Kokoda Track Poetry & Stories

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The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, Sapper Bert Beros

WX unknows, Sapper Bert Beros

A Bit of A Walk, Matt Lynch, Trekker, March 2004

2/14th Marching Song

Danny Boy

The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels

by Sapper Bert Beros

Many a mother in Australia,
When the busy day is done,
Sends a prayer to the Almighty
For the keeping of her son,
Asking that an Angel guide him
And bring him safely back
Now we see those prayers are answered
Up on the Kokoda Track,
Though they haven't any halos,
Only holes slashed in the ears,
And with faces worked with tattoos,
With scratch pins in their hair,
Bringing back the wounded,
Just as steady as a hearse,
Using leaves to keep the rain off
And as gentle as a nurse.

Slow and steady in bad places,
On the awful mountain track,
And the look upon their faces,
Makes us think that Christ was black,
Not a move to hurt the wounded,
As they treat him like a Saint,
It's a picture worth recording,
That an Artist's yet to paint.
Many a lad will see his Mother,
And the Husbands, wee ones and Wives,
Just because the Fuzzy Wuzzy
Carried them out to save their lives.

From mortar or machine gun fire,
Or a chance surprise attack,
To safety and the care of Doctors,
At the bottom of the track.
May the mothers of Australia,
When they offer up a prayer,
Mention those impromptu Angels,
With the Fuzzy Wuzzy hair.

WX Unknown

by Sapper Bert Beros

We knew he came from the Western State,
Though to us he remained unknown;
For the WX was marked in his hat -
The rest a mortar had blown.

We buried him there, on the mountain spur,
where the trees are draped in moss;
We thought of his mother, no news for her
of that irreplaceable loss.

Just a boy he looked, with his snowy hair,
As we laid him down in the clay;
The padre's voice was low and clear,
No others had words to say.

Yet we knew a mother would watch and wait,
for a letter sent by her boy,
How she would dream of the things he did,
How his first words caused her joy

And as he went off to school or game,
he'd wave her fond goodbyes.
Just as he did when the great call came,
And the hot tears hurt her eyes.

Perhaps she will know in some unknown way,
Of that little rugged cross,
The remains of her hero beneath it lay,
Where the trees are draped in moss.

We cursed the foe, who stripped the dead,
No pity on them can be shown.
We marked his cross so it can be read,
"WX" Unknown.

A Bit of A Walk

Matt Lynch, Trekker, March 2004

I went for a bit of a walk one day,
To see what I could see,
And some spirits of our finest,
Introduced themselves to me.

For nine days and eight nights,
I walked along the Track,
From Kokoda to Ower's Corner,
And there was no going back.

It provided me with a glimpse,
Of what the diggers must have faced,
Fighting the war against the Japs,
And dying with their mates.

I'll never ever forget that time,
When I went for a walk,
And if I listen hard enough,
I still can hear them talk.

Endurance Courage Mateship Sacrifice,
Is what they always say,
And those are the things I think about,
As I live from day to day.

So when I'm feeling out of luck,
I think about those four words,
And then I don't give a #@$%,
Because the human spirit doesn't waver
Lax or even bend,
It's forever constant in your heart,
It's with you till the end.

2/14th Marching Song

sung to the tune of Wings over the navy

Spearhead of the army
frontliners are we

we're tops of the service

the Fourteenth Infantry

swinging down the highway

singing merrily

we're fistical, ballistical

and very much militaristical

we are the boys for the scraps

just look at the tilt of our hats

we're even very definetly

most belligerent chaps

Oh, spearhead of the army

the Fourteenth Infantry

Danny Boy
a song favoured by the 2/14th. Sung often by 'Butch' and Stan Bisset

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

from glen to glen, and down the mountain side

The summers gone, and all the flowers are dying,

Tis you, tis you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summers in the meadow

or when the valleys hushed and white with snow

Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow

Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

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