By this point in the war, the New Zealand infantry were already deployed in Africa and the Mediterranean. Rather than withdrawing these forces, which would weaken Allied positions, the New Zealand Government decided to raise new units specifically for the Pacific. This led to the formation of the New Zealand 3rd Division, a smaller infantry force with only two brigades (instead of the usual three), which saw action in the nearby Solomon Islands but not Papua New Guinea.

In contrast, the Australian government took a different path, recalling many of their forces from the Middle East and Africa to prioritise the Pacific war effort. For New Zealanders at home, the result of these decisions was that the defining moments of New Zealand’s participation in the war occurred far from home in battles like El Alamein and Crete. For personnel fighting with Australian forces though, the campaigns that encapsulated their service were fought much closer to home. Among them were two soldiers with New Zealand connections, Frederick ‘Jack’ Johnson and William Boddington, whose stories are told below.

Jack Johnson and William Boddington began their war in the Middle East with the Second Australian Imperial Force (2AIF), before transferring to the Pacific. Both fought along the Kokoda Trail, a campaign that holds a prominent place in Australian national memory, often compared to the significance of the Gallipoli campaign and other historic battles.²

Service of Lieutenant William George Boddington

Lieutenant William George Boddington enlisted in the 2AIF on the 23rd December 1940. He was working as a banker in Melbourne, but was born in 1909 in Amberley, New Zealand, the youngest of ten children. His oldest brother, Albert, enlisted in the New Zealand Army during World War I, serving in the Samoan Advance Party. Albert’s military service and career in banking may have influenced William, who followed a similar path. William first deployed with the 2AIF to the Middle East in February 1941. Less than a year later, he returned with his unit to Australia for a brief visit, before redeploying with the 2/14th Battalion to Port Moresby, ready for action in the Pacific.³

The Strategic Importance of Kokoda

In 1942, the New Guinea village of Kokoda had the only airstrip in the province. If the Japanese forces gained control of this airfield, it would give them a strategic advantage in an attack on Port Moresby, the capital of New Guinea and the gateway for Australian forces into the Pacific. In the south of the island – around 60 kilometres from Kokoda as the crow flies, and 50 kilometres east of Port Moresby – was Ower’s Corner, an Australian military outpost that served as the southern entrance to the Kokoda Trail. Impassable to vehicles, the trail twisted and turned through the dense, mountainous, jungle of the island. The track’s path through the interior wound so much that the walking distance stretched to 100 kilometres by the time the trail reached its destination at Kokoda. Jack Johnson described the journey as ‘a seven days’ move, resting only at night […] over some terrific country’ where the vegetation ‘is so dense, I do not think the sun ever reached the ground.’⁴

Born in Fiji in 1900 and educated at King’s College in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland, New Zealand, Johnson enlisted in the 2AIF during 1940 despite his age, having already avoided draft in 1939. Like William, he served in the Middle East before his unit was recalled for service in the Pacific. In a letter home, Johnson described the intense environment and gruelling conditions of the Kokoda Trail. The entire trail ran through tropical jungle, and offensives by both sides pushed the equilibrium back and forth between Ower’s Corner and Kokoda. Jack wrote that ‘practically the whole of the journey was off any track and through virgin bush’, and conveyed the difficulty that the soldiers would have had with supplies, reinforcement, and caring for their wounded. Jack recalled that at one point the soldiers were delighted to have found pawpaw and sweet potato growing in the bush, as these were the first vegetables they had eaten in some time.

An anonymous soldier’s 1942 letter to the Western Mail gives an insider’s perspective of the trail. In it, the soldier wrote about the toll the trail took on the men, describing the exertion as ‘beyond what we thought we were physically capable.’⁵ The man had previously fought in the First World War, and he wrote that he and his comrades had expected to come to a spot on the track and engage the enemy face-to-face. Instead, he wrote that the Japanese outflanked the Australians, and they had ‘been ambushed day and night, been cut off from the main body […] for hours, days, weeks and even a month.’ The letters from this soldier and Jack both noted the difficulties of transporting casualties. This letter wrote that ‘Many of our men owe their chance of recovery’ to the Papuan stretcher bearers. Their ability to navigate the steep inclines and narrow turns of the trail while carrying a wounded man were crucial to the survival of Australian casualties.⁶

Losses on the Kokoda Trail

Both Boddington and Johnson were likely among those carried by the Papuan stretcher bearers. On the 29th of August, 1942, less than three weeks after he arrived in Port Moresby, Lieutenant William Boddington was killed in action on the track to Kokoda, somewhere near Isurava. His obituary in the Otago Daily Times was placed ‘In loving memory […] by his sisters and brothers’, a eulogy to the youngest of them who had grown to become a leader of men.⁷ On the 11th of November, 1942, Jack Johnson was also killed, mere weeks after his final letter and only a few days before the conclusion of the campaign. The Fiji Times & Herald remembered a man who was well respected among his community for his ‘cheerful personality’ and ‘venturesome spirit.’⁸

Legacy of the Kokoda Trail Campaign

The Kokoda Trail campaign holds a significant place in Australia’s national memory, but elements of its story have overtime been exaggerated into the territory of myth. These myths, which Australian historians have since examined, blur the line between the realities of the campaign and the national imagination.⁹ A common belief is that the Australian forces on the trail were instrumental in preventing the Japanese capture of Port Moresby and securing dominance in the Pacific. While Australia’s contributions were indeed vital, modern interpretations recognise that Japan’s retreat was largely due to the broader Allied offensive, particularly at Guadalcanal. By distinguishing fact from fiction, the legacy of the Kokoda Trail campaign can more accurately reflect the experiences of those who served there, including the New Zealanders found amongst the ranks of the Australian forces. The stories of William and Jack reflect the many New Zealanders who served with other nations’ forces and played an essential role in the Allied efforts in the Pacific.

REFERENCES

¹ Steve Bullard, 'The Kokoda myth', Wartime: official magazine of the Australian War Memorial, 29, 2005, pp.38-40.