Page Two ... The Anzac Spirit, by Col Stringer

The Anzac Spirit

One young Aussie Digger wrote:

"I prayed a lot. I believe in prayer. I knew my parents and grandparents were praying for me so that helped a lot. And, of course, I had my mates. When you have good friends, good mates you don't leave them. It was a brotherhood."

"We got a message from Port Moresby that …..we had to stay there and fight to the death. That was horrifying. I thought, 'Well, I won't see my family again, I won't see Australia again.' But I was prepared, like the rest of us, to stay there and fight to the finish."

"The mateship that bound these young Diggers together can be gauged by the actions of the walking wounded. After one ferocious battle, they heard their mates were still trapped at Isurava and in dire straits, everyone who physically could, turned around and struggled back up the track to the hell-hole from which they had just been delivered. Of the 30 wounded, only three couldn't make it back - one had lost his foot, one had a bullet in the throat and one had lost his forearm." ('The Spirit of Kokoda')

Possibly just one Aussie Digger saved Australia from invasion by the Japanese.

The action taking place at Isurava. Let me quote Patrick Lindsay again from 'The Spirit of Kokoda':

"There are turning points in battle - as in life - critical moments in which the course of events is frozen for an instant, waiting for someone bold enough to seize a fleeting chance at immortality.

At that moment the Japanese were poised, ready to make a final triumphant charge through to battalion headquarters.

It would have been the terminal blow….Bruce Kingsbury saw his chance. Firing from the hip, he charged straight at the stunned attackers.

Alan Avery watched in awe: 'He came forward with the Bren and he just mowed them down.

Isuvara Memorial Opened in 2000 on site of major battle August 1942

He was an inspiration to everybody else around him….he just went straight into 'em….as if bullets didn't mean anything ...We all got a bit of the action, you see.

When we saw him, when you see a thing like that you sort of follow the leader, don't you?... I reckon he almost gave his life away ... there was nothing scared about him.

He did a marvellous job."

Kingsbury's gallant charge completely demoralised the enemy.

His sweeping fire cut down perhaps 30-40 of the enemy and sent the remainder diving for cover. For his inspirational valour, Bruce Kingsbury was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross - the first ever on Australian territory.

The Japanese Were Impressed With The Young Aussies Bravery

Japanese soldier Shigenori Doi wrote:

"During the battle we advanced about 200 metres and I remember an Australian soldier, wearing just a pair of shorts, came running towards us throwing hand grenades. I remember thinking at the time this was something that would be very hard for a Japanese soldier to do. Even now, when I think about it, I'm affected by the memory of this warrior. I suppose the Australians had a different motivation for fighting, but this soldier, this warrior, was far braver than any in Japan. When I think about it now, it still affects me." (The Spirit of the Digger)

Just so the reader does not think that I am exaggerating the courage of Anzac diggers, let me quote Paul Ham, author of the book 'Kokoda'. Ham journeyed to Japan to interview some of the survivors of these savage battles, in an article entitled 'Looking For The Enemy' (The Weekend Australian Nov 20-21 2005, page 30), he writes:

"Then a little queue formed at my table: first three, then six, tiny stooped, skinny old (Japanese) men supported by a son or a grandson, hobbled up and one by one loudly toasted the 'very, very brave Australian warriors'. One old man said that he had not seen an Australian since the war and I watched him apprehensively. Another declared: "Never, not in the entire war, had we encountered fighting men as brave as your Australians."

Kokoda Memorial

Another Aussie Digger was Charlie McCallum, although wounded three times; he stood his ground and fought off a horde of charging Japanese until his mates had a chance to escape. It is estimated he killed 25 Japanese in his frantic effort to save his 'mates'.

