Christmas Morning 1942

Chapter 3

After plonged fighting [to take Gona] three officers and sixty-seven other ranks were moved to a holding position on the eastern bank of the Amboji River west of Gona. One morning in late December Captain Charlie Sims MC came over to our weapon pit and said: "What about going over the river and seeing if there are any Japs in th village?" They were located accross from our position on the river. On reflection the request sounded a bit like - "How about going down to the deli and getting a pint of milk!"

Not being one to shirk an officer's order, Ray and another member odf his battalion set about crossing the river and surveying the area fort enemy troops, as he explains:

Les Bond and I used a crudely constructed raft and successfully moved into the village. They (the Japanese) were there all right, and gave us a bit of encouragement to get the hell out of the place, witch we did in record time. However not before detecting miter fire onto the Japanese positions, which I have fired upon with the Tommy gun. I doubt that we did much damage however given the excellent field engineering the Japs employed in the construction of their bunkers and weapon pits".