2 items Off Topic

[Just Dad]

#1 Throwing out one of my favorite old songs for the 1Cs and their parents. Seems like a good fit for graduation. A Steven Stills piece that never got the attention it should have IMHO. A really great lyric for someone who just pushed their way through the USNA, if you listen closely.

#2. Book and Subject matter recommendation: I finished 'The Kokoda Track' by Paul Ham a few weeks back. An incredable story! USA had Guadcanal,
Aussies fought New Guinea and the Kokoda Track. Complete with "Choco Soldeirs" (not a racial Ref.), Churchill meddaling, DMac meddling in a campaign fought under the worst conditions this side of Leningrad. It's non-fiction but the story is so krazy it kinda reads like a novel; a very good read/recommeded.

Enjoy the weekend and GO KRACKEN

 

[AF6872]

One of my uncles fought in New Guinea and suffered from Malaria for the rest of his life.

 

[Just Dad]

Yup there was a US presence toward the end of the campaign. Australians bore the brunt of a Japanese land offensive over the Owen Stanley Mountain Range from the northern tip of the island down to Port Moresby. At the start of the Campaign most of the Australian Army was fighting in North Africa and the Med. at British direction/request.

The Australian government was left to comb the bars of Sydney, the jails and tennis clubs throughout the country to create a militia to act as a blocking force against an IJArmy "bums-rush" Down the island. Labeled "Choco-Soldiers" because they were expected to melt away from the heat of combat. They were given broom sticks to drill with and finally ww1 issued rifles to fight with. These poor guys were then sent to defend a mountain trail out numbered 5-to-1 without supplies beyond what they carried in on their backs. Jungle combat was so close that the primary weapon for both sides was the hand-grenade. I was enthralled and informed by this bit of WW2 history that I knew very little about.

I know folks are focused on USNA Admissions right now, but we've shared book Recs in the past so I tossed this one out there.