Anzac Day 2022: 101-year-old World War II veteran will still march

As a young soldier, Les Blackley watched the Japanese bomb Port Moresby in WWII. Now the last one left in his regiment, Mr Blackley — who is turning 101 next week — is still determined to march on Anzac Day.

It is a memory almost 80 years old, but the images in Les Blackley’s mind are still raw and filled with blood and death.

Les was a young fresh-faced ­Digger, watching as Japanese bombs fell on transport planes waiting on an airfield to take American troops out of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea in World War II.

As the bombs fell and the three planes were destroyed, Les and fellow members of the 2/2 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment pulled survivors from the wreckage and watched in vein as their American brothers died.

“The Americans were waiting to go when the Japanese bombed them, there was blood and bodies … they were buried in the cemetery in Port Moresby,” Mr Blackley said.

Turning 101 next week, the veteran doesn’t like talking much about the horrors of war, not wanting to burden his family with his painful memories.

War veteran Les Blackley will turn 101 years old next week. Picture: Tim Hunter

“It was terrible, that’s why when you come back it takes a little while to settle down. I don’t like to think about it,” he said.

Les is now the last remaining member of his regiment in Sydney and one of the approximately 5500 World War II veterans the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates are still alive in Australia.

Mr Blackley (front row far right) with his Regiment during WWII.

A young Les Blackley during WWII. Picture: Supplied

He still carries with pride the torch, with the help of his family and the relatives of the other soldiers, at the Anzac Day march in the city.

The veteran has marched for as long as he can remember, and makes it a point of pride that he has only missed one march – during the 2020 lockdown.

“It’s because of your friends that you march, you think of them,” he said.

While the memories of war are painful to remember, the St George NRL team tragic only needs a mention of his beloved Dragons to get chatting and he launches into the story of survival in the Papua New Guinea jungle.

“We were camping near a plantation of paw paws, and I went to get some for the boys and I lost my way,” he said.

“I was out there for two days and two nights, in the jungle,” he remembers.

Fearing snakes the constant threat of Japanese soldiers, Les spent the cold nights up in trees, hiding out on the sturdier branches. It was a smart move – just ­before his rescue he stumbled across a hut with two enemy soldiers, and silently retreated.

Les talks with a smile when he shares some memories, particularly the joy of coming home to Waterloo and seeing the relief and joy on his mother and sister’s faces.