Interview with Ross Coulthart

92.7 Mix FM - Friday 23 April 2010

Mark and Caroline talk to journalist Ross Coulthart about Captain Sam Templeton and Kokichi Nishimura, the Bone Man of Kokoda.

Listen here.

Sunday Night - Channel 7 - 25^th April 2010

Lest We Forget 

Kokoda mystery solved

A Japanese soldier returns to Papua New Guinea in search of a lost Digger 

Courtesy The Australian 24 April 2010

By Ross Coulthart

SITTING astride a makeshift litter hoisted on the shoulders of a tribesman, 90-year-old Kokichi Nishimura is frail but still holds a piercing gaze as he is carried over the rugged hills of the Kokoda Track, where he once fought and killed Australians in brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Seventy years ago, Nishimura was a fanatical soldier with the Japanese Imperial Army. He was the only man from his platoon who survived the desperate Japanese retreat from Kokoda and the killing on the beaches of Gona and Buna, where what was left of the 144th Regiment of the Imperial Army was finally routed by Australian and US troops.

On his own admission, Nishimura survived only because he cannibalised the flesh of enemy soldiers -- but, he claims, he ate Americans only.

Now he is returning to Papua New Guinea on an extraordinary quest to help solve the mystery of what happened to one of his former enemies and an Australian Kokoda hero, Captain Sam Templeton.

Templeton was one of the few veterans of combat among the Australian 39th Battalion militia troops when they found themselves on the front line against thousands of battle-hardened Japanese who had invaded PNG in 1942.

He was the first Australian officer to lead his troops into battle in the PNG campaign and, sadly, also the first to die.

Now Nishimura is sitting in a wheelchair lashed by vines to a precarious-looking litter.

Showing the same compassion that their forebears showed to Australian Diggers during World War II, a large group of villagers from the small town of Oivi is taking him up and down slippery razorback ridges to the beautiful waterhole deep in the jungle that shrouds their community.

On July 26, 1942, Ted Stuart was Templeton's runner, dug in at the village of Oivi and waiting for the thousands of Japanese Imperial Army troops rushing up towards Kokoda from landing barges on the coast.

The militia soldiers were a pathetic handful, green-horn soldiers most of them, up against a numerically overwhelming enemy.

As the Japanese attacked, it soon became clear to Templeton -- "Uncle Sam", as his troops called him -- that the reinforcements coming down from Kokoda to Oivi needed to be warned that this position was about to be over-run or they would walk into a Japanese ambush.

Templeton gave his men instructions to withdraw when the situation was dire and set out for Kokoda to warn the relief troops.

"I said to him: 'Would you like me to go with you, sir?' And he said: 'No, laddie,' " Stuart recalls. "So I turned around and walked back and he went down the track. I heard a shot."

These days Stuart lives in a Melbourne nursing home, flirting with nursing staff, and is clearly a much-loved character.

He is sure that Templeton's decision to go up that track alone was a typically selfless act that saved Stuart's life.

There were no radios for the under-resourced militia troops to radio Kokoda, and in theory it should have been Stuart who ran up the track.

"He should have sent a runner. I would have been the runner," he says with a sad smile and shrug.

"I would have been killed, would have gone straight into Japanese hands."

Australian National Archives' army files recently declassified for the Seven Network's Sunday Night investigation show that during and after the war there was a long search to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Templeton.

The files show that at one stage army investigators were pursuing inquiries suggesting that Templeton might have been murdered by "natives" who confessed to murdering an Australian officer, but this suggestion was quickly discounted when a captured Japanese soldier's diary showed a captain by the name of Templeton was among Australian prisoners captured by the Japanese 144th Infantry Regiment, whose commander was Lieutenant Colonel Hatsuo Tsukamoto.

There is also speculation in the files that Templeton was sent across to Rabaul as a prisoner of war; that he might have been a bedraggled Australian officer who was seen by local people slumped next to guards on a boat.

What is painfully clear is that, despite fastidious efforts, whatever happened to Templeton after his capture was and remains a vexing unsolved mystery for army investigators.

One of the newly opened files catalogues Templeton's capture as one of many missing Australians taken and presumed killed by the Japanese.

The accounts of what happened to many of the missing Diggers listed in the same file as Templeton are horrific, betraying a barbaric Japanese contempt for the laws of war.

The mystery of what happened to "Uncle Sam" was overwhelmed by the immensity of post-war efforts to bring known Japanese war criminals to justice.

Not knowing what happened to his father has haunted Templeton's son Reg for 70 years. All he and his mother were told was what witnesses such as Stuart told investigators back then, that "a burst of fire was heard and he was not seen again".

Not until April 1946 did the family receive the formal notification that Templeton was presumed dead.

For Reg Templeton, now ailing and too ill to travel to Kokoda, it has always been a dream of his to know exactly what happened to his father.

