I was with the platoon next to that of French , a burly , blond fellow ; we were advancing along this coastal area .There were camouflaged machine guns and snipers all over the place . Bullets were flying everywhere .
Somebody started to shout ,'Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!' , and it caught on like a wave . We turned , and we were running back . One fellow ran past me and ran into a tree , dumped his gun and kept on running .
French started to sing out ,'Hold it ! Hold it! Hold the line ! '-I think he was angry . I saw him take out the first machine gun nest . He just lobbed a grenade , fired his gun and appeared to bayonet someone .
I saw him go for the second nest and that was when I think he got hit because he appeared to stagger when running at the nest . He went down throwing a grenade into a third nest. In my view , that stopped the retreat from Milne Bay . If it had continued , there would have been a debacle. After that brave effort by French we got on top .
At Milne Bay, New Guinea, on the afternoon of 4 September 1942, a company of Australian Infantry battalion attacked a Japanese position where it encountered terrific rifle and machine-gun fire. The advance of the section, of which Corporal French was in command, was held up by fire from three enemy machine-gun posts, whereupon Corporal French, ordering his section to take cover, advanced and silenced one of the posts with grenades. He returned to his section for more grenades and again advanced and silenced the second post. Armed with a Thompson sub-machine gun, he then attacked the third post, firing from the hip as he went forward.
He was seen to be badly wounded by fire from this post, but he continued to advance. Enemy guns then ceased fire and his section pushed on to find that all the members of the three enemy gun crews had been killed, and that Corporal French had died in front of the third gun pit.
By his cool courage and disregard of his own personal safety, this non-commissioned officer saved members of his section from heavy casualties and was responsible for the successful conclusion of the attack.
Bowditch fights on
Bowditch said further ferocious fighting continued against the enemy. The older Japanese, he said , fought like "kamikaze " soldiers , but as they were killed ,the younger ones became less fanatical.
The smell of death was everywhere as the Australians continued to mop up the enemy . Exhausted at the end of a day of fighting, Bowditch slumped down next to what he thought was a log and was shocked to find it was the body of a putrefying enemy soldier.
Early in the advance against the enemy , a handsome young officer he had known in the Middle East had half his face blown away and it was obvious he was going to die , despite the fact he was still walking with blood spurting from a horrible wound .
Resting in Port Moresby , Bowditch was selected to join the Z Special Unit and flown back to Australia in October , l943.
In 1995, Bowditch was the belated recipient of an American Bronze Star, 50 years after it had been approved by the Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces in the Pacific , General Douglas MacArthur .
The Americans had been unable to locate him despite the fact he was a prominent newspaper editor. However, Professor Alan Powell ,of the Northern Territory University ,studying wartime archives in America. came across mention of Jim . Powell , who died recently, alerted the authorities that the missing "Sergeant Bowditch " was well known and living in Darwin .
The citation with the medal said Sergeant Bowditch had shown a sense of loyalty and ability to carry out any task given him with complete disregard for personal safety while working with American forces.
On September 26,l995, in Darwin's Larrakeyah Army Barracks Museum ,the US Defence Attache to Canberra , Colonel Stephen Barneyback , presented Bowditch with the medal . Sergeant Drew Holliday, who specialised in tracking down undiscovered recipients of American medals , told Jim he was receiving the medal during the 50th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific .
In 1949 , when he was living in Alice Springs , Big Jim's wartime service had been acknowledged by him receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal at a ceremony in Government House , Adelaide .
The Milne Bay battle memorial photo at the head of this post was provided by Robert Wesley-Smith , who knew Flying Officer Peter Masters of 75 Squadron , who flew Kittyhawks in New Guinea - Port Moresby and Milne Bay- developing a technique to combat the fast, highly manoeuvrable Zero fighters.
The Australian War Memorial has a manuscript of his detailing experiences as a fighter pilot in New Guinea.
Masters used to call at the Wesley-Smith residence in Adelaide to see Robert's father and play tennis . He and Harry Wesley-Smith had a long friendship and interests which included wartime in New Guinea .
Robert's father had special knowledge of Japanese wartime attack systems .It is said he was sent to America to inform the top brass to help combat the Japanese in the South Pacific .On the way back , he went to the top secret decoding centre in Britain , Bletchley Park . (More to come ).
Years later , Masters , who became an adviser to the ALP Premier of South Australia, John Bannon , visited Darwin , called on Robert , who took him to the RAAF mess .
