August 15th, 1942, somewhere on the Kokoda track, New Guinea. Private Jack Thompson pressed his

back against a moss-covered tree and tried to catch his breath. Behind him, stretching down the muddy

track like a procession of the damned, came what was left of his battalion. They'd been retreating

for three weeks now. Every day brought another rear guard action,

another desperate fight to buy time for the wounded to escape. The track was littered with

abandoned equipment, machine guns too heavy to carry, mortars with no ammunition, personal kit

that had once seemed essential, but now meant nothing compared to survival.

Private Charlie Morrison stumbled past Thompson,

his uniform hanging in tatters, his eyes hollow with exhaustion and something else,

something that looked like the beginning of madness.

They had seen too much, lost too many friends.

The track was becoming a graveyard, and they were the ghosts haunting it. Comson hefted his rifle and started moving again. Behind them the Japanese were

coming, always coming, and ahead lay more jungle, more mud, more depth. But somewhere down

that track lay Australia.

And that was worth dying for.

This is the American History podcast, season four, episode 36.

I'm your host, Sean, and welcome to the track of ghosts,

the second of four episodes on the New Guinea campaign.

This is Tokyo Road.

Are you listening?

All you find boys in your comfortable boxhole?

Listen to...

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