My Pop being rescued by the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. October 1943.

Submitted by Common-Breakfast-245 t3_10pexeg in OldSchoolCool

My Pop arrived Papua New Guinea during World WW2, in an attempt to hold back the Japanese invasion from getting to Australia.

He was shot 4 times and left for dead.

He had his beloved cigarettes, but no way to light them until this very moment.

After recovering enough to get back into battle, he returned to Australia and had 6 more children.

One which was my father.

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zanne61 t1_j6k51kn wrote

My dad from USA was in Papua New Guinea at the same time. I have several pictures but he worked in electronics and did not see violence

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jackrebneysfern t1_j6k0yrx wrote

I assume he was in the army? Was he one of the “Ghost mountain boys”?

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Common-Breakfast-245 OP t1_j6k187z wrote

Australian 2nd/27th Infantry Battalion.

Never heard of him being referred to as "Ghost Mountain Boys"

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jackrebneysfern t1_j6k32zp wrote

If you haven’t PLEASE read the book called the Ghost Mountain Boys. It’s all about the troops that served in that campaign. I bet your father was among them. His name might even be mentioned.

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Common-Breakfast-245 OP t1_j6k3cot wrote

Really?!

I'll check it out!

It was always difficult getting info from Pop about the campaign, as he was very reluctant (understandably) to talk about it.

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jackrebneysfern t1_j6k558w wrote

Prepare yourself. Those guys went through some of the most difficult conditions of the whole war. If your father was where I suspect he was he’s a hero just for making it out. One question, does your family come from the upper Midwest by chance? I only ask because a lot of the troops sent to Papua were from Michigan, Minnesota & Wisconsin.

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Common-Breakfast-245 OP t1_j6k6zlb wrote

Australia. I remember pop saying "The Yanks were useless because the didn't understand the bush". Referring to the lack of experience in the extremely hot weather and rugged terrain. Pop grew up in a part of Australia that regularly experienced 40 degrees Celsius days.

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jackrebneysfern t1_j6ldv00 wrote

Wow that’s cool. So your pops was likely alongside those guys. Enduring the same hardships. It’s a crazy story. How crossing the island to defend Port Moresby they had to cross malaria ridden jungles from hell then cross over a 10,000 ft mountain range with ice, snow and freezing temps. Then back down into a ferocious battle so sick and weary they could barely fight.

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mlaforce321 t1_j6k5oat wrote

I was under the impression OP was Australian, as he was referring to the natives as the Fuzzy Wuzzy Boys.

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jackrebneysfern t1_j6ld401 wrote

I think that’s mentioned in the book too. But the book is really great describing the conditions and hardships. Great read.

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Ransome62 t1_j6k1842 wrote

Fuzzy wuzzy angels? What is that... like a platoon in the army or something?

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Psilobones t1_j6k69vd wrote

My great uncle rests in a war cemetery in PNG. He was an engineer and was killed when making a bridge. Ifd love to go over one day and pay my respect to him.

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Calm_Acadia9657 t1_j6m27o8 wrote

Just listened to like 20 hours of Dan Carlin’s Harbour History Podcast detailing the war with the Japanese. Crazy shit! Sounds like the worst place to fight.

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