And what of 'Teddy' Bear, a young man who would later complete his Diploma of Bible Studies. A man who charged the Japanese lines with nothing but a bayonet, routing a far greater number of Japanese single handed. What was the motivation, what turned these young 'teenagers' into courageous fighting men? Men who inflicted the first defeat on the hitherto invincible Japanese Army? To answer that question let me quote the young men's officer Phil Roden, from the book 'The Spirit of Kokoda',

"I'd like them to be remembered as a group of men who stood up to be counted when the chips were down, and who fought to save their country from what was deemed then to be a threat. And they didn't think twice about doing it. Some gave their lives doing it. I'd like them to be thought of as good parents, good fathers, good husbands and as good Australians who were there for the welfare of all people in Australia."

If these young men with the Anzac Spirit could stand up for their homes and families and nation why not the men of the Church? Imagine what we could achieve if we could get that same spirit into our Christian men today.

The Bible talks of 'first the natural and then the spiritual'. The battle we are facing in the spiritual realm for the nation today is no less real than the one these young diggers faced. What enabled them to overcome against such horrendous odds was the Anzac Spirit, something we desperately need again today.

May I just add - these were men, not not selfish 'big boys' - these were real men!

Two things stood the young Anzacs in good stead, their great sense of humour under almost any circumstances and their great sense of "mateship". Let me quote Ion Idriess again as he relates about those magnificent Light Horsemen in "The Desert Column':

"No doubt we are a queer lot, a scatter-brained, laughing lot. Last night, the whole crowd were trying to sing comic songs. They made the oasis hideous with choruses of the most idiotic songs I've ever heard ...But the dearest memory, the one that will linger until I die, is the comradeship of my mates, these men who laugh so harshly at their own hardships and sufferings, but whose smile is so tenderly sympathetic to other's pain."

This 'mateship' is a distinguishing feature of the Aussie Digger, always has been!

During WW11 Australian prisoners of war survived the horrendous Japanese prisons at almost twice the rate of the Americans and Brits. How come? No one is suggesting for a minute that these young Anzacs were physically superior in any way. So obviously there must be some other explanation.

I saw a documentary on TV recently dealing with this very subject, and the answer came from an Aussie doctor who had been there himself. He said whenever he visited the 'hospital' in the Japanese prison camps he would find a dying American or Brit often accompanied by a mate or two, but more often than not he would be dying alone. But not so with the Aussies - rarely would he find such a scenario. The doctor said that it was an honour to watch an Aussie Digger die, because he was always surrounded by a bunch of his mates!

The doctor added that these mates would be bathing their friend, spending hours keeping him as cool and comfortable as possible during their bouts of malaria or dengue fever. If the sick needed help or water there was always a mate there to lend a hand - day or night.

Another thing was the verbal support they gave each other, urging their sick mates on, that they were going to make it. I can imagine some of the blokes: "Come on Bluey mate! You have to make it back to Aussie, you still owe me 10 quid and I ain't gonna let ya cop out on us!"

I believe it was this support that would have pulled their mates through those tough times.

The documentary also talked about how many of the Australian Diggers would risk their lives to sneak out to steal food (and medicine) or buy it on the black market for their sick mates.

One old Digger interviewed broke into tears and said. "It was my mates that pulled me through. If it wasn't for those blokes I wouldn't be here today!"

Many of the men formed bonds that lasted a lifetime. It was this mateship that resulted in a survival rate of almost twice that of other Allies.

This quote from 'The Spirit of Kokoda' sums up mateship:

"I emphatically believe in looking after number one. But number one is not yourself - it's your best mate .....The feeling mateship gives you - when you are at the bottom of the barrel and along comes those mates of yours. Often they don't say anything, they just sit with you. It's like a husband and wife holding hands on one another's death beds - in time of crisis words aren't necessary."

Blood Brothers, Kidney Donation Touches A Nation.

One of the kindest and most unselfish acts of this legendary 'mateship' I have heard was of two Aussie Diggers who had served in Vietnam. The story was featured on the popular show "60 Minutes" (August 19th 2001).

"Who wouldn't love a friend like "Snowy" Wilson? The old saying about giving the shirt off his back might have been dreamed up to describe him. And when a shirt wasn't enough to help his mate, Bill Coolburra, Snow happily gave him one of his kidneys. Bill's own kidneys were useless - diabetes. He was dying and needed a transplant. Though he and Snow had been friends since they were diggers in Vietnam, even Bill didn't realise the length his mate would go to save him".

