BETWEEN TWO FLAGS

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 12, 16 July 1945, Page 14

BETWEEN TWO FLAGS

This small sandy cove was hemmed in with bush and overhung with palms, and from the sea one would never know that hundreds of men had passed through there. Most of these chaps had now gone well up the coast, and the Japs were still falling back before them. Our platoon had been one of the first to go up, and now we were back for a short rest. A little in from the beach supply people, the dressingstation, headquarters, and others were toiling flat out. There were also a few native guides about, and we found them intelligent boys, who sometimes spoke good English. However, the figure which attracted most attention was a Nisei—that is, a Yank of Jap extraction. He was a sergeant, and his appearance contrasted oddly with his camouflage suit and other familiar equipment. When Mac said, “ Good day ! ” to him, he smiled and replied in the very best American, “ What d’ya say now ? ” He was on good terms with every one, and laughed and joked with the natives, who thought he was fine. He was our interpreter, and an important man, because no one else had a hope of reading our enemy’s perverse language.

The morning after we arrived back we were loafing about and looking forward to an easy day, when the Sergeant came up with that look in his eye. “ Got a job for you,” he said, and we groaned. ‘‘You two Corporals are to take your sections on a patrol up this

valley which runs in from here. There’s nothing to it, as the show should be clear of Japs, but the Boss wants to be certain. There’s just a chance some of them may have doubled back. Now here’s what you’ve got to do His instructions were simple : a section would go up each ridge, and the two would meet about four miles in, on the saddle at the head of the valley, and then they’d come back together down the stream. If contact were made with the enemy at any point, we were to fall back here and report.

We were soon underway in the heavy going up the ridge, w r hich carried the usual faint native track. The valley was full of bush, like a steep New Zealand gully, though there were few sounds of bird life. We knew that natives could slip like shadows anywhere across this country, which was criss-crossed with pathways. We saw faint sidetracks branch down the hillsides here and there, but to our untrained eyes they quickly petered out. We stumbled up over slippery roots, while bush lawyer tangled us, and we tried to avoid stinging leaves. We took it quietly, but were soon reduced to greasespots, and were glad of our ten-minute rests. Mac and Jim were ahead, and two others made up the rearguard. We were between, and kept well out to each side of the track, though all in the patrol had to keep contact, so we were not spread out far. We must have gone a couple of miles inland

when I saw Mac wave us down with an urgent hand. We hit the mud, and lay still. The sun was shining high in the trees, and there was a noisy hum of insects, but nothing else. After a while Mac beckoned me up, and I went, carefully. He pointed up the trail, and I looked through some fern, and saw a small flag stuck squarely in a clear space in the path. It was white parchment, only a few inches square, and was scrawled stylishly with elegant Jap characters. “ I think it means ‘ Out of Bounds,’ ” Mac whispered. “ Hold on, Corp., I’ll get it.” He wriggled forward, while we watched anxiously, fingers on the trigger. The half-expected bark of a shot never came, though, and we had a good look at the notice when Mac brought it back. It was double dutch, and the only thing we knew was that it was Jap. It was quite dry, so could only have been there for an hour or two. “ Right, chaps, they’re here after all. Back to the beach, so something can be organized ! ” All the time we withdrew from that place we felt that we were observed by many hostile eyes. There was not a sign of life.

We were about a quarter of a mile down, in the same formation, when we had to throw ourselves flat again. In the middle of the path was an identical flag cutting us off this time ! We felt trapped, and the silence was unnerving. We imagined the Japs sniggering at our bewilderment, and felt helpless rage at being their butt. It was now most

urgent that we get back immediately, and after a hurried consultation in whispers we split our number in two. Each half of the patrol made a wide and cautious detour, and to our great surprise we were not molested, and met half a mile down the track. “ The plot thickens ! ” Jim said ; "I wonder why they let us off when they had us taped ? ” We didn’t waste time on speculation, and made fast time downhill to the beach.

We went over with the Platoon Commander and the Sergeant to the Nisei boy. The Lieutenant handed him the flag and asked : “ What do you think of this ? ” He grinned, and said without surprise : “I don’t think they’ll do much good.” “ Why, what does it say ? ” “ Oh, it tells the soldiers of the Emperor that it is useless for them to resist us. It advises them to surrender and get good food.” He opened his shallow steel case, and we could see many more parchment flags like it. “ We distributed them to the natives this morning, and they've taken out quite a number already.” He looked at a native who was listening. “ Joel here can sneak through the bush and plant them on tracks so that no-one would know where they came from. Eh ? ” He poked the boy in the ribs, and received a toothy smile in reply. The Lieutenant looked hard at us, and said ”Erhm ! Quite an idea. ”

However, we never could explain to the other section why we didn’t meet on the saddle.