normknopp

Don was a mate of mine, he came around the night before and he said he was going out to Long Ridge the next day. I said be careful, Long Ridge was a strong post of the Japanese, they were all dug in. They had plenty of gun fire there and everything, and he went out there to clean them out he reckoned.

But he got hit. In the side of the face. He had all of his face taken out on his right side. But he had an Owen gun and he kept his senses and a Japanese soldier had come to kill him and he shot the Japanese soldier at point blank range and the Japanese soldier had fallen over his chest.

I had just come back from another patrol and Jake Farrow said to me that Colin Diffey was looking for me. He was our boss. I went down to see him and he said "you can say yes or no to this, I would hate to send you out there, but would you go out to Long Ridge and see if you can find Don?"

So I went out to where the other soldiers were from the platoon that Don was in and asked would anyone help me. They said "you're bloody mad, you'll get killed!"

I said I'll go on my own then.

So I got them to tell me where they thought he was. I went out on my own and located him and I found Don and he had a dead Jap across him. Don had accidentally put another bullet through his own leg, I didn't know that yet though. I figured that if Don saw me he might think that I was another Japanese soldier and shoot me too, so I circled around him and came up behind his shoulder. I got right up to him and I said "Don, it's Norm".

He said "Thank Christ for that. I knew someone would come out to get me so I stopped here".

I said "Well you're going to stop where you are and you're going to leave the dead Jap on your chest and I'm going to get some help to go and get you."

When I got back, I said to the others, "I've found Don and I need some help to bring him back in."

I said "Who's coming?"

I wanted seven blokes. I had no trouble getting them.

So we turned around and we went straight out to get him. It took about 20 minutes to get there through the jungle. We found him again and he was conscious and speaking to us.

I said "we'll put you on a stretcher and carry you in."

Don said "I can walk!"

He reckoned he could, but he couldn't.

So bringing him back we ran into a Japanese patrol and they opened up on us with machine gun fire. A "woodpecker" gun. They killed 3 of our soldiers.

We found a bomb hole to get down into and surrounded Don and picked off the Japanese when we saw them. This went on 15 minutes, with exchanges of fire before the Japanese cleared out. I suppose there could have been around a dozen Japanese. We picked off about 5 or 6 of them. I was trying to look after Don as best as I could.

Once it was nightfall, we got back to the Danmap River and went up the river to our base. It was about chest high in the river.

Our Colonel Stacey Howdon was there and I said I am prepared to take him down to hospital there.

He said "No, you're finished, you've had enough for today. Is there anything you want?"

I said no.

"Do you want a whisky?"

"No".

"Do you want a beer?"

"No".

"Do you want a cigarette?"

"Yes." I smoked back then.

He gave me a tin of 50 Craven A's and I kept that tin with me the whole war and still have it.

After that I went back to where our blokes were camped. That was the end of that day. All in a day's work.

Don was put in hospital and operated on and had a plate put in his face, then they sent him back to Australia. He was operated on when he was back in Australia and he died during that operation. But he made it back to see his family. I met his son Wayne a couple of years ago at an ANZAC Day parade. He never saw his father as his mother was pregnant when Don died. Wayne wrote me a lovely letter.

That was the most vivid experience. I had nightmares about it for many years but more recently I am a lot better.

*Grandson's note: I asked about whether he was decorated for the rescue mission. Apparently one of his CO's, Snowy Coulson saw him years later and asked where his medals for that action were as he had sent in a citation. But apparently it got lost in the system somewhere. Pop said " I don't know what happened there, I just told him 'forget about it'."

"It's a pretty good life I've had!"

The 1970's were great. My business was going well, I got to see my children and grandchildren growing up, I went to England and Europe with my wife and we visited many places. I enjoyed when we went to Sweden, I visited the Ikea factory and met Ingvar Kamprad and he even offered me to start Ikea in Australia. I didn't think Australia was quite ready for that yet so I didn't take him up but enjoyed seeing what Ikea was doing. I also visited Husqvarna and at the Huskvarna factory I helped them select the colours of sewing machines that sold well in Australia.

Back home I opened a big shop in Echuca and bought a new home in our town which was very nice.

Merry Christmas! Yes, that's me. Who is that? (Could you PM who you are? He is inquisitive to know!)

I couldn't understand the Japanese at the time. I was offered to go to Japan after the war but I said no. I couldn't understand the things that the Japanese had done in the war.

It was a job and I had to do it.

These days I think that I would be nice to the young Japanese, but to be honest I haven't had a lot to do with them. It's been hard to let go.

Thank you sciencemax! That was nice to say I am awesome. Have respect for your elders, be honest, talk to people who have good manners and treat everyone as you would like to be treated yourself. Where are you from?