War - Ww2 - Kokoda Christmas

It was 1942 on the Kokoda Track And the Diggers were holding the Japanese back Keith Irwin of the 2/2 nd battalion was in a slit trench With a mate alone, dirty and fully drenched They had the jungle in the back And the Japanese in front marauding as a fact It was Christmas but not for these Aussie men Nearer to Hell than Heaven it was for them They heard a noise from behind that put them on alert When challenged they heard the following retort It’s only me the padre don’t worry about a thing As he popped into the slit trench with some rustling I’m Padre Cox from the 49th as he opened his communion set And he brought out the wine from the inside of it The Good Lord won’t mind it if we took a swig each On this his day when other celebration is out of reach. © Paul Warren Poetry