During the war Aboriginal Bill Coolburra from Palm Island in Queensland and George "Snowy" Wilson - a white soldier - became inseparable friends. The two served as engineers, "sappers" as the army called them and they were among the first Australian combat troops into Vietnam in 1965.

Their job - one of the most dangerous and stressful of the war - was exploring and clearing some of the underground tunnel networks used by the North Vietnamese Army. The danger the two shared brought them so close that they shared each others clothes and food as well as the same tent. "We were blood brothers", said Snowy. "One day during the heat of combat we rubbed our fingers together and said. "There we're real blood brothers."

The odd couple maintained their 20 year friendship before Snowy discovered that his friend was at death's door, desperately needing a kidney transplant, the result of the devastation of diabetes.

It was Bill's wife that informed Snowy of her husband's plight. "We were talking and she said to me, "If Bill doesn't get a kidney soon, he's going to die." So I thought, well, I can do something," said Snowy. "Once I thought about it, the decision was easy. My best mate needed a kidney, I had two of them, they both worked well, we'll have one each," he said. "It's my kidney, I'll do what I want with it.......The way I figure, we've been getting each other in and out of the **** for nearly 40 years. Why stop now, just cos we're getting old and silly?" He laughed.

Even in the midst of such a life threatening operation the two maintained their sense of humour. When asked by a nurse, "Do you have any threads or screws in your bones or joints?" Snowy laughed and replied; "The only screw I've got loose is up here." (Indicating his head).

"We shared a lot of bad things during Vietnam," said Bill. "We love each other", replied Snow.

Even the surgeon was impressed by the unselfish act of kindness. "You know, I'd like to have a mate like that, someone who was around looking after me if I went on to kidney failure….."

After the operation the two friends were asked by 60 Minutes reporter Charles Wooley "Do you consider it to be your kidney now or Snow's kidney?" Bill laughed and said: "It's ours. We've always shared in the army and what Snow's done for me, it's great.

The bond of mateship is still there. And I appreciate it very much what Snow has done for me. Yeah." George's wife said; "I'm very proud of him.

Fancy having a friend like that. Can you imagine having one of your mates who would do that for you? I don't think I've got a mate who would come into that category."

"Snowy" Wilson concluded: "Well, if it doesn't work, at least I know I've done everything that I can for Bill. There's nothing more I can do for him. I'm not giving him the other kidney. I don't like him that much!"

Mateship by A Digger

"I've travelled down some lonely roads
Both crooked tracks and straight
An' I've learned lifes noblest creed
Summed up in one word - Mate!

I'm thinking back across the years
(A thing I do of late)
An' this word sticks between me ears
You've got to have a mate,

Someone who'll take you as you are
Regardless of your state
An' stand as firm as Ayers Rock
Because 'e is your mate.

Me mind goes back to '43
To slavery and to hate
When one man's chance to stay alive
Depended on 'is mate.

With bamboo for a billy can
An' bamboo for a plate
A bamboo paradise for bugs
Was bed for me and me mate.

You'd slip and slither through the mud
An curse your rotten fate
But then you'd 'ear a quiet word
Don't drop ya bundle - mate!

And though it's all so long ago
This truth I 'ave to state
A man don't know what lonely is
Till 'e 'as lost 'is mate.

If there's a life that follers this
If there's a golden gate
The welcome that I wanna hear
Is just 'Good on ya mate!'

An' so to all who ask us why
We keep these special dates
Like Anzac Day. I answer - why,
We're thinking of our Mates.

An' when I've left this drivers seat
An', handed in me plates
I'll tell old Peter at the door
I've come ta join me mates!"

The Anzac spirit of mateship is something that has been part of the Australian male psyche since we became a nation. It shows the degree of respect for mateship that the Australian male still holds!

Indeed Jesus Himself speaks of the spirit of mateship in this passage from the Gospel of John: "Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one's life for a friend."

The Anzac Spirit of 'mateship' is alive and well!

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