters and cannibals and trail ghosts.
But as soon as we descended The Gap we noticed that we were on more or less level ground again...and was going to stay that way for a while!
There was general rejoicing!
When we reached the Moss Forest it was other-worldly. Silent. Mist in the air.Shaded with vines and moss dangling from the enormous trees.
Actually, given last night's banter around the fire...kind of creepy.
But it was flat...and the trail was easily seen.
"It used to be taboo to walk here....some of the locals are STILL afraid", stated Woody to our group.
Afraid of what?
He never answered.
"A quiet place to do some reflection on the Track up to this point."
Uncharacteristically, our porters let us buddy up by twos and told us we could explore this part of "The Track on our own...but we MUST stay on the trail.
And so we did...
The porters would meet us as a group in about 20 minutes, and we would continue to Templeton.
Totally immersed in the moss that covered trees and stumps like living clumps of hair...huge fungi...odd leggy trees...when suddenly the jungle was filled with cries of "AAAAACCHHHH" and horrified screams from the other hikers...we were under attack...
A dark body swung from the tree ahead of me with a gutteral shout and a blade...perhaps a machete...at eye level.
"I am going to die here."
I thought to myself...too scared to scream.
Then I recognized the grinning face of Tooh above me...machete held high.
"You asshole." I managed.
"Yes...I am an asshole...but you should have seen the look on your face." He chuckled.
Very funny.
( ...sadistic prick...)
The Porters thought this was great sport...and we started to realize they were setting us up for this last night with their scary tales by the fire.
Soon level was replaced by steep climb again...then down once more to what Woody referred to as Kokoda Club Med.
Templeton's.
But first another of the rickety bridges...lines with bamboo, ropes and vines...with only the porter who had recently scared the hell out of me, as a spotter..
Across the boulder strewn and tumbling Eora Creek.
The Templeton Crossing
Where I might have pretended to be slipping and falling.
(who me???)
Just to get a bit of revenge on Tooh for the Moss Forest Incident.
"Not funny...next time I will let you fall in.", he sulked.
As we reached the village, Yeoy was ahead of us singing songs of the days events...complete with the Moss Forest Massacre...and food was already being prepared for our final night on The Track.
Monday, we would reach Kokoda- and the end of our journey....