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Record Id:42468657 (Australian Library Collections) permalink
Author:Happell, Charles.
Title:The bone man of Kokoda / Charles Happell.
Also Titled:Bone man of Kokoda : the extraordinary story of Kokichi Nishimura and the Kokoda Track
Published:Sydney : Pan Macmillan, 2008.
Description:xiii, 272 p. [16] p. of plates. : ill. ; 24 cm.
ISBN:9781405038362 (pbk.)
LC Call Number:D810.D4
Dewey Number:940.5426516
Summary:Summary: "Kokichi Nishimura was a member of the 2nd battalion, 144th Regiment of the Japanese Imperial Army. In 1942 he fought along every foot of Kokoda as the Japanese attempted to take Port Moresby. He was the only man from his company to survive the campaign. As he was evacuated to safety he made a promise that one day he would return to his comrades and bring them home to Japan for proper burial. After the war, Nishimura prospered. But under the surface, the driving ambition of his life was to fulfil his promise. In 1979, he shocked his family by returning to New Guinea to search for the remains of Japanese soldiers. For the next 25 years, Nishimura lived alone along the Kokoda Track. Armed only with a metal detector, a mattock and a shovel, he searched for his dead comrades. Over the years he found hundreds of them and some he was able to identify and return their bones to their families; others were unknown, and their remains were sent to Japan's official shrine for its war dead in Tokyo. In 2005 Nishimura, now in his mid-eighties and seriously ill, was forced to return to Japan. His story is an incredible adventure that gives us a radically different viewpoint on a battle that has become part of our national myth. Nishimura's life and quest above all offer a poignant reminder of the futility of war."--Publisher description.
Contents:Kochi Warrior -- 1. Skull -- 2. Childhood -- 3. The soldier -- 4. New Guinea -- 5. Brigade Hill -- 6. Retreat -- 7. White pork, black pork -- 8. Home -- 9. Work -- 10. Holdouts -- 11. Family -- Bone Man -- 12. Touchdown -- 13. Breaking ground -- 14. The lunch box -- 15. Ippongi -- 16. The sailor -- 17. Ashes -- 18. Relics -- 19. Skull II -- 20. Government man -- 21. Return -- 22. Imanishi -- 23. Reunion -- 24. Sachiko -- Epilogue. Last sighting -- Appendix. The list of Brigade Hill dead.
Notes:Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-269)
Subjects:Nishimura, Kokichi.
Japan. Rikugun. Hohei Rentai, Dai 144.
Soldiers -- Japan -- Biography.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Papua New Guinea.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Papua New Guinea -- History.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Japanese.
Repatriation of war dead -- Japan.
Kokoda Trail (Papua New Guinea) -- History.
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Libraries that have this item:Academy Library, University of NSW@ADFA (ADFA) (361178) main D810.D4 H36 2008
ACT Library and Information Services (APLS) 940.5426516 HAPP
Ashfield Council Libraries. Ashfield Municipal Library (NAML) 940.5426 HAP
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