He says: "The fact is that there has been that many conflicting stories over such a long, long time and to hear what I would love to believe is the truth is one thing I have always wanted to hear; to hear someone say, 'This is where Sam Templeton's body lay at that particular time.' "

For years, as he led tours across the Kokoda Track, Kokoda Spirit trekking company founder Wayne Wetherall, heard stories speculating on the unsolved mystery of Templeton.

A PNG campaign historian from Queensland, Wetherall travelled to Japan last year to meet Nishimura, one of the last surviving soldiers from the 144th battalion, the unit that fought and captured Templeton.

"I have to say, when Nishimura mentioned the name Templeton, my ears perked up, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I was just very, very excited," Wetherall recalls.

Nishimura lived in PNG after the war for a quarter century from 1979 to 2005, honouring a pledge he gave to his dying comrades that he would come back one day and return their remains to Japan for proper burial.

The "Boneman of Kokoda", as he became known, won the respect of PNG locals for his compassion and for his generosity in helping kick off new businesses that brought much-needed jobs to this desperately poor part of the country.

But, amazingly, before Wetherall went to see him last year in a Tokyo suburb, no Australians had asked him what, if anything, he knew of the disappearance of one of its Kokoda heroes.

It transpired that Nishimura believed he had buried the remains of Templeton as he trudged through Oivi, and camped by the creek there, days after the clash with the 144th.

He discovered the body of the Australian officer beside his campsite, with what he believed was a sword or bayonet sticking out of his side. Because of the smell, he buried Templeton where he lay.

Nishimura also says he is sure the officer he buried was Templeton because within a couple of days he spoke directly to one of his regiment friends, who witnessed what had happened when Templeton was brought in for interrogation before the 144th Regiment's commander, Tsukamoto. "Captain Templeton made the comment to Tsukamoto that, 'There are 80,000 Australian soldiers waiting for you in Moresby' and he started laughing at the Japanese officer, so showing a real defiance against the Japanese officer, showing him no respect whatsoever.

"It enraged Tsukamoto, his face went bright red, and he was very angry, to the point that he drew his sword and stabbed Templeton in the stomach," Wetherall recalls being told in his interview with Nishimura.

As Wetherall explains, Templeton's defiance of Tsukamoto was a deadly bluff, but it may well have been a crucial factor in helping the Australians bring the vital regular army expeditionary force reinforcements to PNG in time to halt the Japanese advance.

"We might have been lucky to have 1000 militia men in Port Moresby at that stage," he says.

History shows the Japanese did slow their advance; and just perhaps that was due to Templeton's incredibly brave actions.

Now, on the banks of a stunningly beautiful waterhole with a 100m-high waterfall cascading down, Nishimura points to a spot on the riverbank:

"I am absolutely sure that this is the place where I found and buried the body of the Australian officer," he tells us.

Oivi local tribesmen are now gently excavating the site where Nishimura believes Templeton's body is buried.

So far no bones have been found, but plenty of relics of war. It seems very likely that whatever remains were there might have been disturbed by animals or washed away in one of the many gigantic floods that swept through this valley in the past 70 years.

Nishimura insists on paying his respects to the fallen Australian officer, uttering a silent Shinto prayer and burning incense during a moving ceremony on the riverbank.

Wetherall tells a tearful Reg Templeton by satellite phone just how beautiful the place is where he now believes his father fell. From thousands of kilometres south in his Melbourne home, Reg says a tearful thank you.

Bone Man of Kokoda says he buried Captain Templeton

Courtesy AAP 29 January 2010

By Ilya Gridneff - Papua New Guinea Correspondent

The remains of a fearless World War II Digger stabbed to death for taunting a Japanese officer may at last be laid to rest with all the reverence he deserves.

The real story behind Captain Sam Templeton's disappearance in the Papua New Guinea almost 70 years ago has finally emerged thanks to the selfless dedication of a frail old former trooper in the Japanese Imperial Army.

Ninety-year-old Kokichi Nishimura, known as the Bone Man of Kokoda, says it was he who buried Captain Templeton in a shallow jungle grave following his brutal summary execution soon after he was captured near the Kokoda Track.

According to official records, Capt Templeton, a World War I veteran, was a company commander with the famed Australian 39th battalion in New Guinea, when he vanished near Oivi village on July 26, 1942.

One report said he had been trying to warn reinforcements of the massive Japanese presence in the area.
Templeton was a soldiers' soldier, dismissive of rank and revered for his courage under fire.

Historians say he was technically too old for front line duty. He was born in 1900 - but lied about his age to qualify for combat.

Templeton's Crossing at Eora Creek on the Kokoda Track is traversed by thousands of Australian trekkers each year and this month Mr Nishimura teamed up with Kokoda Spirit trekking company operator Wayne Weatherall to locate the captain's crude bush grave.

Mr Nishimura says he still remembers where Capt Templeton is buried and the pair recently spent several days digging for clues and think they may have pinpointed the spot, but need to consult with the captain's family about what should be done next.

