Memories shift from Zulu War to Japanese executions at moving ceremony for WW1 fallen in Rabaul

FROM Zulu to WW2 via Australia’s first battle in 1914 — at a moving memorial, a veteran recalls “stony-faced” enemies who had to hang.

11/09/14 Former World War Two soldier John Hook who served as an interpreter at the Japanese War Crimes trials in Rabaul following World War Two after attending the service at the Bita Paka War Cemetery to commemorate the 100 year anniversary when Australian Forces landed for the battle of Bita Paka, Papua New Guinea in September 1914. photo Calum Robertson

SIMON Pockley did not lay a floral wreath in memory of his great

Uncle Captain Brian Pockley at the Bita Paka War Cemetery Thursday, he placed a framed piece of canvas on the memorial plinth.

More than 1100 Commonwealth soldiers lay in the shade of

magnificent rain trees and among avenues of poincianas in the striking

Commonwealth War Cemetery across the bay from Rabaul and its

smoking volcano.

Captain Pockley left his home in Sydney on August 19, 1914 and was

one of the first to die on the jungle track just weeks later on September

11 as the small Australian force moved inland to seize a German wireless

station at the village of Bita Paka.

HOW WE WON OUR FIRST VICTORY: The island battle

Special gesture ... Simon Pockley with the piece of canvas at Bita Paka.

When he was reburied in 1919 a man salvaged a piece of the canvas

shroud that covered his body with the words “Captain BCA Pockley”

printed on it.

“It was passed to an historian in Melbourne and finally to me,” Dr

Pockley said.

“It is a tangible, physical relic of my great uncle and his death.”

Fallen ... Capt. Brian Pockley.

It will be given to Shore School in Sydney where Captain Pockley was

educated.

Hundreds of visitors, locals and dignitaries including PNG’s deputy

prime-minister Leo Deon, Veterans Affairs Minister Michael Ronaldson

and Navy Chief Vice-Admiral Tim Barrett attended the moving centenary

ceremony in blistering tropical heat.

The Last Post played by Leading Seaman Musician Marcus Salone

echoed among the headstones before navy singer Able Seaman Musician

Mark Nivet belted out stirring renditions of the Australian, German and

PNG national anthems.

The battle of Bita Paka was described by WW1 historian Charles Bean as

a, “nasty, sharp, difficult little fight.”

More than 1100 Commonwealth troops including about 450 Australians

are buried in the cemetery. The majority fell in World War Two, fighting the Japanese.

FEAR OF INVASION: Greatest danger in World War Two

Salute ... Chief of Navy Tim Barrett (right) among dignitaries the service.

Mr Ronaldson said it was regrettable that too few Australians knew the

story of the first casualties of World War 1 and the 35 sailors lost aboard

the submarine HMAS AE1 on September 14, 1914.

The ceremony marked the start of a four-year commemorative period that

he said would educate young Australians about the enormous price paid

for the freedoms they enjoyed today.

“Those who came ashore here 100 years ago today could not imagine the

horrors of war,” Mr Ronaldson said.

“The six Australians who died here did not die in vain.”

They were the first of more than 60,000 Australians to fall in the Great

War.

Happy times ... John Hook meets Cathy Paivu and her daughter Joannah after the service.

In the crowd was former WW2 soldier John Hook who served as an

interpreter at the Japanese war crimes trials in Rabaul after the war.

It was his job to read the verdict to the almost 90 Japanese officers

executed for war crimes at Rabaul.

“Most were hanged and the Japanese didn’t like that, they preferred to be

shot,” he said.

“When I read the verdict and the sentence they were completely stony-faced.”

Mr Hook wore on his right chest a Victoria Cross awarded to his Great

Uncle at Rorke’s Drift in Africa. He was portrayed as “Hookey” in the

film “Zulu”.

Originally published as Memories shift from Zulu War to Japanese executions at moving ceremony for WW1 fallen in Rabaul