Mr Nishimura, who has spent the best part of 25 years recovering the remains of fallen Japanese comrades, was a member of the 2nd battalion, 144th Regiment of the Japanese Imperial Army that fought Australian troops in the same area.

Mr Nishimura told reporters in Port Moresby he buried Capt Templeton after an enraged Japanese officer killed the captured Australian.

"It seems Captain Templeton got lost, being pushed back by Japanese soldiers," he said through an interpreter.
Mr Nishimura said Capt Templeton was taken for interrogation and the Japanese commander became enraged when the Australian said there were "80,000 Australian troops waiting for the Japanese in Port Moresby?".
"How many of you will see out the day," Capt Templeton asked mockingly.

Mr Nishimura said that remark infuriated Japanese even more.

"The commander got angry at Templeton's answers and he stabbed him," he said.

"They (Australians) were all very brave soldiers with high spirits, therefore I don't want to leave this mystery open," added Mr Nishimura.

Late last year AAP visited Mr Nishimura at his home on the outskirts of Tokyo.

Humble, reserved and precise, Mr Nishimura recalled the closing stages of the New Guinea campaign.
"At that time (of the Japanese retreat) there was no choice (for the wounded Japanese) but to die, because there was no food or supplies," Mr Nishimura said.

"Those soldiers knew they were being abandoned and they were ready for what was happening to them.
"And knowing all that, they gave a smile rather than tears and crying."

Mr Nishimura promised that he would return one day to recover the bodies of his comrades. And as the only surviving member of the 2nd battalion, some 30 years later he kept his word.

"This is nothing special," he said.

"It's my way of life, if I make a promise with somebody I keep it. Whatever it is I just keep my promises," he said.
Armed with a metal detector, a mattock and a shovel, a few language dictionaries and WW II battle plans, maps and official documents he secretly kept despite orders to destroy them, Mr Nishimura set out on a mission.

Over the years he found the remains of hundreds of Japanese soldiers.

Those identifiable were returned to families while the unknown were buried in Japan's official war shrine in Tokyo.
But while upholding the Japanese traditions of loyalty and respect, Mr Nishimura has also been a thorn in the side of a Japanese governments reluctant to acknowledge the past.

Indeed, his obsession often riled authorities on both sides, frequently involving him in controversy.
"I am sure I am a headache to Japanese government - I am sure on the black list as a dangerous man," he said with a laugh.

Mr Nishimura fought on every front line in Japan's Pacific campaign.

After PNG he served in Singapore and Rangoon in Burma then in August 1945 he returned to home with the remnants of the beaten Japanese forces.

On three occasions Mr Nishimura survived being shot, suffered just about every type of malaria and was once so malnourished he weighed around 30 kg.

He said the screams of an Australian soldier he killed in hand-to-hand combat still haunt him.

"My habit it is to avoid risk - I don't try to survive (in combat), I think my body naturally moves in the right direction," he said.

After the war he married and built up a multi-million dollar engineering company. But then, to his family's dismay, on retirement he sold the company, left his wife and two sons with the fortune and returned to PNG.
His only daughter Sachiko went with him and they still live together.

"I left my sons but never explained the reason to them," he said.

"I am sure they have a lot of resentful feeling to me, but still I don't care.

"They are strangers now. I am not interested in meeting them. I have more family in PNG. Not many in Japan."

In January this year Mr Nishimura returned to his adopted home in Oro Province on PNG's northeast coast to locate Capt Templeton's grave.

The Oro connection was established in WW II when a villager, Trofian Iewago, helped some Japanese soldiers, including Mr Nishimura. survive.

Mr Nishimura never forgot and when he returned to PNG to start collecting bones he lived with the Iewagos.
Trofian's son Romney remembers Mr Nishimura well.

"When he first came he would point at the dictionary and we would work out what he wanted," Romney said.
"He and Dad became very close and Dad said, 'I will make you our brother and you become a clansman'.
"We call him 'Ijiba Nishimura' as Ijiba is our clan name and he was initiated and became one of us."

Trofian's daughter Geraldine called her first-born daughter 'Sachiko' in honour of Nishimura's daughter. Journalist Charles Happell while walking the Kokoda Track literally stumbled on a small plaque Mr Nishimura erected in memory of Japan's fallen.

Happell researched and wrote a book: "The Bone Man of Kokoda."

"In piecing together his life story, what has been revealed is an epic tale featuring loyalty, determination and courage on a scale that is difficult to comprehend," Apollo writes.

Before returning to Tokyo Mr Nishimura admitted his most recent trip to PNG would be his last.
With his customary brevity, he dismissed talk about what will happen to his own bones.

"My daughter sometimes mentions that," he said.

"But once you are dead you can't do anything or say anything, so to say, 'I want this after I die,' that kind of thing is the most stupid thing you can do, so I don't have any idea."